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For years, the most logical candidate for John Adam's father seemed to be Joerg Wendel Romig the wheelwright — born February 12, 1658, in Crispenhofen, about 40 miles east of Ittlingen. But research completed in June 2026 eliminated him.
In February 1689 — the same month John Adam Romich was born in Neidenstein, 40 miles to the west — Joerg Wendel Romig's son Hanns Michel was baptized in Crispenhofen.9 The same man cannot be in two places in the same month. The wheelwright was in Crispenhofen when John Adam entered the world. Joerg Wendel Romig cannot be John Adam's father.
The better candidate is the other Wendel: Wendel Romig, born March 18, 1659, son of Stoffel (Christopher) Romig and Susanna — one year younger than Joerg Wendel and from a different branch of the same Crispenhofen family. He carries the right name from the right family. His father Stoffel died at Bobachshof bei Ingelfingen in October 1694; sons of his were buried there in 1695 and ca. 1703.10 His marriage record has not been found, and no document yet places him in Ittlingen or Neidenstein.
This identification is not proven.11 The best that can be said is this: the Romig family that eventually settled in Ittlingen almost certainly came from the Crispenhofen area of Württemberg — a family of court officers, wheelwrights, and farmers who had lived in that corner of the Hohenlohe countryside for at least four generations.
Romich (Romig) family tree, three generations: Georg Wendel Romich and Margaretha Herner through the children of John Adam and Philip Balthasar. Chart compiled by Karla Tipton.
Neuenstein Castle houses the Crispenhofen archives. Photograph by Joan Reed.