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Would very much appreciate assistance with language in headstone from German Catholic cemetery in Cincinnati.

Hier ruhet Johann . Englert (is middle initial also a J?) geb 11 Nov. 1826 in Leigen______ (just guessing as to those first letters) Bayern gest 4 April 1884 _______________ (can't make out, think refers to his wife) Eva Englert geb 20 Mai 1832 gest __ April 1901

Would appreciate especially help with the name of the town in Bavaria and middle initial. Thank you in advance, James

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Yes, the middle initial looks clearly like the same letter J.

This is what I make of it:

Hier ruhet
Johann J. Englert
geb. 11. Nov. 1826
in Heigenbrücken, Bayern.
gest. 4. April 1884
Friede seiner Asche.
Eva Englert
geb 20 Mai 1832.
gest. 14 April 1901

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Hier ruhet Johann V. Englert,
geb. 11. Nov 1826
Heigenbrücken Bayern
gest. 4. April 1884
Friede seiner Asche
Eva Englert
geb. 26 (or 20.). Mai 1832
gest. 14. April 1901

The middle initial seems to be a U or V, but could also be a J (and no-one would really care much in Germany ;) Nobody wears middle initials here)

Heigenbrücken is a small village in northern Bavaria (Franken) close to Aschaffenburg. And yes, that family name still seems to be pretty common over there. In fact the long term previous mayor used to be a man of that name.

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    No one cares for the middle name in spoken conversation, though it might matter on formal documents where the full name needs to be stated. Also due to the old time habit of naming the first son after the father and keeping family names patrilineal it might happen that names are doubling in family history and so it a middle name could help to distinguish them.
    – haxor789
    Commented Jan 12, 2023 at 10:42
  • I made a small spelling correction. Just so you know, English speakers would expect a mayor to be called "Burgomaster" in German speaking countries, also Dutch and some other languages. I know "Burgomaster" isn't spelled correctly in any of those languages but that's English for you.
    – RDBury
    Commented Jan 12, 2023 at 17:52
  • @RDBury Better, maybe, than butchering the pronunciation and spell it right.
    – tofro
    Commented Jan 12, 2023 at 18:21
  • The middle initial is quite probably an abbreviation for "Josef" or "Joseph". The combination of given names "Johann Josef" was quite common in Bavaria until the last century. Abbreviating the second name to "J." is probably a concession to the American custom of only spelling out one given name (the "first name") and abbreviating all others (as "middle initials".)
    – Tilman Schmidt
    Commented Jan 15, 2023 at 1:25

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