The Three Loeck Sisters’ direct ancestor, Susannah Berlich who married George Adam Struve, had a sister Christina Barbara Berlich (1650 -1674) who married on 31 August 1669 Romanus Teller II (1641-1691), a prominent jurist. We call him Romanus II to distinguish him from his uncle Romanus I (1607 – 1672).
The brother of Romanus I and father of Romanus II was Abraham Teller (1609 – 1658). Romanus I married Catharina Kauxdorf, the daughter of Andreas Kauxdorf (1592 – 1669).
When Romanus I died a funeral book was published: Trauer und Trost-Gedancken Uber den seligen Hintritt Des… which tells us that he died on 16th April 1672 and was buried on the 21st of April. His nephew Romanus II contributed a verse. His widow published her own tribute to her husband’s memory: Catharinen des seel. Herrn Romani Tellers Hochbetrübte Wittwe… Aprilis, Anno 1672 [right]
Another funeral book for Romanus I was titled: Köstliche Weyde der Schäflein Christi Auff welche Den … Romanum Tellern/ Notarium Publicum und wohlverordneten OberSchöp- und Gerichts-Actuarium allhier … and had a very elaborate frontispiece:
A possible brother of Romanus I and Abraham’s was Jacob Teller who in 1616 was the respondent in Conrad Horneius’: Disputatio Metaphysica De Distinctione\
Abraham Teller married Dorothea Bierling (1612 – 1681), the daughter of Leipzig merchant Caspar Bierling and they had a son Romanus II who married the Three Loeck Sisters’ Nth aunt Christina Berlich. Abraham Teller was a theologian, educator and “spiritual poet”; he was a student in Leipzig and Wittenberg; in 1637 he was the principal of the Thomasschule in Leipzig; from 1637 deacon, archdeacon and pastor in Leipzig. Abraham is listed in Decanus Collegii Theologici In Universitate Lipsiensi. As pastor he made contributions such as a prelude to: Güldene Sterbekunst – Gezeiget in zwölff Predigten …
A few months after he had become a doctor of theology, he died, at only 49 years old, on November 5, 1658. He composed a number of sacred songs (hymns), twelve of which are acrostics (a composition in which certain letters in each line form a word or words) in the names of him, his wife, and his ten children. His son Romanus II had some of his father’s songs printed individually after his death, but then published the twelve acrostics together (Leipzig 1681; 2nd edition 1709). Some of these songs have become part of the community hymn books and have become more widely used. B. the song: “That is certainly true, these are dear, valuable words”.
Below: Three funeral books. The first honors the memory of both Dorothy Marian and Anna Rosina. The title of the first reads – Those tried and true in tribulation, Honored by God … Burial of the two virgin sisters … Dorothee Marien and Anna Rosina, the … daughters of Abraham Teller’s, 1664. Each daughter then received her own funeral book – Rector Academiae Lipsiensis ad exequias virginis … Annae Rosinae AND Rector Academiae Lipsiensis ad exequias virginis … Dorotheae Mariae viri …
On the death of Abraham and Dorothea (Bierling) Teller’s other two daughters, Johanna Magdalena and Johanna Elisabeth, the composer Johann Rosenmüller performed the five-part choral movement Valet- und Trost-Lied Welches vor dreyen Jahren Dem “Goodbye world, I’m tired” (1652). Later, Johann Sebastian Bach adopted this choral setting in his cantata BWV 27 in 1726.
Another daughter of Abraham and Dorothea Teller’s, Margareta Sabina, died in 1653 and a funeral book was published to mark the occasion: Namens-Liedlein Welches von Hn. L. Abraham Tellern der Kirchen zu St. Nicolai in Leipzig (not yet digitized).
In 1656 yet another Teller daughter – Dorothy – was put to rest and yet another funeral book was published: Advents-Hülffe Welche der Gerechte König und Helffer geleistet hat Der … Frauen Dorotheen Des … Herrn Johannis Tellers … with verse contributions by Abraham and Romanus I.
Below left, Abraham Teller listed among the deans of Leipzig University.
Some of Abraham Teller’s academic works are shown below:
On the death of Abraham Teller in 1658 a large number of funeral book sermons were published some of which are shown below:
Abraham’s widow Dorothea lived on nearly thirty years after husband, dying in April 1681, upon which occasion a funeral sermon book was published with the title: Rector Academiae Lipsiensis Ad Funus Matronae … Dorotheae, Natae Bierlingiae, Viri … Abrahami Telleri, SS. Theol. D. Egregii, & Pastoris Ad D. Thomae Vigilantissimi Relictae Viduae Hora III.
The only daughter of Abraham and Dorothea (Bierling) Teller to survive to adulthood and marry was Ursula Catharina Teller who was born on 26th July 1639. On 12th May 1656 in Leipzig, she married the merchant Christoph Platz von Augsburg (* 6. September 1609; † 7. November 1661). True to type, she did not live long after and died in Leipzig on 19th April 1658 and to mark the occasion a funeral book was issued: Liebe Christi Das Edelste Pfand Aus dem dritten Capitel der Epistel S. Pauli …
Before she died, Ursula did manage to give birth to a son, Abraham Christoph Platz (April 18, 1658 – 1728). From 1661 he was brought up by his grandmother Dorothea (Bierling) Teller, and he enrolled at the University of Leipzig in 1672, 1673 Baccalaureus, 1675 Magister, and in 1679 he disputed the law under the chairmanship of his uncle Romanus Teller, who promoted him. He undertook a tour through Germany and Switzerland in 1679 – 1680. In 1681 he obtained his doctorate in Frankfurt [Dissertatio De Confusione Obligationum] and from 1683 he taught at the university of Leipzig. He died there on September 15, 1728.
ROMANUS TELLER II (1641 – 1691)
Romanus married the sister of Susanna (Berlich) Struve – Christine Barbara Berlich (1650 – 1674). There is little direct biographical information about Romanus. All we know is that he was a lawyer; a student in Leipzig and Frankfurt / Oder; an Assessor at the Schöppenstuhl Leipzig; heir and court lord on carriages and Braunsdorf (?).
Some of his published works include: 1) Disputatio Juridica De Deteriore Foeminarum Conditione In Matrimonio Contrahendo; 2) Exercitatio Iuridica De Oneribus Feudi … 3) Disp. … de feudo pluribus promisso 4) Disputatio Philologico-Physiologica De Somnio Uxoris Pilati …
In 1674 when the Three Loeck Sisters’ Nth great aunt Christine Barbara (Berlich) Teller died, a funeral book was published in her honor – Epicedia In Funere Lectissimae Foeminae Christinae Barbarae, Natae Berlichiae …
Two other funeral books for Christine were published: Helle und fröliche Tauben-Augen Der weiland … Fr. Christinen Barbaren gebohrner Berlichin [1674]. And Rector Academiae Lipsiensis Ad Iusta Exeqvialia Exuviis Faminae natalium splendore, pietate in Deum … [1674].
After Christine Barbara’s death, Romanus II married Johanna Dorothea Hartig (1658 – 1705) on 1 September 1656. They do not appear to have had children. When Romaus died his widow wrote a quite passionate poem of reminiscence:
So, MY LIFE, I still have to weep for your death,
And your sweet mouth, O Schmertz! to see pale;
Shall your eyes no longer shine light to me?
O Jam [m] er! it is no longer happening to me!
Hardly fifteen years have passed when days have elapsed
Because your kindness and loyalty always embraced me.
I often enjoyed your favor undeservedly,
You became mine, and I never got tired of you.
When I was only with you, you embraced me
I was not allowed to leave you again, except for a kiss,
You were my lust, I would still be your desire.
Whoever has given thus will also confess this.
My life was your consolation: but if I had died long ago,
How could it be better to be my angel!
My jam would be spoiled at the same time as me,
Which I now see more bit at my end.
And this was also the quarrel that we had:
One of them would be who would like to be the first to die,
Nobody liked to bury the other.
You have achieved the wish, but the pain remains for me.
Oh pain! oh fear and distress! how can I describe
What is indescribable! I’m just starting something
That doesn’t have to end, and it has to end.
Whoever is rightly loved knows how parting can hurt.
But I finally triumphed in this too:
You shouldn’t be saddened by your wife.
So I wished; and this is what pleases me now,
I suffer from you; so I loved
So there remains my consolation: it is easy to die,
Whom the beloved one has already sent ahead.
How happy I will inherit the Reich there with you,
My Jesus, whomever I see you and my husband.
Johanna Dorothea (Hartig) Teller was the daughter of Christian von Hartig and the sister of Johann Jacob. There is another connection with the Hartig family through the marriage of Christine Barbara (Berlich) Teller’s sister Anna Margaretha Berlich (1651-1729). She married Johann Georg Butzschky (1621 – 1681) and they had a daughter Margaretha Dorothea who married Johann Jacob Von Hartig, the brother of Christian (von Hartig) Teller. A separate page for the Hartig family can be found here.
Disputatio Iuridica De Iudiciis … [1660]
ROMANUS TELLER III (1671 -1721)
Romanus Teller III (1671-1721) was the son of Romanus and Christine Barbara (Berlich) Teller. He was Doctor of Theology who married Susanna Marie the daughter of Johann Christian Kromayer and they had a son Romanus IV (1703- 1750), who was also a theologian.
Romanus III was Ecclesiastes Capitularis in Leipzig, 1702-1708 noon preacher in Weimar, 1708-1714 deacon to St. Nicolai in Leipzig, and 1714-1720 archdeacon. Teller’s wife Susanna Marie Kromayer is a sister of Ernst Kromayer (landscape commissioner in Weimar, † 1713), who together with J. S. Bach in 1712 took over the sponsorship at the Baptism of Johann Gottfried Walther the Elder J. in Weimar.
Among Romanus Teller’s publications include such works as; De existimatione philosophorum gentilium, imprimis Aristotelis Stagiritæ .. And right Als der Hoch-Würdige, Hoch-Wohlgebohrne und Hoch-Gelahrte …
Romanus III’s sister, Dorothea Barbara Teller (1670 – 1700), had married a man by the name of Johann Schleusing and when she died he published her funeral sermon book: Den Süssen Anblick des Todes eines gläubigen und from[m]en Christen …
When Romanus III died in 1721 a funeral book was published: Die letzte Rede Von der Gerechtmachenden Gnade, Welche der … Romanus Teller … that included contributions from men who were also connected by family ties such as Johann Leuber, Luder Mencke, Johann Burchard Mencke. Note another Abraham Teller?
Romanus Teller IV (1703 – 1750)
Son of Romanus III and Susannah Maria Kromayer. He studied from 1719 at the University of Leipzig, became a baccalaureate in 1720, master of philosophy in 1721, habilitated in 1721, became baccalaureate of theology and catechist at St. Peter’s Church in 1723, preacher on Saturday at St. Thomas Church, 1730 deacon at St. Maximus in Merseburg, an early preacher in 1732 and Oberkatechet to the Peterskirche Leipzig, 1737 subdeacon at the Thomaskirche, 1738 extraordinary Professor at the university, 1739 deacon at the Thomaskirche, licentiate in theology, 1740 ordinary Professor of theology, received his doctorate in theology in 1741 and received the 3rd theological professorship in 1745.
In 1739 Romanus IV and his farther in law, Friedrich Wilhelm Schutze, published: De Eloquentiae Praestantia Pavcvla Disserit Et Viro … Romano Tellero … Gratulatur … Schutze was a man of few words and we can only find one other work in which his name appears: Jōbēl Commentatio De Anno Iobelaeo Secvndvm Disciplinam Hebraeorvm, … , published in 1730.
The sons of Romanus IV and Wilhelmine Sophie (Schütze) Teller include: Romanus V (1732-1779); Georg Christian (1736 – 1764); Johann Friedrich (1736 – 1816) and Heinrich Gottlob (1744 – 1808). In 1757 they published a letter together Jo. Christiani Herrmanni Chemnit. Ad Viros Clarissimos Joannem Fridericum Et Georgium Christianum Telleros ….
Below Johann Friedrich Teller:
In 1763 Heinrich Gottlob Teller published: De Eo, An Fieri Possit, Ut Sublato Pontificis Imperio Reconcilientur Dissidentes In Religione Christiani Contra … and dedicated it to his father Romanus IV.
Wilhelm Abraham Teller (* 9th January 1734 in Leipzig; † 9th December 1804 in Berlin) the son of Romanus Teller IV was a Protestant theologian, hymn writer, and university professor. Teller studied theology and philosophy in his hometown of Leipzig. In 1761, he took a chair at the University of Helmstedt. He wrote some significant theological treatises among which an enlightened textbook of Christian belief, which appeared in 1764 in Halle under the title: Wilhelm Abraham Tellers … Lehrbuch des Christlichen Glaubens which sparked strong opposition in the central German lands.
The threat of narrowing his sphere he met with his emigration to Prussia. In 1767 he was in Berlin where he was appointed to the Oberkonsistorialrat [Upper Consistory Board [?]]. He was a member of the Berlin Society of Friends of the Enlightenment and was elected to The Prussian Academy of Sciences in 1786.
THE KROMAYER CONNECTION
We have noted above that Romanus Teller III married Susannah Maria Kromayer. Her family were theologians and made an impression in the 16th and 17th centuries which resulted in a number of portraits being issued which we show below the chart.
Below, six portraits of Hieronymus Kromayer (1610 – 1670) the nephew of Johannes Kromayer (1576 – 1643).
Below, Johannes Kromayer (1576 – 1643), whose great granddaughter Susannah married Romanus Teller III.
The above Hieronymus Kromayer (1610 – 1670) had married Anna Justina the daughter of Georg Tobias Schwendendörffer (below).
When Johann Benedict Carpzov died in October 1657 a funeral book was published a year later with the title beginning: Schöne Brüderschafft Des Unter-Hirten and which contained verse contributions by Abraham Teller and Hieronymus Kromayer:
