Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt

Maria Elisabeth Lemmerhirt, often written Lämmerhirt loud baptismal Maria Elisabetha Koch, ( born 26 February 1644 in Erfurt, † May 1, 1694 in Eisenach ) was the mother of Johann Sebastian Bach.

She was the daughter of Valentin Lemmerhirt (d. 1665 ), a furrier and coachman from Erfurt. The parents' house in Erfurt Junkersand is still preserved. Lemmerhirt married on April 8, 1668 in Kaufmann Church in Erfurt her friend from childhood, Johann Ambrosius Bach ( 1645-1695 ). Housing shortage and the unfavorable economic situation prompted the young couple, 1671 Erfurt to leave and settle in Eisenach. There, in 1685 Johann Sebastian Bach was born as the eighth son.

A half sister of Lemmerhirt was the grandmother of the musician and musicologist Johann Gottfried Walther, with the Johann Sebastian Bach worked in Weimar.