Traces of Riegel in Piesport

We have two main sources for genealogic research in Piesport:
1. Baptismal register of St. Martin, Niederemmel, starting 1632 with omissions. (LDS microfilm #466680)
2. Tax lists of Piesport, dating 1556, 1624, 1651 and later (Stadtbibliothek Trier, L10/17)

We cannot expect much information from these sources, because Mattheis and his wife Maria were born probably between 1605 and 1610 and left Piesport in about 1645, but the names of some of their relatives could be recorded. We would be happy if we could find birth records of their children Anna (1633), Jost (1635) or Michell (1636).

At first, none of the above sources show a surname Riegel, Riehell or Riehl. But, surprisingly, we do find some entries for the name Ruell. During my visit in Piesport, I noticed that the people from this town tend to pronounce the German umlaut "ue" very much like "ie". The local historian, Mr. J. Schemer, confirmed me that "Ruell" could be pronounced as [ry:el] in Piesport (unlike in Becherbach). This leads me to the assumption that when Mattheis Ruell moved to Becherbach and said his name [ry:el], the clerical of Becherbach thought it would be written as "Riehell". (Click on the blue [ry:el] to hear the effect, if your system is able to play WAV-files.) Another hint in this direction is the fact that a person Martin Ruell Riell is mentioned in the tax lists of Piesport in 1684.

The name Ruell etc. dissapeared in Piesport in 1733. The first finding is a Endrus Reul (!) in 1556.

From this, we conclude the following evolution of the name Riegel:
Reul (Piesport 1556) - Ruell (Piesport 1624) - Riehell, Riehl (Becherbach 1650) - Riegel (Becherbach 1680)

Also, Jost Pelzer, our Jost Riegel's sponsor baptism, is found in the tax list of Emmel 1624. According to the Becherbach parish register, page 353, he was the town major of Emmell at Jost Riegel's baptism 1635.
The town chronicle of Piesport lists the following oldest known town mayors:
Breidt, Conrad 1624
Schmidt, Johannes 1776
I sent a photocopy of the Becherbach register to Mr. Schemer and he responded:
"We can clearly assume now that Jost Pelzer was Conrad Breidt's successor as town mayor of Emmell"

The baptismal register of Emmell (today Niederemmel, part of Piesport) is written in Latin and difficult to read. It is not completely evaluated yet. But fortunately, Carol Holton Riggle sent me a page mentioning the birth of the twins Ericharius and Aurel Ruel in 1634.

Tax list of Neumagen 1624
Tax list of Piesport 1624
Tax list of Emmell 1624
Tax list of Reinsport 1624
Baptismal register of Emmell 1634