DIEFENBACH AND GOLDSCHMIDT FAMILIES FROM HESSEN

My name is Linda Silverman Shefler and I started this site. This site encompasses the combined efforts of several cousins who have been researching their specific branch of the family, unaware of the existence of each other until several months ago.  All of the cousins descend from the various children of Bailli Diefenbach and Joseph Stern, except for me.  I descend from Bailli’s sister, Hanche (Henriette) Diefenbach and her husband Joseph Meier Marx.  There were two additional sisters that I am aware of, but to date cannot trace their descendants.  These four sisters were the daughters of Aron Diefenbach and Scheine (Schönchen) Goldschmidt (of Uttrichshausen).  The records indicate that this Diefenbach family was living in Sterbfritz, Hessen as far back as the 1780s.  It can be that they were living there prior to that, but I’m not yet aware of any records to prove that. Aron had a brother, David Löw Diefenbach, who was married to Telz.  Aron and David Löw were the sons of Jüttel (Jehuda) Diefenbach, who was probably born about 1730 and is our earliest documented ancestor. Our combined efforts have yielded us a tree that includes 723 descendants from Jüttel (Jehuda).  There is still a tremendous amount of unknowns for this family and it is my sincere hope that by having our family tree online, other descendants from this family will discover us.   There is another Diefenbach family from the area.  They changed their name to Regensburger and lived in Zeitlofs.  The earliest documented member of that family was David who was probably born about 1725 and was probably the brother of Jüttel (Jehuda).  David was a Hazan (cantor). I worked with two highly experienced researchers in Germany who both separately commented that they feel that the Diefenbach and Diefenbach>Regensburger families are one and the same.  This assessment is due to the uniqueness of the name, the proximity of where they lived, the closeness of their ages and the repetition of the name David in both families.  Because of that, and solely for the purpose of this site, I’ve decided to connect Jüttel (Jehuda) and David as brothers, again, in the hope of attracting the attention of researchers from the Regensburger family.  It is not generally considered genealogically correct to connect families without documented proof, so I want to be clear that the connection is based on the assessments of a couple of researchers and not yet on fact. As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, this work is the combined effort of several cousins.  While each of us is working extensively on various branches of our individual families, the following is relevant to the Diefenbach family as a whole:  Jeffrey and Peter Dreifuss, brothers from Maryland, have been working on the family of Hannah Stern and Salomon Hess.  Hannah was a daughter of Bailli Diefenbach and Joseph Stern, and the 2nd great grandmother of Pete and Jeff.Gail Leonard Fallender, hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, many years in California, has been working on the family of Henrietta (Jette) Stern and Jacob Katzenstein>Fell.  Henrietta is another daughter of Bailli. Jacob and Henrietta were cousins and immigrated to America in 1859, settling in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.Elizabeth Ida Posva of Sao Paulo, Brazil also descends from the Hess family and has been researching the descendants of Ferdinand Wild and Sara Hess.David Stern, formerly of Pennsylvania, currently of Italy, is also working on the Stern family.  David descends from Julius Stern and Rebecka Levy who also settled in Uniontown, Pennsylvania in 1866.Linda Silverman Shefler, hometown of Providence, Rhode Island, presently in Israel.  I learned three years ago that Hanche (Henriette) Diefenbach was my 3rd great grandmother, since then I have been attempting to piece together the Diefenbach family as a whole.  Hanche’s son Aaron Joseph Marx, my 2nd great grandfather, immigrated to America in 1853 and settled in Cleveland, OH.  He also had a sister who immigrated to America.Some of the more prevalent surnames found within the site are: HESS, KATZENSTEIN, LEVI, LEVISOHN, MARX, REGENSBURGER, SCHUSTER, STERN, TANNENBAUM and WILD.  The main towns and villages where our ancestors lived are: Flieden, Harmuthsachsen, Hintersteinau, [possibly] Romsthal, Sterbfritz, Zeitlofs and Züntersbach.   As one who has done a tremendous amount of research on my various family lines independently, or with other researchers not necessarily connected with my specific family, I have to say that the opportunity to connect to and work together with cousins towards the common goal of creating an accurate family tree and history is a real treat! It is my sincere hope that everyone will expand upon the tree as our knowledge increases, as well as share stories and pictures of the family.  The more stories and pictures we have, the more the family will come alive for us. It is with pleasure that I introduce you to the Diefenbach family!!