In this introduction, Herr Martin tells of his interest in and exploration of "the Land of the Franken" just to the north of Neustadt an der Aisch. Aside from some natural attractions and historical places, some of his ancestors came from that place. One of these was a Haselbacher, one of whose descendants, Anna Maria, married Herr Martin's Great-great Grandfather Conrad Martin in Ansbach on 27 May 1810. Anna Maria's Grandfather was John Paul Hasselbacher, a miller from Rehweiler. Wolfgang Martin writes about his discovery of the history of Rehweiler and the Hasselbachers who settled there.
Herr Martin acknowledges the help of the work of Pfarrer Georg Kuhr with who was also a Hasselbacher descendant. He learned that the Hasselbachers came as exiles to the area around Neustadt from Gresten, an area in Austria controlled by Zinzendorf rule. Herr Martin could not initially link the families so he made a trip to Rehweiler to see what he could find. [My kind of guy! PH] He appreciated the beauty and sights of the area. He found only limited references to the Hasselbacher family. In old church books he found a 6 Jun 1738 baptism of Jacobina, daughter of the miller John Paul Hasselbacher. There was also a 1699 birth and death of a daughter Catharina to Balthasar Hasselbacher, a farmer of the hamlet.
