16th & 17th Century Kaltofens,
Origins of the family name




        

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1910 postcard from the Sudetenland - 'Greetings from Kaltofen'
Note furnace in left rear of photo















The earliest recorded Kaltofens lived near the towns of Chemnitz and Dresden in Saxony (Sachsen), Germany and in Aschaffenburg in Bayern, Germany.  Mormon and FGR records show more than 300 individual Kaltofens born in Saxony between 1500 and 1900.  Half way between Chemnitz and Dresden today, just outside of Striegistal, is a major street called Kaltofen Strasse, which connects to the A4 Chemnitz-Dresden autoway in Kaltofen, Germany.  This area is almost certainly the point of origin of the Kaltofen family.


Dresden is also the site of the Medieval Castle Kalkofen, (Schloss Kalkofen).  Kalkofen is literal German for "Lime kiln." Kaltofen is literal German for "cold furnace." A kaltofen (cold furnace, for iron and glass works) and a kalkofen (lime kiln) would both have been required at major canal and lock, cathedral, and castle construction sites. 


Aschaffenburg, a city in Northwest Bayern near Hesse was already a home city to the wealthy Kaltofen brothers Heinrich, Johann, and Konrad in 1483. 





chemnitz/dresden map







While kaltofen literally means cold furnace in German, Medieval alchemists also called the ferocious reactivity of phosphorus chemistry the "cold furnace." Medieval metal casters and glass makers also knew the "cold furnace" as the starting point of their casts, and also as the dangerous quenching phase of casting. 


Some early records on Kaltofen family members include:


  • Sabrina Kaldofen b. May 22, 1569 of Chemnitz, Sachsen, daugh. of Caspar Kaltofen

  • Melchior Kaltofen b. Aug. 15, 1571, of Chemnitz, Sachsen,

  • Barbara Kaltofen b. 1595, of Dresden, Sachsen,


    Later Kaltofens include:


    

  • Johann Gottfried Kaltofen b. 1714, son of Christian Kaltofen and Christine Vogel, in Chemnitz

  • Friederich Kaltofen b. 1735

  • August Friederich Kaltofen b. 1769 of Dresden, Sachsen


    Kaltofens born contemporary to Freiderich Kaltofen (All in Chemnitz)


  • Anna Sophia Kaltofen b. April 16, 1744 to J. G. Kaltofen (above)

  • Christian Friederich Kaltofen b. Oct. 23, 1745  to J. G. Kaltofen (above)

  • Anna Rosina Kaltofen b. 1749  to J. G. Kaltofen (above)











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