Petrus Soterius has always been considered the earliest known ancestor. But we can in fact go back a further two generations.

These two ancestors however, were called Schochter(t), not Soterius. But both names can be regarded as the same considering the following circumstances: The Schochters or Schochterts emigrated south from the Mosel-Frankish language region, which is the area between Aachen, Germany and Lüttich (Leige) Belgium to the Siebenbürgen area of Romania.

The first mentioned, Valentinus Schochtert was born c1554, he lived in the Jibert village of Stein (Garat or Dacia) near Basov, Romania and was a country farmer ('land bauer'). His son Peter Schochtert born c1584 also lived in Stein was possibly a Christian scholar (words on the family tree appear to say 'Christinus Scholarius'), he married Martha Goldwein.

It was both very fashionable and very common to use Latin surnames. The name Schmied or Schmidt for example, became Faber (the Latin word for smith and, more generally, for carpenter, joiner or handyman).

In regard to the name of Schochtert, the following explanation is most likely: Schöchtert is a wooden milking pail. In the Mosel-Frankish language, a Schochter was a person who manufactured such cooper milking pails. Alternatively, a less likely explanation would be that the name is derived from the Greek word for saviour, soter. The "t" in Schochtert however, did not quite fit in with the desired latinisation - it would have led to Sotert. Hence the Latin suffix "ius" was attached to make it Soterius.

Peter Schochtert's son was Petrus Soterius born in Stein (Garat or Dacia) in 1618 He became a Lutheran pastor in Bodendorf (Buneşti) and was the first of three generations of pastors in the family.

Petrus married twice, first to Anna Thomae (1632-66) they had a daughter Anna Soterius who later married Andreas Westh, they had a son given the same name, born 24th August 1681 in Schãssburg (Segesvar) but we know no more about him.

Petrus then married Barbara Kisling (1633-91) the daughter of Adam Kissing. The Kissings are an old Saxon family of royal judges, whose earliest known ancestor was born in 1414 and served as a royal judge in Leschkirch.

Most interestingly, during the time of the Turkish rule, Petrus was sent, along with Superintendent Lucas Hermann, as an emissary to the camp of Ali Pasha (during the Rakoczi Uprising) between Radnot and Varsarhely. Over the course of the complex throne disputes of the year 1661, which was before Michael Apafi became Fürst von Siebenbürgen, for Ali Pasha it appeared to be a step worth taking to put a Saxon onto a Prince's unsteady wavering seat.

In an attempt to win over the sympathies of the Saxons, Ali Pasha quickly offered the superintendent the office as Fürst von Siebenbürgen. After Hermann - certainly not without smiling to himself – had refused the offered promotion, Ali turned to Soterius who, dressed up in his priestly robes, had been able to make a stately impression upon the Pasha.

As Soterius also turned him down by pointing out his modest circumstances, the infatigable protector said pridefully, "The Sultan has more than enough money to make you a rich man." He added that apart from this, he, the Pasha of Buda, was a rich man himself. By saying that, he had accidentally confused Soterius' residence of Bodendorf, which is called Szász-Buda in Hungarian, with the term Buda (stove). After this humorous interlude in which, for the first and certainly also for the last time, a Saxon pastor had been proposed for the office of the Fürst von Siebenbürgen, Soterius returned to his usual quiet clerical environment.

They had a daughter Sophie who we know nothing about, and a son Georg of whom we know a lot. Petrus died in 1679 in Bodendorf (Buneşti) near Schãssburg in Romania.

This article is taken from the family history book compiled by Fritz Soterius von Sachsenheim.

This document has been translated by www.janserKraft.com