The Sacrament of Baptism, Wittenberg Altarpiece, 1547. Lucas Cranach the Elder and the Younger. Stadtkirche St. Marien, Wittenberg.
When John Adam Romich sailed for Pennsylvania in September 1732, his brother Philip Balthasar built his civic career in Ittlingen.
Philip Balthasar Romich and his wife Agnes Elisabetha26 — baptized their children in the same church register, on the same pages, in the same handwriting as John Adam and Agnes Margaretha.
The church register documents Philip Balthasar's family across the following two decades — eight baptisms in all, from 1721 to 1741, spanning the years of his brother's departure and his own rise through civic life.
Their son Johann Heinrich was baptized Sept. 25, 1721 — just four days after his cousin Maria Margaretha. Another son, Johann Dietrich, was baptized ca. Jan. 28, 1729, and died Nov. 25, 1749, at 20.27
Agnes Elisabetha Romich served as godparent for a Huber family child in 1726 — the Huber who were Agnes Margaretha's maternal kin. The two brothers' families did not simply live in the same town; their social worlds were intertwined, the godparent table at one baptism filled by the neighbors who would appear at the next.
The godparent network surrounding this family is, if anything, more densely official than John Adam's. Magistrates, estate administrators, and the innkeeper dynasty of the Ochsenwirt appear repeatedly. Philip Balthasar was building civic standing through the same instrument his brother had used — the godparent table at the baptismal font — and he used it to greater visible effect, serving in every major civic office in Ittlingen.
Children of Philip Balthasar Romich and Agnes Elisabetha — Ittlingen, 1721–1741
| Child | Born / Baptized | Died | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johann Heinrich | b. Sept. 25, 1721; bapt. Sept. 28 | — | Survived to adulthood; magistrate-class godparents. |
| Georg Wendel | b. 27 Oct. 1723; bapt. 29 Oct. 1723 (also indexed as 29 Oct. 1724 — duplicate entry, same child) | 5 Feb. 1784 (age 61) | Indexed twice under slightly different dates — same child, not a second son. This is the Georg Wendel who sat on the 1752 Ortsgericht and co-leased the Mayleshof with his father. Daughter Christiana m. Martin Schued, 20 May 1784, three and a half months after his death. |
| Johann Dietrich | b. ca. Jan. 20–28, 1729; bapt. ca. Jan. 23 | Nov. 25, 1749 (age 20) | Died young; note in church register confirmed by marginal death entry. |
| Anna Elisabetha | b. Dec. 2, 1731; bapt. Dec. 4 | 1732 (infant) | Marginal death note “† 1732” in primary source; died within months of baptism. |
| Anna Maria | b. Nov. 9, 1734; bapt. Nov. 24 | 1772 | First child baptized after John Adam’s departure; PB listed as “des Raths” (Councilman) for first time. |
| Johannes | b. Dec. 25, 1737; bapt. Dec. 28 | Apr. 10, 1738 (3 months) | Died at 3.5 months. |
| Philipp Christoph | b. Nov. 25, 1740; bapt. Nov. 27 | Mar. 18, 1741 (3 months) | Died at 3.5 months; widow of a Greiner (mayor’s family) as godparent. |
| Johannes (II) | b. ca. 1716 (est.) | Sept. 19, 1802 (age 86) | Married Rosina Jeggerton of Götzingen; last Romig burial recorded in Ittlingen register; burial entry lists parents as “Balthasar Romig & Elisabetha.” |
Sources: Ittlingen Evangelical Church Records, LDS Film 1189133; primary images via Archion.de, June 2026. Georg Wendel: two index entries (27 Oct. 1723 and 29 Oct. 1724) represent the same child, not two sons; the 5 Feb. 1784 burial record (age 61) confirms birth ca. 1723 and rules out an early childhood death. Johann Dietrich death confirmed by marginal entry in primary source. Anna Elisabetha death note "† 1732" in primary source contradicts a FamilySearch index entry giving 1798; primary source governs. Johannes (II) birth year estimated by back-calculation from burial age (86 years, 2 months, 28 days; died Sept. 19, 1802). Baptism record for Johannes (II) not located in surviving register images.
Godparents and witnesses, by child: Johann Heinrich — Joh. Heinrich Frölich; Margaretha Foltzert, wife of Magistrate Johann Georg Foltzert of Sinsheim. Georg Wendel — Georg Adam Wacker, Magistrate (Anwaldt) of Wimpfen; Joh. Jacob Schüeßmann; Anna Maria Friedrichin. Johann Dietrich — Geiger family of Ittlingen; Adam Uhler’s son; Barbara Weberin; Anna Catharina Gregerin of Berwangen. Anna Elisabetha — Hannß Georg Henninger; Heinrich von Bergen; Frau Schüeßmann (wife of Ochsenwirt). Anna Maria — Joh. Heinrich Schüeßmann; Joh. Heinrich Frölich; Elisabetha Pfisterin; Anna Barbara von Bergen. Johannes — Joh. Heinrich Schüeßmann; Joh. Georg Frölich; Joh. Christoph Wacker of Gemmingen; Anna Maria Wacker; Anna Susanna Schüeßmannin. Philipp Christoph — Joh. Heinrich Schüeßmann; Anna Maria Friedrichin, widow of Philipp Friedrich Greiner. Johannes (II) — Not recorded in surviving portion of register.
A South German family, circa 1580–90 — the Romichs of Ittlingen left no portrait, but this was the visual world they inhabited. Unknown Southern German Master. Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich.
Civic Arc
Philip Balthasar's civic career unfolded across the same years his brother was building a new life in Pennsylvania. The titles attached to his name in the baptism register trace the arc:
He is simply "Philipp Balthasar Romich, Bürger" — citizen — in the entries from 1721 through his brother's departure in 1732. By 1734, with the baptism of Anna Maria, he becomes "des Raths" — of the council. In 1751 he serves as Feldrichter, presiding over the renewal of Ittlingen's boundary stones in a formal community ceremony. In 1752 he is a sworn member of the Ortsgericht — the village court of 12 — and that same year co-leases the Mayleshof, one of the six great farmsteads of Ittlingen, from the Gemmingen-Hornberg lords.1
He outlived his brother John Adam, who died in Pennsylvania in 1768. By then Philip Balthasar's line was established in Ittlingen for another generation — and another after that. An Adam Romich served as Bürgermeister, mayor, of Ittlingen from approximately 1844 to 1855.2 The branch that stayed did not merely survive; it flourished, until it didn't.
The last Romig entry in the Ittlingen register reviewed for this project is Johannes Romig, buried Sept. 21, 1802, age 86 years, 2 months, 28 days. His wife was Rosina, born Jeggerton, from Götzingen. His parents are listed as Balthasar Romig and Elisabetha.
He had been born, by that accounting, in the summer of 1716 — the year before John Adam signed the pig-tax power of attorney. He was the oldest living Romig in Ittlingen when he died.
Notes
- Gustav Neuwirth, Geschichte der Gemeinde Ittlingen (Ittlingen: Municipality of Ittlingen, 1981), pages 153–154 (Mayleshof lease); page 178 (1751 Feldrichter); pages 234–235 (1752 Ortsgericht, Bürgerliste); GLA Archiv Gemmingen A 2506.
- Neuwirth, Geschichte der Gemeinde Ittlingen, page 393 (Bürgermeister list): Adam Romich, Bürgermeister approximately 1844–1855.