Franz Honselmann

Franz Honselmann (born June 16, 1850 in Paderborn ; † October 29, 1940 there ) was a German publisher and family researcher .

Life

Grave site of the Honselmann family in the east cemetery in Paderborn

Franz Honselmann was the son of the baker and beer brewer Joseph Honselmann († 1858) and Ludovika Honselmann born. Storck (1822–1895), who came from Letmathe (now the city of Iserlohn ). Honselmann became hard of hearing at an early age and had to stop attending grammar school after completing the fourth . His Lethmater relatives took him in and got him a job as a clerk. Old family records from the possession of the befriended Höynck family and in the house where his father was born in Reiste (today Eslohe municipality ) should have sparked his interest in family history.

A job as an accountant at the Ferdinand Schöningh publishing house enabled Honselmann to return to Paderborn in 1874. He stayed with the company until his retirement; by his 50th anniversary in 1924, he had achieved the position of authorized signatory .

In addition to his job, Honselmann was active in the Catholic Church. In 1885 he was co-founder of the Congregation of Young Catholic Merchants in Paderborn, and in 1888 of the Bonifatius Collective Association. In the Westfälische Volksblatt published by Verlag Schönigh, he promoted the association's concerns, in particular the building of churches in Berlin, for which he was able to raise 339,500 marks by 1904 alone. For his services he was awarded the Order of Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice by the Pope in 1914 .

The delivery problems of the Westfälische Volksblatt prompted Honselmann to suggest changes to the timetable for the administration of the Prussian State Railway . He was then sent by the Chamber of Commerce for south-eastern Westphalia in Arnsberg to the timetable conferences agreed with the railway management. From 1930 these took place in Paderborn to enable the weakened Honselmann to participate. Honselmann's extensive proposals for improving rail traffic were printed by the Chamber of Commerce in 1914, but were not pursued any further because of the outbreak of war. Because of his services to the transport sector, the Paderborn Tourist Office made him an honorary member.

Honselmann published his family history research as the Sauerland Family Archive , an irregularly published series of publications. 11 issues were published between 1904 and 1920, and in 1931 all issues were reprinted in one volume with an expanded index. In 1983 a reprint was published, expanded to include a portrait of Honselmann's life.

Franz Honselmann had been married to Pauline Rathscheck from Herstelle (now the city of Beverungen ) since 1898, and the marriage resulted in two sons and a daughter. The eldest son Joseph was killed in the Marne battle in 1918, the second son was the church historian Klemens Honselmann , long-time chairman of the Association for the History and Archeology of Westphalia, Dept. Paderborn .

Fonts

• Sauerland family archive. Communications on the history of Westphalian families, 11 vols. Paderborn 1904–1920, total print with register Paderborn 1931 (reprint Paderborn 1983, edited by Klemens Honselmann )
• Pedigree of Justizrat Joseph Pape , in: Heimatwacht, special issue for the 100th birthday of the poet Joseph Pape , Paderborn 1931.
• Genealogy and family research Paderborn 1934. (Collection Der deutsche Quell )
• Maternal ancestors of the poet Hermann Löns , in: Mitteilungen der Westdeutsche Gesellschaft für Familienkunde, 1935, Issue 9. (Extended reprint in: Contributions to Westphalian Family Studies, 1940)