While nearly half my ancestors I’ve found to date were farmers or day laborers, a good handful were also mayors.

Through both my father and mother’s side, I trace myself back to mayors in Germany and France. Also known as a Schultheiß or Burgermeister, a mayor in Europe was historically the “chief administrative officer” of his jurisdiction and “served as the link between village government and the representatives of the ruling prince,” according to “Becoming German” by Philip Otterness.

In some places the mayor was elected and in others he was appointed by the central government. Mayors “needed to be literate,” while “many of the villagers he represented could not read or write.” Literacy was not common in rural parts of Germany until the late 1700s, according to Otterness.

Here are the mayors I descend of, sorted chronologically by year of birth:

–Nicolaus Von RITTENHOFFEN, born about 1370, Mayor of Saarbrücken, Saarland, 18th great-grandfather
–Hans der Junger WANNEMACHER, born 1535, Mayor of Darmstadt, Hessen, 13th great-grandfather
–Hans Marx KLEIN, born 1620, Mayor of Waldfischbach, Rheinland-Pfalz, 9th great-grandfather
–Jean DuPONT, born about 1623, Mayor of Homburg, Saarland, 10th great-grandfather
–Michael REUTER, born about 1630, Mayor of Medelsheim, Saarland, 8th great-grandfather
–Jean PLAIDEUR, born about 1640, Mayor of Bierbach, Saarland, 10th great-grandfather
–Heinrich KLEIN, born 1642, Mayor of Waldfischbach, Rheinland-Pfalz, 8th-great-grandfather
–Andre SCHUVER, born about 1649, Mayor of Wiesviller, Moselle, 8th-great-grandfather
–Claude-Nicolas BENOIT, born about 1662, Mayor of Homburg, Saarland, 9th great-grandfather
–Adam GRUNDISCH, born 1673, Mayor of Pörrbach, Rheinland-Pfalz, 6th great-grandfather
–Jean-Adam UEBELHOER, born 1743, Mayor of Bremmelbach, Alsace, 6th great-grandfather
–Christien UEBELHOER, born 1769, Mayor of Bremmelbach, Alsace, 5th great-grandfather