Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Württemberg

The progenitors of the Clark County Imles, Christoph Frederick and Anna Maria came from the German state of Württemberg, today part of Baden-Württemberg, created in 1952 by merging three states formed after the second world war. It was once a duchy in the Holy Roman Empire, but became a kingdom when the empire was dissolved in 1806. Christoph’s ancestors had lived in the area for centuries, for at least eight generations of Imles. Württemberg, an agricultural area with orchards, grains, hops, and vineyards, had a long history of producing red wines, and Christoph Frederick was one of the many inhabitants tending vineyards.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

What's in a name?


What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
~William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
Immlin Crest (J. Siebmacher, Wappenbuch, 1701).

The Imle name and its variations has been traced back to the middle 1500s, almost fifty years before Will S., of England, wrote his famous lines. Among early Imles, the name often appears as “Ihmle” and “Imlin” and may be related to the archaic German word “Imme” (“bee”), from Middle High German “Imbe” (“bee; swarm of bees”), from Old High German Imbi (“swarm of bees”). The Immlin family of Heilbronn (about twenty miles northeast of Horrheim and Gündelbach) has a crest that shows three insects, which appear to be bees in the Immlin window at the church of St. Kilian in Heilbronn but are said in Rietstap’s 19th-century book Amorial General to be horse flies (Fr “Taons”). Of course Rietstap was Dutch and was writing in French so there may be a problem in translation at some point.
Window in Church at Heilbronn with Immlin
crest (2010). (Photo by Elizabeth (“Liz”) Smith.)
A drawing of what is said to be the Imle family crest has been passed down by family members in Germany; however, no crest for a family with the spelling "Imle" is found in German heraldry.
Imle “family crest” (Jörg Imle).

In Germany “Imle” is pronounced “ĭmlā.” When the Clark County Imles immigrated to America, the spelling did not change, but the pronunciation did, becoming (“īmel”). Most other Imle immigrants changed the spelling, keeping the pronunciation similar, this probably being the source of the American names “Emly” and Emily. (The similar names “Imlay” and “Emlay” are Scottish.)


Readers: I need your help. Can anyone tell me the origin of the drawing of the Imle "family crest" or who Jörge Imle is?

Saturday, December 12, 2015

The Early Imles

The Imle family was traced back to 1558, almost to the time of Martin Luther (1483-1546), by John Friedrich Karl Imle of Bonn-Rhein, Germany between 1924 and 1939. In 1949 John Friedrich translated his results into English and sent the materials to Ernest Paul Imle, grandson of Cristoph Frederick Imle, founder of the Clark County Imles. Ernest, who was living in Costa Rica at the time, sent the materials on to his brother John Frederick in San Antonio, Texas. John then transcribed the tree from longhand and prepared a graphical reproduction, which he distributed to his aunts and uncles in December 1949 and whose transcription is shown below.

There are several problems with this history. First, no primary sources are cited, though such sources were used in the construction. Presumably, this information is available in the information first sent to Ernest; however, this material has not yet been located. Second, many of the original given names for German residents have been converted to the English. Until such time as the original names can be determined, the names used on the chart are given here. A third problem is that the last name is not always given, and, since a number of variants were used prior to 1700, there is no assurance, in these cases, that the name used was that of the father, although this has been assumed here. Finally, the family names of the female members of the family are not given before about the year 1700. The common practice was to not record a woman’s family name on a record of marriage.

If you know of the whereabouts and/or availability of the supporting information supposedly sent to Ernest Paul Imle by John Friedrich Imle of Bonn, please let me know.

In 1558
At Horrheim, near Gündelbach, Württemberg, Germany
lived

Horrheim with St. Clemens Church (2011).
I.  ENDRISS (ANDRAES) IMLIN and his wife BARBARA

II.  [Children of ENDRISS IHMLE and BARBARA]

HANS (JOHN) IHMLE
b. Feb. 13, 1558, at Horrheim
d. Before 1623, at Horrheim
Third marriage, Date and
place not on record
ANNA (N.N.)
b. Not on record, Horrheim
d. Not or record

LUDWIG (LEWIS) IMLIN
b. Aug. 6, 1561, at Horrheim
d. Not on record

MAGDALENA IMLIN
b. Not on record
d. Not on record

III.  [Children of HANS (JOHN) IHMLE and ANNA]

CONRADT IHMLE
b. 1598, at Horrheim
d. unknown

BARBARA IHMLE
b. 1601, at Horrheim
d. unknown

ELIAS IHMLE
b. 1608, at Horrheim
d. unknown

LUDWIG (LEWIS) IHMLE
b. Feb. 19, 1609, at Horrheim
d. Aug. 23, 1688, at Horrheim
First marriage, Jan. 24, 1630
at Horrheim
ANN KNITTEL
b. no record, at Horrheim
Second marriage, date unknown, probably at Pressburg on the Danube
CATHERINE (N.N.)
b. not recorded
d. not recorded

IV.  [Children of LUDWIG IHMLE and ANN KNITTEL]

ANNA
b. 1631

HANS
b. 1633

MARIA
b. 1634

All were born at Horrheim and there is no
further record. Presumed that the children
perished along with the mother during the
30-years war. Ludwig Ihmle then moved to
Pressburg (now Bratislava) where he married again.

[Children of LUDWIG IHMLE and CATHERINE (N.N.)]

JOHN GEORGE
b. 1640, at Pressburg
d. ? at Pressburg

TOBIAS IMLIN
b. June 12, 1646, at Pressburg
d. Sept. 29, 1693, at Horrheim
Married October 26, 1669, at Horrheim
ANNA MARIA HAAS
b. March 3, 1649, at Horrheim
d. ? at Horrheim

JOHN GEORGE
b. Unknown
d. 1649, at Pressburg

V.  [Children of TOBIAS IMLIN and ANNA MARIA HAAS]

TOBIAS IMLE
b. Nov. 24, 1670, at Horrheim
d. Mch. 19, 1755, at Gündelbach
First marriage, 1701,
at Gündelbach
ANNA HENSLER
b. 1681, at Gündelbach
d. 1703, at Gündelbach
Second marriage Jan. 22. 1704, at Gündelbach
ANNA CATHERINE LEUCHT
b. 1679, at Gündelbach
d. 1724 at Gündelbach
3rd  marriage
BARBARA SCHAFER
b. 1692, Gündelbach
d. 1759, Gündelbach

CATHERINE
b. 1671, at Horrheim
d. unknown

JOHN
b. 1673
d. ?
Married, ?
_____ BEST

JOHN LEONARD
b. 1675
d. soon after birth

ANNA MARIA
b. 1677
d. ?

ELISABETHA
b. 1679
d. ?

LEWIS
b. Dec. 12, 1680
d. ?
m. Catherine Stöhrer
at Ensingen, near
Horrheim

MARGARETHA
b. 1683
d. ?

DANIEL
b. 1685
d. 1685

DANIEL
b. 1685
Nothing further known

VI.  [Children of TOBIAS IMLE and ANNA HENSLER]

One Child
b. 1703
d. 1703

[Children of TOBIAS IMLE and ANNA CATHERINE LEUCHT]

ANNA MARIA
b. Nov. 16, 1705, at Gündelbach
d. 1784, at Gündelbach

JOHN JAMES
b. May 10, 1708
d. Mch. 8, 1783
Family died out
Feb. 5, 1831
at Gündelbach

JOHN LEONARD IMLE
b. Jan. 24, 1712
d. Aug. 21, 1785
at Gündelbach
Married Jan. 24, 1741, at Gündelbach
ANNA BARBARA SCHRÖTHENHEIMER
b. May 2, 1720, Gündelbach
d. Dec. 12, 1771, Gündelbach

TOBIAS
b. Nov. 24, 1714
d. July 13, 1767
Family died out
in 1896 at
Gündelbach

CHRISTOPH
b. May 29, 1715
d, ?
m. Jan. 18, 1749
to Christine Schneck
at Sersheim, near
Horrheim. Nothing
further known.

[Children of TOBIAS IMLE and BARBARA SCHAFER]
Two daughters
Nothing further known

VII.  [Children of JOHN LEONARD IMLE and ANNA BARBARA SCHRÖTHENHEIMER]

JOHN SIMON IMLE
b. Dec. 8, 1741, at Gündelbach
d. Mch. 23, 1796, at Gündelbach
First marriage 1769 at Gündelbach
ROSINA FRITZ
b. 1722
d. 1769 in childbirth
Second marriage Sept. 19, 1769 at Gündelbach
MARIA BARBARA MAJER
b. Dec. 14, 1743, at Gündelbach
d. Apr. 2, 1813, at Gündelbach

JOHN MICHAEL
b. June 20, 1743, at Gündelbach
d. June 2, 1803, at Gündelbach

JOHN
b. Nov. 7, 1745, at Gündelbach
d. Nov. 11, 1754

EVA CATHERINE
b. Jan. 10, 1752, at Gündelbach
d. Mch. 27, 1763, at Gündelbach

VIII.  [Children of JOHN SIMON IMLE and MARIA BARBARA MAJER]

REGINA ELISABETH
b. June 11, 1770
d. Jan. 13, 1855 at Gündelbach

JOHN FRED (FRIEDRICH)
b. Mch. 17, 1773, Gündelbach
d. Jan. 11, 1813, at Kowno*
in the retreat from Napoleon’s
expedition to Russia
*Now Kownas, Capital of Lithuania

CATHERINE BARBARA
b. Feb. 29, 1776, Gündelbach
d. ?
m. _____ Schmied at
Schützingen, near
Gündelbach

LUDWIG (LEWIS) IMLE
b. Jan. 22, 1779
d. Jan. 16, 1856
at Gündelbach
First marriage, 1807, at Gündelbach
Eva Flensbach
b. 1771
d. 1802
No children
Second marriage, Feb. 17, 1808 at Ochsenbach, near
Gündelbach
CHRISTINA DOROTHEA BEST
b. Nov. 7, 1773, at Spielberg, near Gündelbach
d. Feb. 29, 1828, at Gündelbach

SUSANNA
b. Apr. 24, 1782
d. ?
m. _____ Albrecht at Mühlacker

SABINE
b. Oct. 27, 1786
d, ?
m. _____ Ott at Gündelbach

IX.  [Children of LUDWIG (LEWIS) IMLE and CHRISTINA DOROTHEA BEST]

LEWIS
b. 1809, at Gündelbach
d. 1809, at Gündelbach

CHRISTOPH IMLE
b. May 5, 1810, at Gündelbach
d. Mch. 22, 1882, at Schützingen, near Gündelbach
at the home of his daughter
Frederike
Married Nov. 25, 1834, at Gündelbach
MARIA BEATA SOMMER
b. Feb. 18, 1813, at Zaberfeld
d. Jan. 9, 1874, at Gündelbach

X.  [Children of CHRISTOPH IMLE and MARIA BEATA SOMMER]

MAGDALENE FRIEDERIKE
b. Aug. 27, 1835
d. Oct. 6, 1835

SON
b. 1836 stillborn

JANE
b. Oct. 2, 1837
d. June 22, 1848

CHRISTOPH FRED IMLE
b. Sept. 30, 1842
at Gündelbach
d. Nov. 10, 1925
at Marshall, Ill.
Emigrated with wife
and 5 children to
USA in 1881
Married May 17, 1869, at Weissach
ANNA MARIA REICHERT
b. Nov. 12, 1849, at Weissach, near Gündelbach
d. May 1, 1925, at Marshall, Ill

FREDERIKE CATHERINE
b. Oct. 21, 1845
at Gündelbach
d. May 27, 1922
at Schützingen
m. Fred Kirschler
at Schültzingen
6 daughters; 1 son

CHRISTINA
b. July 23, 1840
at Gündelbach
d. Oct. 1, 1926
at Derdingen
First m. to Bernhard
Daniel, Derdingen
3 sons; 1 daughter.
Second m. to Fred
Strobel (?), Derdingen
3 sons

SON
b. 1848
stillborn

JOHN KARL IMLE
b. Jan. 16, 1850
d. Feb. 18, 1929
at the home of
daughter Paula
at Milan, Italy
Married March 7, 1874, at Karlsruhe (Baden)
FREDERIKE CATHERINE FOLL
b. Aug. 24, 1853, at Sulzbach (Murr) Württemberg
d. Aug. 24, 1922, at Karlsruhe (Baden)

MARIA BEATA
b. Dec. 19, 1852
d. Sept. 16, 1929
at Terre Haute
Married, Feb. 15, 1874, at Gündelbach
Emigrated to the U.S.A with 7 children in 1885
JOHN FRED WALTER
b. ? at Gündelbach
d ? at Terre Haute

JAKOB CHRIST
b. June 13, 1857
d. Feb. 1, 1931
at Güglingen
m. at Karlsruhe
1 adopted
daughter

AMERICAN BRANCH OF IMLE FAMILY
XI.  [Children of CHRISTOPH FRED IMLE and ANNA MARIA REICHERT]

MARIE C.
b. Aug. 18, 1870
at Gündelbach
d. Sept. 25, 1899
at Marshall, Ill
m. Christian Kern of
Hinterweiler, near
Rentlingen(Württemberg);
3 daughters

FRED C. IMLE
b. Jan. 25, 1872
at Gündelbach
d. Dec. 26, 1940
at Marshall, Ill.
Married November 24, 1897, at Marshall, Ill.
CLARA JOSEPHINE COLDREN
b. Nov. 3, 1876, Marshall, Ill.

CHRISTIAN KARL
b. Aug. 1, 1875
at Gündelbach
m. first Rosa Holsworth
m. second M.
Finkbeiner, 1910, at
Marshall, 2 sons;
2 daughters

GOTTLOB WILLIAM
b. Feb. 26, 1878
at Gündelbach
m. Clara Schröder
of Terre Haute
4 sons; 1 daughter

ADAM C.
b. Apr. 2, 1880
at Gündelbach
m. Olive Geisert
of Marshall
2 sons; 2 daughters

BERTHA
b. Dec 26, 1882
at Marshall
d. 1889
at Marshall

ANNA
b. Aug. 28, 1884
at Marshall
m. Eugene Miller
of Marshall
5 sons

WILLIAM
b. Jan 18, 1888
at Marshall
m. Fairy Gard
of West Union
2 children
1 died in 1923

HERMAN
b. Mch. 27, 1894
m. Eva Manhart
of Marshall
2 daughters
1 killed accidentally

XII.  [Children of FRED C. IMLE and CLARA JOSEPHINE COLDREN]

JOHN FREDRICK IMLE
b. Dec. 1, 1899
at Ernst, Ill.
m. Ferne Collier
of Houston, Texas,
July 23, 1938, at
Houston, Texas
Live in San Antonio,
Texas

One Son

SUSAN MARIE IMLE
b. Nov. 9, 1901
at Walnut Prairie, Ill.
m. Victor Ernest Shafer
of Menomonie, Wisc.,
June 20, 1923, at
Donna, Texas
Live on farm near Menomonie, Wisc.

Four daughters – one
deceased

EDGAR FREMONT IMLE
b. Mch. 30, 1904
at Ernst, Ill
m. Anne Lillian Gallion
of Natchitoches, La.,
May 19, 1933, at El
Paso, Texas
Live in El Paso, Texas

Three daughters

LOUISE ANNA IMLE
b. Mch. 11, 1906
at Ernst, Ill
m. Forrest G. Scott
of Billings, Montana,
on April 18, 1936,
at Chicago, Ill.
Live in Seattle, Washington

No children

ERNEST PAUL IMLE
b. Oct. 15, 1910
at Ernst, Ill
m. Portia Mary Mollard,
of Philadelphia, Pa.
on Nov. 27, 1947, at
San Jose, Costa Rica.
Live in Turrialba, Costa Rica

One son

HARRY ROBERT IMLE
b. Oct. 7, 1913
at Ernst, Ill,
m. Mary Elizabeth Schiltz
of Clay Center, Kansas,
on Jan. 14, 1938, at
Clay Center, Kansas
Live at Alliance. Nebraska

Two daughters; one son.

THE PRESENT SURVIVING GERMAN BRANCH OF THE IMLE FAMILY
XI.  [Children of JOHN KARL IMLE and FREDERIKE CATHERINE FOLL]

EMIL ALBERT IMLE
b. May 26, 1875
at Karlsruhe
Lives at Dresden
m. Mch. 5, 1905
at Dresden
VALLY MEINHOLD
b. June 17, 1884
at Klingenthal
d. Jan. 19, 1946
at Dresden

GUSTAV ADOLPH IMLE
b. 1876
at Karlsruhe
d. 1877

J. FRIEDRICH KARL IMLE
b. Dec. 30, 1877
at Karlsruhe
Lives at Bonn/Rhein
(The author of this family history.)
Graduate Civil Engineer;
Former Burgomaster of
Bonn; in Marine Artillery
In World War I.
First marriage Feb. 17, 1908
At Rathenow, near Berlin
MARGARETE ERDMANN
b. July 8, 1875, at Rathenow, near Berlin
d. Nov. 12, 1933, at Bonn/Rhein
Second Marriage
May 20, 1940, at Bonn/Rhein
BERTHA MORIAN
b. May 14, 1899, at Ulm/Danube
no Children

EUGEN IMLE
b. 1879
d. 1879
at Karlsruhe

OTTO RUDOLPH IMLE
b. July 6, 1886
at Karlsruhe
d. July 1, 1916, at
Achiet-le-petit,
France, in World
War I

PAULA GERHARD IMLE
Sept. 9, 1891, at Karlsruhe
m. Dr. Ernest Kölliker, at
Karlsruhe, on Sept. 17,
1918
One daughter – RENATE
b. Aug. 26, 1922 at München (Munich)
m. Dr. Pfaltz, at Basel, Switzerland
One son – Andraes

XII.  [Children of EMIL ALBERT IMLE and VALLY MEINHOLD]

SIGRID
b. Jan. 11, 1907
at Dresden
m. Gerald Fischer
at Cottbus, on
Nov. 26, 1942

ELLEN
b. Nov. 23, 1910
at Dresden

HELGA
b. Mch. 15, 1912
at Dresden

EDELBRAND
b. Feb. 27, 1915
at Dresden

[Children of J. FRIEDRICH KARL IMLE and MARGARETE ERDMANN]

WOLFGANG GOTZ IMLE
b. Mch. 23, 1909, at Rathenow
Doctor of Jurisprudence (Law)
Married June 3, 1938, Koblenz/Rhein
KATERINE GERLING
b. Apr. 11, 1908, at Bonn/Rhein

HARRALD FRIEDRICH IMLE
b. Mch. 24, 1912 at Hagen (Westfalen)
Businessman; Manufacturer of industrial goggles
Married Feb. 24, 1940, at Rathenow
MARGARET ARENDT
b. Mch. 25, 1918, Rathenow

XIII.  [Children of WOLFGANG GOTZ IMLE and KATERINE GERLING]

KLAUS
b. Aug. 13, 1939
at Bonn

GISELA
b. Sept. 6, 1940
in Berlin

ECKART
b. Dec. 15, 1941

HARDMUT
b. Nov. 29, 1943

[Children of HARRALD FRIEDRICH IMLE and MARGARET ARENDT]

PETER
b. Jan. 30, 1941

FEMININE BRANCH OF THE AMERICAN IMLES
XI.  [Children of MARIA BEATA IMLE and JOHN FRED WALTER]

KARL F. WALTER
b. July 29, 1872
at Gündelbach
m. Margarethe Probst,
Jan. 1, 1910
Lives at Caprock, N. Mexico
Two Children:
Margarette
b. 1911 at Caprock
m. John M. Guffin of Caprock
Two Children
Charles
b. 1913, at Caprock

FREDERICH J. WALTER
b. June 24, 1874
at Gündelbach
d. Oct. 24, 1929
(killed by auto)

CHRISTIAN WALTER
b. Sept. 20, 1875
at Gündelbach
m. Christine Nanert,
Terre Haute.
Lives at Carlsbad, N.M.
Two daughters
Mildred
b. Nov. 9, 1900
Alice
b. Oct. 31, 1906

WILLIAM GOTTLOB
b. Apr 9, 1877
at Gündelbach
d. 1883

CHRISTINE
b. Jan. 29, 1879
at Gundelbach
m. Geo Winzenread
Terre Haute.
Two sons
Fred
Vern

WILHELMINA
b. Jan. 31, 1881
at Gündelbach
m. Horace Brogan
on Mch. 7, 1920
Lives in Holtville,
California
Two children

WILLIAM GOTTLOB
b. Apr. 16, 1884
at Gündelbach
m. Nov. 26, 1912
Lives Terre Haute
Three children
Lee Maurice
Margarette
Rosemary

SOPHIA
b. Nov. 2, 1886
at Marshall
m. Nov. 19, 1910
Lives at Holtville,
California.

SON
b. Feb. 19, 1889
d. Feb. 22, 1889

CLARA EDITH
b. Feb. 5, 1896
d. July 22, 1896

at Marshall

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Public vs. Private


Writing It All Started in Gündelbach has posed a problem. Owing to privacy and “identity-theft” concerns, modern records are often more difficult to find and use than are centuries-old accounts, and they are certainly more sensitive. That we can choose our friends but not our relatives posed no problem when I wrote Henry the Immigrant about my father’s early progenitors, who have been dead for centuries. But one treads a perilous path when writing of protagonists with still living close relatives and descendants, as in the Imle book. One slip—an ill-chosen phrase, acceptance of a biased story, disclosure of a sensitive tale—and a plunge into acrimony or a family imbroglio can ensue.

In some other books I have written, I have omitted personal details (but not usually names) for still-living individuals, excepting a very few whose fame or notoriety had already put specifics before the public or who had allowed, perhaps requested, their particulars to be included. But I suspect most Imle descendants want to be included and would be hurt if they were relegated to a name only. On the other hand, I certainly cannot contact everyone for permission to include personal data. Right now, I am traversing a tightrope trying to answer the question “Who and what should I include?”

Comments?



Sunday, December 6, 2015

Die Gleichen Haus?

Over the years, Imle descendants have traveled to Gündelbach, Germany, where it all began, and have taken photos of the original Christoph Frederich and Anna Maria (Reichert) Imle house. Unfortunately, I have several conflicting photos of the house. The two which I believe to be most likely correct, were taken in 1967 and in 2010. But I question whether these two photos are of the same house. Perhaps it is just a difference in date or view. What do you think? Do any of you have other photos?

1967


2010