From Merkelbeek to Märckelbach:
A Social History with Deep Roots

being cobbled together by Henry K van Eyken
for Elisabeth H., Marc, Elisabeth G., Eric, Adriana, & whomever may come ...
in memory of Adriaan Märckelbach (1896-1965)

CONTENTS:
        List of branches and subbranches.
        Source identification in the tree formatted pages.
        Reliability of genealogical information provided by this site.    ¶ 2

January 28, 2012
Branches of the Merckelbach family tree   ¶ 3

The subdivision and naming of the various branches of the Merckelbach family tree, as presented here, is fairly arbitrary. Nevertheless a major distinction is made between those branches that we have attached to the trunk and those we were unable to do so. We might refer to them as main branches and unconnected branches, respectively. In addition we have subsidiary branches that branched off from either a main or an unconnected branch.   ¶ 4

The main branches, i.e. those connected to the trunk, are the:
      • Heerlen branch,
      • Wittem branch,
      • Heiden branch,
      • Thimistre branch,
      • Soest branch,
      • Strasbourg branch,
      • Hottorf branch.   ¶ 5

Subsidiary to the Soest branch:
      • Grenzhausen branch
and most likely the:
      • Westerwald fragments.
Most likely subsidiary, but not yet properly connected to the Grenzhausen branch:
      • Groningen branch,
      • Maastricht branch.   ¶ 6

Most likely a continuation of the Hottorf branch are:
      • Rotterdam branch,
      • Tienen branch,
but direct documentary evidence is still lacking.   ¶ 7

Subsidiary to the Tienen branch:
      • Eersel branch
      • Hasselt branch
      • Lommel-A branch
      • Lommel-B branch
      • Woensel branch
      • Moerdijk branch
      • Lieshout branch
      • Zeelst branch   ¶ 8

Special case of a family name adopted by Royal Assent:
      • Merkelbach van Enkhuizen tree, which we find incorporated in the Moerdijk branch.   ¶ 9

SOURCES:
The original sources of the information contained in the trunk and the major branches were Ahnenforschung Kreutzwald (Kreutzwald, for short) and then Max Dechamps, Der Ursprung des Geschichtes Merckelbach (Dechamps). Since that time, a large amount of authoritative material has been donated or purchased.   ¶ 10

We try to properly identify our sources. This is done in two ways. The pages showing tree formats roughly identify sources with notations such as pk for Peter Kreutzwald, rm for Rudolf Merkelbach, etc. The databases pinpoint the sources more precisely.   ¶ 11

These are the source identifiers used in the tree formats:
      • ad: family advertisements found in newspapers.
      • ak: Ahnenforschung der Familie Aufm Kampe, Teilliste Quetting: Familiendatenblatt von Leonhard von Merckelbach. (Aufm. Kampe).
      • aw: Adrien Weirich, Histoire d'une vieille demeure de l'époque gallo-romaine a nos jours. Port Autonome de Strasbourg, MCMLXI. (Weirich).
      • da: "Official" Dutch digital archives.
      • dc: Original documents or photocopies thereof.
      • fa: Family Search (Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints).
      • fg: Data from websites of other families.
      • fm: Friedrich Wilhelm Merkelbach, Familie Merkelbach, 1925 for the first of three parts, for the second, and for the third part. (F.W. Merkelbach).
      • fp: Funs Patelski, Genealogie van de familie Merckelbach uit het Land van Herle in de 17e en 18e eeuw in Zestig jaar vorsen in de geschiedenis van Parkstad Limburg, a "Jubileumboek" published by Stichting Historische Kring 'Het Land van Herle' in Heerlen and available from the author. (Patelski).
      • fs: Fritz Stahler, Die Merckelbach in der Pfalz. Pfäsisch-Rheinische Familien Kunde No. 9, Vol. 5 (1979). (Stahler).
      • gl: Genlias, data from official civic registers and some from registers of baptism. Genlias is the joint product of regional historic centres and Dutch archive services.
      • gn: Geneanet.
      • gv: Stamboom I.D.M. de Vries.
      • hr: Hans Rupprecht, Die Merckelbachs im Dienste der Stadt Soest von 1563 bis 1661. Soester Zeitschrift, Vol. 81, (1969). (Rupprecht).
      • kd: Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie.
      • lm: Louis Henricus Merkelbach correspondence.
      • lr: Louise Reinhout correspondence.
      • md: Max Dechamps, Der Ursprung des Geschichtes Merckelbach. (Dechamps).
      • mm: Communications (oral and email) with Margie Rosenstrauch-Marckelbach.
      • np: 2009 edition of Nederland's Patriciaat published by the Centraal Bureau for Genealogy. Address: Prins Willem-Alexanderhof 22, Postbus 11755, 2502 AT, The Hague, The Netherlands. (Patriciaat).
      • pb: Contributions made by Peter Bohrer from his researches.
      • pk: Ahnenforschung Kreutzwald. (Kreutzwald).
      • pm: Paul Moore correspondence.
      • pr: Private communication, typically within the family.
      • ps: Pierre Schils, Genealogy of Pierre Schils. (Schils).
      • rm: Merkelbach.net and R.G.F.M. Merkelbach, De afstammelingen van Gregorius (Goris) Mer(c)kelbach 1645 - 1995, available from the author. (Rudolf Merkelbach).
      • rp: Robert F. Pforr, Aus den Kirchenbuchern der Kirchengemeinde Groszalmerode 1648-1753. (Pforr).
      • se: Harlingen archives, site maintained by Stefan Elsinga.
      • wm: Wilmar Merckelbach, genealogy_wm.jpg.
      • ww: Walter Witman notes (via Rudolf Merkelbach).   ¶ 12

RELIABILITY OF DATA:
    Data directly obtained from official digital archives (/da) or via Genlias (/gl) should be fully reliable.     Most of the information found in the Heerlen and the Heiden branches has been extracted from Patelski. Funs Patelski is a highly respected professional genealogist.
    Most of the information found in the Wittem branch comes from 2009 edition of Nederlands' Patriciaat, a well researched source.
    The major source of the information in the Thimistre and Strasbourg branches is Weirich, a trusted source.
    Major sources of the information in the Grenzhausen branch are W. Merckelbach and F. Merkelbach. These sources appear to be reliable. Some data from Kreutzwald still needs to be cross-checked.
    Sources of the information in the Hottorf branch are Kreutzwald and Dechamps, with inputs to Kreutzwald from Aufm. Kampe. Felt to be reliable.
    Major sources for the earlier the Maastricht and Groningen branches are Rudolf Merkelbach and the website http://www.kleinekerkstraat.nl, which presents data from civic and church registers in the city of Harlingen. Sources for the later data are Genlias and other digital archives that draw directly on official civic registrations. Some information comes from family announcements in newspapers.
    The information found in the Tienen branch and its subsidiary branches comes by and large from Rudolf Merkelbach's book augmented by information from Genlias. Incorporated in the Moerdijk branch is the Merkelbach van Enkhuizen family tree. Source for the latter is Genealogy of the family Schmedding, Vol. 2, Part 2, p. 356.   ¶ 13