The Family of Peter Hardt and Barbara Betzold

The Gamekeeper's Cottage - Nuhweiler

Peter Hardt entered the scene at Nuhweiler as the gamekeeper for Count Josef Anton von Öttingen-Soetern.  Count Anton inherited Soetern, the territory which included Nuhweiler, from his father in 1751.  However, he only took up residence there in 1863, after building a castle for his residence at nearby Dagstuhl.  The gamekeeper's cottage, shown above, was built about 1770, for Count Anton's new gamekeeper, Peter Hardt, who came from Ettersheim in Hesse to assume the post.

Marriage Record of Peter Hardt and Barbara Betzold

This helps explain the location of Nuhweiler.  About a mile distant from the village of Lockweiler, it was probably near a forested area where Peter could help prevent poaching of the Count's game.  However, following the French Revolution of 1792, the French army captured the Saar basin and annexed it to France.  As a result all the local nobility and official fled the area and the French established a new civil and social order.  There was clearly no need for a gamekeeper.  It was probably around this time that the house and barn were built next to the gamekeeper's cottage and Nuhweiler became the small farming community it is today.

Peter Hardt was born in Ettersheim, Hesse, the son of Johann Hardt and Margaretha Schmeltzing.  On April 9, 1782⁴, he married Barbara Betzold, the daughter of Johann Betzold and Anna Feltes.  Barbara was born on February 25, 1756⁴.  Peter and Barbara settled in Nuhweiler, presumable occupying the gamekeeper's cottage.  However, Peter must have died shortly before 1785, the year Barbara married a second time.

Peter and Barbara had the following children:

Following the death of her husband, Barbara married Peter Merl on April 19, 1785⁴.  They had four children.  Peter died on July 12, 1814⁴, and Barbara died on November 16, 1846⁴.

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