Wolfgang von Waltershausen was a descendant of the historian and friend of Goethe, Georg Friedrich Sartorius, who had acquired the Lower Franconian estate of Waltershausen shortly before his death. The acquisition of the status of baron of the hereditary Bavarian nobility was linked to the estate. For this reason, the family has borne the name Sartorius von Waltershausen or just von Waltershausen ever since.
