Gündelbach

Laurentiuskirche (2011).

Around 1700 Endriss Imlin’s great great grandson Tobias Imle moved from Horrheim to Gündelbach, which became the home town of most of Tobias’s known descendants, until his great great great grandson, Christoph traveled to America. Christoph’s home still stands in Gundelbach.

Until the end of WW II, Gündelbach consisted of only a few houses between two parallel roads. Even today the population is only about 1300. The hamlet is mentioned for the first time in 1120 AD and in the earliest documents is called “Ginterbach,”

Christoph Frederick Imle house, Gundelbach
(c1967, courtesy of George Irwin).

Built in the 15^th century the local protestant church, Laurentiuskirche, is named after Saint Laurentius, an early Christian martyr, shown in the coat of arms for the town. The church lies just down the street from the Imle house.

Horrheim

St. Clemenskirche (2011).

First mentioned in a 771 AD book now at the Lorsch Abbey in Hesse, Horrheim today (2015) has a population of 2568. The town was the home of the earliest known Imle patriarch—Endriss Imlin (born 1558) and three generations of his descendants. Horrheim’s protestant Church of St. Clemens dates from well before Endriss’s time. The octagonal tower dates from the thirteenth century with fourteenth-century murals and is prominent in a 1684 print of Horrheim by Andreas Kieser.

Horrheim, 1684 (Forstlagerbüchern, Andreas Kieser).