Michael (Michel) I KERN

Stonemason in Forchtenberg. He and Hans Kern are listed on 15 June 1564 as "zwei Meuerer von Enslingen" in the records of the construction of the gate tower and central structure of the castle in Hermersberg. (This isprobably the Hans Kern who is called Krauthans von Forchtenberg, who committed theft and other crimes in 1573–1574 and was punished, and became a citizen of Forchtenberg in 1579.) In 1582 Michael is documented as a"Viertelmeister" in Forchtenberg. He lived in the Schulgasse in Forchtenberg, two houses after the Oberen Tor. He is depicted on a gravestone in Forchtenberg, now in poor condition and housed in the Kern-Haus, carved by his sonMichael or more likely his grandson Michael. His epitaph on it reads “An(n)o · 1603 · de(n) 1 Martij ist / in gott Entschlaffen · der / Ersam · Michel Kern · der / alt · seines Allters · 74 · / Jar · dem gott Genad / Amen” (In theyear 1603 on March 1, the honorable Michel Kern the elder died in God, aged 74 years, God’s grace to him, Amen)

His gravestone, preserved in the Kern-Haus in Forchtenberg, gives his death date as 1 Mar 1603.

Comments