Jean Dietrich STRUDEL

   User ID: 112.

   General Notes:

LETTERS
James David STRUDELL Letter Apr 1990: "Jean Dietrich STRUDEL Mar Marie Susanne OBRECHT Parents of Jean David STRUDEL Born 1783 Munzenheim Alsace Lorraine France."

Letter fromJean David Strudel to the Ministry of War:
"We Mirsel Aus Judge of peace of the Canton of Andolsheim district of Colmar Department of the Haut Rhin at the requisition of Jean David Strudel, Light Infantry Soldier of the 61st regiment of the Line and upon the affidavit of Foeirs, Jacques Jsen of Colmar and Mirsel Hemerlin land surveyor of Andolsheim. We certify by those present to them that we bring that the...Jean David Strudel...5th Andolsheim on 2..November 1783, legitimate son of Jean Dietrich Strudel and Marie Susanne Nee Obrecht husband and wife, and who has served in the 5th 61st regiment of the Line since the month of...to the thirteenth until the present and who comes to obtain his pension because of those ofhis Injuries at the Battle of Wagram on 6 [sic] June..., is the same individual reported on the birth certificate delivered to him that day under the name of Jean David Strudelle and that it is in error that his name is written Strudelle in the letter of His Excellency Your Grace the Minister of War. In faith whose name, we have delivered to him the present notice of reputation in order to serve him and deserve that which is right and that we request it and the...were signed with the following names...of those present made and delivered at Munzenheim this seventh of April eighteen hundred ten, Hemerlin, Jsen Mirsel Aus, Jean David Strudel."

James David STRUDELL Letter Apr 1990:
Jean David STRUDEL Born Nov 1783 Munzenheim Alsace France. Parents Jean Dietrich STRUDEL and Marie Susanne OBRECHT.

James David STRUDELL Letter Apr 1990 "Alsace"
"The Strudels were Alsatians: the German French or the French Germans. As Unger (1989) points out, the Alsatians have switched nationalities five times in 120 years, and `even today, the French call them French when they behave and German when they don't.' Alsace is roughly defined as the region extending down from the Vosges Mountains on the west to the Rhine River on the east: to the south rests Switzerland; Wurttemberg and Baden sit across the Rhine; the Pfalz is to the north; and Lorraine to the west. Alsace is often considered in two sectors: the north, Bas Rhine, dominated by thecity of Strasbourg; and the south, Haut-Rhin or Upper Rhine, dominated by the city of Colmar. It was in rural cantons near Colmar that the Strudels lived prior to their departure for America.
"Alsace has been predominantly under French rule since the 1500s. Although part of France, Alsatian culture- the architecture, cooking and language- often has reflected stronger German roots. Most Alsatian place names are German: Munzenheim, Andolsheim, Illhausern. (Some place name spellings have changed over the years: Munzenheim to Muntzenheim, Illhausern to Illhaeusern, for example). These names, however, are given a French pronunciation, which for one thing tends to shift accents from the first syllable to the second. Thus, Stras-bourg' instead of Strass'-burg, and Stru-del' instead of Stru'-del. The fact that the Strudels, once in St. Louis, took German spouses, in one indication of the family's rather typical Alsatian/German bond. According to Leuilliot (1959),at the time the Strudels left Alsace, German was still clearly the dominant language in daily use.
"One of the major events in the history of Alsace was the French Revolution which, more than any other event in Alsatian history (with the possible exception of Hitler's invasion), helped to solidify the Frenchness of Alsace. The village of Munzenheim, for example, was dominated by Wurttemberg up until the Revolution. Alsace experienced the same political and social upheavals in the Revolution as the rest of France, which led into the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte. According to the `Encyclopedie de l'Alsace', this period rests in the collective memory of Alsatians as a period of grandeur and prosperity, of which the memoryis passed from generation to generation."

LETTER
James David STRUDELL Letter Apr 1990 "In and Out of Napoleon's Army"
"David's injuries led to a military discharge and a pension from the Ministry of War. In one of the finest pieces of bureaucratese...the Ministry explained the procedures for obtaining payment...David had to submit both his birth certificate and military discharge papers to the Commissioner of Wars. This he apparently did. His 7 April 1810 letter to the Ministry aroseout of confusion over the spelling of his surname...Someone (presumably after 1896) added a second `L' to all the `Strudel's in the 1810 letters. It seems that David's birth certificate was spelled `Strudelle'. The ministry, therefore, in its March 1810 letter to David had spelled his name `Strudelle'. Worried that because of the mispelling, he might not receive his francs, David rounded up a judge and a land surveyor from his canton of Andolsheim, as well as a third fellow from Colmar, and signed a letter requesting the Ministry to correct the spelling from `Strudelle' to `Strudel'...If David wrote [and mailed] the letter, why does the family still have it, instead of the French government?...Either the Strudelle-Strudel problem was resolved and David never had to send the letter, or, more likely, is a copy for his own records.
"Besides shedding light on his military record, David's 7 April 1810 letter is important in that it names his parents, Jean Dietrich Studel and Marie Susanne Obrecht. It also names what is probably his place of residence: Munzenheim, a small farm village in the canton of Andolsheim."

   Marriage Information:

Jean married Marie Susanne OBRECHT before 1783 in Munzenheim, Alsace, France. (Marie Susanne OBRECHT was born about 1753 in , Alsace, France and died in , Alsace, France.)