When I became aware that my immigrant ancestor August Knatz came from the area known as Hesse, Germany, I decided to search the current state of Hessen phonebooks to see if I could find any Knatz names listed. I found ten and I wrote them all letters. One letter from Walter Knatz from Niedenstein contained information that led me to believe that I had found the ancestral town of my family. As it turned out, the Knatz family has been documented to have lived in the town of Niedenstein for approximately 400 years. He is the only person with the last name Knatz today in Niedenstein. (Sadly, Walter Knatz passed away on April 9, 2021.) Walter has a daughter Sonja who has married Peter Passmann. They have a son, Dennis. From this town of Niedenstein, the Knatz family has spread out to other parts of Germany. According to family letters send from Niedenstein to New York in the late 19th century, some Knatz’s moved to Kassel to find work. At this time, I do not know if the Knatz’s in all other places is Germany have their roots in Niedenstein or not but one can imagine over a 400 year period, that Knatz members would have left Niedenstein for other places than Germany. At this time, this website covers the Knatz’s who moved from Germany to other parts of Germany, Africa and Russia.
