Origin

The House of Grenz takes its name from Grenzau Castle in the Westerwald, raised about 1213 by the Counts of Isenburg. From it were named the knightly family von Grenzau, a branch of the House of Braunsberg, and the line Schneiß von Grenzau, both in the service of the Electorate of Trier. To that name the tradition of the House attaches itself.

The documented line

The provable stem begins with Johannes Grenz (1641–1711), who came from the neighbourhood of Maastricht into the Odenwald and is entered in the parish registers as “genannt zu Steinbuch, zuletzt zu Balsbach.” Through Steinbuch, Michelstadt and Erbach the succession continues unbroken to the present day.

Dispersion

In the nineteenth century branches of the House went to the Black Sea — to Berezan, Ananiv and Odesa — and to North America, to Dakota. From Odesa the senior line continues; head of the House since 2021 is Bohdan Grenz Hnatiuk.

A house of the clergy

Through every century, and across the boundaries of confession, members of the House have stood in holy orders. The House holds this to be its true inheritance.

• Wilhelm Schneiß von Grenzau — priest, attested 1477
• Prior of Maria Laach of the family Schneiß von Grenzau, 1391; a kinswoman as abbess
• Salentin von Isenburg-Grenzau (1532–1610) — Archbishop and Elector of Cologne
• Ludwig Grenz — Premonstratensian canon, parish priest at Ensheim 1692–1697 and at Britten 1707–1728
• Gerhard Grenz (1930–2015) — Protestant pastor, theologian, religious educator and hymn-writer
• Richard Grenz — Baptist pastor for thirty years; his son Stanley James Grenz (1950–2005), theologian

Roman, Protestant, free-church — one stem, many altars.