Michael Lorenz: Mozart's Great-great-great-grandfather: an Update

Jan 20, 2013

Mozart's Great-great-great-grandfather: an Update

One really should not conduct research, unless one is determined to actually publish it. It turns out that in February 2012, I did not pursue my research to the necessary extent and therefore did not try to locate the entry pertaining to the wedding of Mozart's great-great-great-grandfather Leonhard Altmann. Shortly after 22 June 1595, Leonhard Altmann married the widow Agnes Hoffmeister (A-Wd, Tom. 7, fol. 252v):

Leonhardt Altman von arbin[g] aus paiern nimbt / Agnes weiland Georg Hoffmeister Wittib. Domenica 1a 3[ni]tatis

Leonhardt Altmann from Arbing in Bavaria takes Agnes, the widow of the deceased Georg Hofmeister Fist Sunday after Trinity

This document proves that Mozart's Viennese ancestors originally hailed from Bavaria. Arbing cannot be identified, because there are simply too many places with that name. Furthermore, no baptismal records of these villages survive from the sixteenth century. Since I have not been able so far to find the marriage entry of the "vintner on the Landstraße" Georg Hoffmeister in the Vienna church records, the maiden name of Mozart's great-great-great-grandmother Agnes Altmann (widowed Hoffmeister) still remains unknown. The baptisms of the following children from her first marriage are documented in the records of St. Stephen's Cathedral.