Our paternal Barthman ancesters originated from Windecken, a small town situated about 12 km from Hanau.

We can trace the family back to the 16th Century, during the times of the reformation. Around the mid-16th Century, the inhabitants of Windecken switched to the Lutheren faith. In a "second reformation" the population converted to more stricter protestant movement, the Reformed Protestant faith, following the guidelines set by Zwingli, Calvien etc. And so the first traces of the family are detected in the  Reformed church chronicles around 1585.

The pregenitor of the family was Conradt Barthman "der Eltere" (the elder) and Catharina Lappen. The family probaly lived in the vicinity of the church, as Conradt was also kwown as Conradt "bey der Kirchen" (near the church). Conradt died in 1628 under mysterious circumstances; he was found lying lethally wounded in a stream.

Conradt and Catharina had eleven children, four girls and seven boys. Heinrich Barthmann, one of their sons, was a shoemaker, who moved to Hannau. He married Sara, whose surname is not known, and Catharina de Peyster.

Elisabeth Barthman, daughter of Heinrich and Sara, was born in Hanau in 1646. She married the shoemaker Peter Rödiger [Rediger, Roediger] from Waldkappel in Hanau in 1666. Together they founded a dynesty of church warden and church ministers. Many Rödigers who followed became rose to fame in politics, theology, economy and education.