The Thines Family: From Freylange to Landeck

In January of 1976, an unexpected letter arrived at the desk of the mayor of Covington, Kentucky. It was sent by Eudore Dominicy, the mayor of Saint-Legere. Dominicy was seeking help locating the relatives of music professor Sylvester Eifert. He thought there may be a family connection. Soon thereafter, a postcard made it’s way from Saint Leger to Summit Drive in Covington. “Meilleurs vœux pour la nouvelle année,” it said – best wishes for the new year. For over forty years that postcard lived in a shoebox until in 2020 it saw the daylight once more and a family line stretching back to 1600s Belgium was found.

The Thines Family Line to the Eiferts

259 years before Eudore Dominicy’s letter, Nicolas Thines was born in a small village in what was then the Spanish Netherlands. We have been able to trace this Thines family line from about 1670 to present day.

Here is a summary of the family line, followed by a breakdown of these ancestors and some family history. Don’t miss out on the “Further Reading” section at the end, where I will continue publishing history relevant to this line.

• Thomas Thines & Susanna Massonet
  • Nicolas Thines & Catherine Girsch
    • Frederic Thines & Catherine Brack
      • Jean Baptiste Thines & Barbe Lichtfus
        • Pierre Thines & Margaret Muller
          • John Remy Thines & Elisabeth Bonifas
            • Catherine Thines & Sylvester Eifert

Thomas Thines (abt. 1670) & Susanne Massonet

Birth and marriage records in Stockem do not exist far enough back for us to know, from church records at least, when Thomas Thines was born or married. What records exist suggest that he was married to an Anna Gaast. She likely died, and Thomas married Susanne Massonet around 1715.

Nicolas Thines (born 1717) & Catherine Girsch

Nicolas Thines was baptized on February 4, 1717 at St. Paul in Freylange. He was one of five children. Nicolas was married on July 26, 1741 to Catherine Girsch in Freylange. The 1766 census tells us that he was living in Heinsch, in the same dwelling as his wife’s family. He was a laborer, probably a farmhand. The relative living with him was a “brassuer,” or brewer.

Frederic Thines (born 1755) & Christina Brack

Frederic Thines was baptized at St. Paul in Freylange on October 13, 1755. He was one of eight children. Frederic was later married to Christina Brack, who was baptized at Selange, on January 31, 1785. It would seem that Frederic moved to the area of Selange, considering the parish where his children were baptized.

Jean Baptiste Thines (born 1786) & Barbe Lichtfus

Jean Baptiste was baptized at St. Odille in Selange on Jan 11, 1786. He was one of seven children. Jean Baptiste was married to Barbe Lichtfus at Notre-Dame du Rosaire in Aubange on Jun 14, 1783. Her family was from La Madeleine on the present-day Luxembourg side of the border.

Pierre Thines (born 1819) & Margaret Muller

Pierre Thines was baptized on September 30, 1819. The civil record of this places them in Selange. He was married on Jun 28, 1842 to Margaret Muller. Pierre and Margaret are both listed as residing in Turpange.

In the death record of his firstborn, Jean Baptiste Thines, who died at only eight years old, it is stated that he worked as an “instituteur,” or school teacher in Turpange.

Jean Remy Thines (born 1845) & Elizabeth Bonifas

Jean Remy Thines was born on September 34, 1845. His birth record indicates that he was a farmer in Turpange. At some point, Jean Remy emigrated to the United States. Record of this has yet to be found. On September 17, 1872, he was married to Elizabeth Bonifas in Allen County, Ohio. While the civil marriage record has been recorded, efforts to find the parish of his marriage have been unsuccessful. Given he is buried in Landeck OH we can presume he was married nearby.

Catherine Thines (born 1882) & Sylvester Eifert

Catherine Thines was born on February 18, 1882 in Jennings Township, Van Wert County, Ohio. She later married Sylvester Eifert, a music teacher and church organist who grew up on a farm in Mercer County, on July 13, 1903.

History of the Thines Family

The earliest mentions of the Thines family place them in Freylange (Freilingen). Freylange was a village surrounding the ancient town of Arlon in present-day Belgium.

Geographically, Arlon lies at the meeting point of several landscapes—wooded plateaus, fertile valleys, and ancient Roman roads—which made it a natural corridor for trade, armies, and pilgrims alike. Throughout the 17th and 18th century this was a major theater of war, and the Thines ancestors would have been subject to forced billeting, hunger and many other hardships as a result.

Situated in Wallonia, a region in modern-day Belgium, there has been a mix of cultures throughout history. French is the official language here, but Arlon and the surrounding villages had a heavy Germanic influence. We know from several of the church records that many of the people were illiterate but spoke German.

We saw from the 1766 census that Nicolas Thines was a laborer, probably a farmhand. Later Thines ancestors were also farmers.

After the marriage of Jean Baptiste Thines and Barbe Lichtfus, this particular line of Thines ancestors moved to Turpange, a small village a few miles south of Arlon.

Once Jean Remy arrived in the United States, he settled somewhere in central Ohio. His marriage record places him in Allen County, and he was buried at St. John the Baptist in Landeck Ohio. There are still members of the Thines family living in Landeck Today.

It is worth noting that another branch of this Thines tree also emigrated to the United States, to Faulkner County, Arkansas. Two children of Pierre Thines came to the US. The first we have noted above.

When Pierre Thines’s wife, Margaret Muller, died, he remarried shortly thereafter to a Catherine Gremling. From that marriage, Jean-Pierre Thines was born in Turpange in March of 1859. He would later settle and marry in Arkansas.

Read More About the Thines Family

• A Peasant Revolt in Arlon, 1681: An article from The London Gazette in 1681 recounts a peasant revolt in a village of Arlon leading up to the War of Reunions. While the village’s name isn’t mentioned, the Thines ancestors may have witnessed this or similar events.