Since Anna Margaretha’s father was listed as “of Neustadt a.d. Aisch” on her marriage record we started searching there for her family. The surname Sieb was very limited and so it was easy to find Aegidius Sieb’s family in the Neustadt records. Anna Margaretha was born 1 November 1803 in Neustadt. She was the fourth of five children of Aegidius Sieb and Barbara Roth. There were 4 girls and one brother who did not survive past childhood.

At the time of her birth the area she lived in was part of Franconia, not Bavaria, and was part of the growing Prussian Empire by agreement which extended to the modern-day Russian border. Franconians did not think of themselves as “Franconian”, rather, they would say “I am from Ansbach”, giving a town or small region name. The Franks trace their heritage back to before Charlemagne, who was himself a descendant of the Franconians.

It is believed that since Anna’s father, Aegidus Sieb, was a Sergeant in the Royal Prussian Hussars #11 that he was sent to Jena/Auerstadt during the invasion by Napoleon’s army in 1806. During those times the soldiers often had their families with them as “camp followers”. It was not usual for the family to stay home while soldiers went to war. So at this time, the supposition is that the family was in the Jena area during the disastrous Jena/Auerstadt campaign in which thousands of Prussian solders were killed in battle. The death rate was so high that they were unable to record the names of all the fallen from the battle. From the records we have, Aegidus’ wife Barbara went back to Neustadt An Der Aisch with at least her son because the deaths of both of those were recorded at Neustadt. Somehow, Anna Margaretha is not recorded with her mother.

Therefore this scenario is proposed: Aegidus died at that battle and the rest of the family who came with him was separated. Imagine the chaos. Somehow mother, Barbara, and her son Leonard made it back to Neustadt, but Lieutenant Johann Christian WAGNER became the guardian of Anna Margaretha as stated in her marriage record. He or his wife also appear as godparent to several of Anna’s children at Erfurt. So far Lt. Wagner has not been found in a unit from Neustadt, but only as a member of the Invalid Unit at Heiligenstadt (wounded, disabled soldiers). The marriage record indicates that Anna was adopted when she was 1 year old and her parents were dead, but that is unlikely since her mother died later than her father– he in 1806 and mother in 1809. Wagner probably couldn’t find Anna’s mother and assumed she died in 1806 as well as the father.

Anna’s marriage was probably arranged since her guardian had to give permission and Karl Friese was also a military soldier. We would always like to think that our ancestors met and fell in love, but that was not usually the case. Anna Margaretha Henriette Sieb married Karl Ludwig August Emil Friese in 1826 at Heiligenstadt, not far from Erfurt, both centers of military units.

Marriage record of Karl Ludwig Friese and Anna Margaretha Sieb gives the name of both parents for Karl and for Anna Margaretha.