(Johann) Friedrich MERKLE (1669 – 1735) was Alex’s 9th Grandfather; one of 1,024 in this generation of the Shaw line.

(Johann) Friedrich Markle was born in 1669 in Bayern, Pfalz, Germany. The southern part of what is today the German State of Rheinland-Pfalz was actually once part Bavaria. Historically, this area has been known as as the “Rheinpfalz”, “Rhennish Pfalz”, “Rheinbayern” or “Palatinate” region. His parents may have been Hendrick Felix MERKLE and Eva SPRANGER. The father/son relationship between Felix and Friederich Merckel is highly speculative and is supported solely by the fact that Ellsabetha (Merckel) Würth, daughter of Felix Merckel, was sponsor at the baptism of Friederich’s daughter Elisabetha in 1704. (See discussion below)

Friedrich married Anna [Magdalena Schuettendubel?] in 1690 in Bad Dürkheim, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. In 1689, the town was almost utterly destroyed when French troops in the Nine Years’ War (known in Germany as the Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg, or War of the Palatine Succession) carried out a scorched-earth campaign in Electoral Palatinate. This time, though, reconstruction was swifter, leading to Count Johann Friedrich of Leiningen granting Dürkheim town rights once more as early as 1700. Alternatively, they married in Neustadt, Bergstrasse, Hessen, Germany.

He next married Anna Barbara Allman before 4 Aug 1710 in Neustadt, Germany.  Alternatively, Friedrich and Anna married on a ship at sea on their way over to America or soon after their arrival.  The family emigrated in 1710 as refugees from the German Palatine. Their trek to the New World had led them by way of Holland and England.    Friedrich died in 1735 in Kingston, Ulster, NY.

In 1709 Protestant Germans from the Pfalz or Palatine region of Germany escaped conditions of hardship, traveling first to Rotterdam and then to London. The Queen helped them get to her colonies in America. The trip was long and difficult to survive because of the poor quality of food and water aboard ships and the infectious disease typhus, or Palatine fever. Many immigrants, particularly children, died before reaching America in June 1710.

The Palatine immigration of about 2100 people who survived was the largest single immigration to America in the colonial period. Most were first settled along the Hudson River in work camps, to pay off their passage. By 1711, seven villages had been established in New York on the Robert Livingston manor.

“Johann” is a saint’s name commonly given to German boys at baptism.  Since there is no baptismal record for Friederich, and since in 12 years of searching Kirsten Bowman has yet to find a single record showing him that way, she believes the “Johann” was added arbitrarily by a researcher (perhaps Bennett) somewhere along the way and has been perpetuated by copycats.  The records published by professionals show him simply as Friederich, but just about every passalong tree on the Internet has him as Johann Friederich.  She has sometimes considered listing that alias for him in her tree on RootsWeb just so the page will be found in searches, but has not yet mustered the nerve to cave in to that general misconception.  On the other hand, I am more liberal and have even been known to include a romantic story or two  even those that are not very likely

Anna Magdalena Schuettendubel was born in 1669 in Haßloch, Bad Durkheim, Rheinland-Pfalz , (Palatinate, Rheinland), Germany.   In 1621, during the Thirty Years’ War, Haßloch was laid waste by the Spaniards. In 1689, it met the same fate again, more than once, in the Nine Years’ War (known in Germany as the Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg, or War of the Palatine Succession), this time at the hands of the Spaniards and the French. Anna Magdalena died in Germany.

Anna Barbara Allman was born in 1685 – Haßloch, Bad Durkheim, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.  She is listed with her husband, Christoph[er?] Mey, a vine dresser, as immigrants in London waiting for transport to New York. The Hunter Lists then show her as a widow at West Camp, and a month later there’s a notation.  From Henry Z. Jones:

Christoph Mey aged 35, his wife, and a daughter aged 3, Ref., husbandman and vinedresser, were in the 3rd arrivals in England later that yr. [1709] (London Lists).”

“Barbara Meyin, a wid., made her only appearance on the Hunter Lists 4 Oct 1710 with 1 pers. over 10 yrs. of age. As she was registered but one name away from Friderich Merkel, this Barbara Meyin probably was the same person as #490 Christoph May’s Wid (Anna Barbara Alman) who md. Friederich Mercke

“Christoph May’s Widdow [sic] had but one entry on the Hunter Lists, on 4 July 1710 with 1 pers. over 10 yrs.; a note in the Ledger section of these rolls notes she md. with Frederic Merckel. (Merckel’s wife was named Anna Barbara Alman).”

After Friedrich died,  Anna Barbara (Alman) Mey Merckel married Nicholas Keator on 11 Mar 1736 and moved to Marbletown, New York.  Anna Barbara died in 1742 in Kingston, NY.

Children of Friedrich and Anna:

	Name	Born	Married	Departed
1.	Heinrich Merckel? (See discussion)	1691 Germany	Mary Estes	1781 Stone Arabia, Montgomery, New York
2.	Johann Jacob Merckel? (See discussion)	1693 Germany	Elizabeth Shultes c. 1715	6 May 1717 West Camp, Ulster, New York
3.	Laurens (Loretnz) Merckel	1697 Hoegdugsland Germany	Zivilia Catrina Kehl (Sibylla Catharina Keel) 6 Apr 1724 Kingston, NY	After 1767 Burke County, North Carolina
4.	Antje (Annatje) MERKEL	1698 Haßloch, Palatinate, now Rhineland Pfalz, Germany	Peter WINNE IV 25 Nov 1720 Kingston	23 Jan 1763  or 1781 Ulster, NY
5.	Anna Maretje (Maria) Merckel	21 Dec 1701, Haßloch, Germany	Johann Michael Planck 20 Nov 1738  Katsbaan, Ulster, NY	1781
6.	Johann Mathius Markle	20 Jun 1703 Haßloch, Germany	Margaretha Kehl New York	1778 Ulster, NY
7.	Elisabetha Merckel	24 Dec 1704, Haßloch, Germany	Not Ludwig Würth (He was her uncle and bapt. sponsor)	1784 Haßloch Churchbook
8.	Johann Andreas Merckel	5 Sep 1706, Haßloch, Germany		No Further Record, Probably died in Germany
9.	Margaretha Phillipina Merckel	23 Dec 1708, Haßloch, Germany		No Further Record, Probably died in Germany

.

Children of Friedrich and Anna Alman:

	Name	Born	Married	Departed
10.	Johann Adam Merckel	10 Dec 1711 bapt. 26 Dec 1711 West Camp, NY	Elizabeth [__?__]	Bef Feb 1756 Williams Township, Northampton, Pennsylvania
11.	Maria Elisabetha Merckel	12 Feb 1712 Saugerties, Ulster, NY	Jacob Cornelis BRINK	Bef. 1735 Probate 24 Oct 1757 Ulster, County, NY
12.	Berhardt (Barent) Merckel	5 Jun 1715 Kingston, NY	Cornelia Van Der Merken bef. 1739 Kingston, NY . Barbara Van der Merken 13 Sep 1747 Kingston, NY	19 Jun 1789 Ulster, New York,
13.	Eva Merckel	21 Dec 1716bapt. 7 Jan 1717	Jeremias Kittelon (Kittle) 16 Sep 1739
14.	Elisabetha Merckel	16 Feb 1719 bapt. 20 Feb 1719 West Camp	Thomas Bosch 9 Mar 1739 in Kingston, Ulster, New York
15.	Johannes Merckel	25 Sep 1720	Elisabetha Anna Snauber (Schnaub) 10 Sep 1746 Smithfield, (now Oldwick, Tewksbury, Hunterdon), Pennsylvania
16.	Whilhelmus Markle	22 Jul 1722 Kingston, NY	Sarah Koch 4 Apr 1752 Kingston, NY	Jan 1813 Ancaster township, Westworth, Ontario, Canada
17.	Petrus Merkel	14 Feb 1724/25		Mar 1724/25
18.	Petrus Merckel	25 Sep 1726	Sarah Westbroek c. 1759
19.	Anna Merckel	18 May 1729 Churchland, Saugerties, Ulster, NY	Jacobus Bosch 13 Oct 1745 Kingston, Ny

The evidence for Felix as Friederich’s father is very skimpy. Here’s what Henry Z. Jones says to clarify:

“Searches in Dr. Arta Johnson’s collections of the records of 6733 Haßloch/Bohl reveal the probable father of the emigrant Friederich Merckel may have been Felix Merckel: Elisabetha, d/o the late Felix Merckel, md. 13 Aug 1704 Johann Ludwig Würth there, and this same Elisabetha Würth sp. the emigrant 1709er Friederich Merckel at Haßloch in 1704 also! Arta was also kind enough to transcribe the Haßloch Gerichtbuch [Court book] and share the results with me; she noted “Fridrich Merckel, von hier [from here]” was listed 26 Nov 1700.”

When Jones says Elisabetha “sp. the emigrant 1709er Friederich Merckel” he actually means that Elisabetha was the sponsor for the baptism of Friederich’s daughter.

One source states that Hendrick Felix died in Kingston, New York in 1723.  However, if Felix was Friedrich’s father, it’s a mystery why none of Friedrich’s children were named for him, especially since he had so many sons to choose from.

There is no record of any wife of Felix, and the marriage record for his daughter Elisabetha refers to her as the “daughter of the late Felix Merckel.”  The names offered online for Felix’s wife may be due to some uninformed thrashing around in German records. If Henry Z Jones and his team of professional researchers on site using original records didn’t find a wife for Felix,  there probably is not any reliable record.

The Haßloch churchbooks identify the mother of Friederich’s children as Anna Barbara. This has caused all sorts of contortions among American family historians because his second wife was also Anna Barbara, but it’s a common German name and they were two different people.

It actually makes a very simple and straightforward chronology if people would just stick to the records and stop making conjectures about Friederich’s second marriage happening in Germany, Johann Adam being born aboard ship, and/or Friederich remarrying the first Anna Barbara at Nutten Island after they reached New York–all of which have been presented as fact.

From “The Mohawk Valley and Its People by Barth Lefferts

Along the beautiful Rhine in Europe, at the time of the Schenectady massacre, [ The Schenectady Massacre was an attack against the village of Schenectady in the colony of New York on 8 Feb 1690.   A party of over 200 French commandos and Sault and Algonquin Indian raiders went from Montreal to attack English outposts to the south. They were retaliating for a series of devastating Iroquois raids for which the English had provided weapons and ammunition. Isolated northern and western settlements were the targets.]  was a district known as the Palatinate (Pa lat’ i-nat). It was naturally a fertile land, but it had the misfortune to be a border region. Over it swept the bloody disputes of the rulers who from time to time tried to settle their contests by the sword.

As at Schenectady, these Palatinate dwellers saw their homes burned, their property stolen, their farms laid waste; and if stray bullet or cannonball took the life of some peaceful person — well, that was a “fortune of war.”

At last many of the Palatinate dwellers could stand no more of such dreadful happenings. Their ruler had forbidden them to emigrate, but suffering breaks a multitude of laws, and a number of them, peasants and merchants, farm-dwellers and town-dwellers, managed over a period of a few years to leave their country. The first to leave found kind treatment in Holland and England; a considerable party reached America and settled along the Hudson where Newburgh stands today.

Encouraged by the friendship which had been shown, an army of the “Palatines” set out, group after group, in the spring of 1709.  As they reached the city of Rotterdam in Holland, the people there sent them across the North Sea to London, and by autumn there were thirteen thousand of these refugees. Many found homes in England, four thousand were shipped to Ireland, and the rest were given passage to various places in America.
While these German Palatines were sheltered at various places in and about London, Peter Schuyler, mayor of Albany, came to England on business. He brought with him five Indian chiefs. One of them died on the voyage, but the others attracted much attention, as they liked to walk about the streets. Seeing the “poor Palatines” in such numbers, one chief, a Mohawk, declared that these people, who were akin to the Dutch whom he liked, could find new homes along Schoharie Creek, west of Schenectady. From that time, the Palatines thought of “Schoharie” and Paradise as the same.

A new governor was being sent out to the colony of New York, a man of kind feeling and high character.  Governor Hunter proposed that three thousand Palatines should be sent to New York when he went, and that they should be employed in making pitch and tar for English ships from the pines that abounded there. This was done, but Schoharie seemed so far away that they were placed north of Esopus Creek, on both sides of the Hudson. Those on the west side, where Saugerties stands today, were soon left to their own devices to clear the land and to make homes. On the east side there were about twelve hundred Germans who were supposed to begin tarmaking early in the spring.

The Germans did not like the prospect. True, they were being fed and provided for by Governor Hunter, but they had intended to be farmers in the New World, not tarmakers. As honest people, they expected to labor for a while in order to repay the favors which they had received but around the evening fire they never ceased to talk among themselves of the promised land of “Schorie.”

Governor Hunter had expected great things from his Palatine experiment. After his first grant of money from the English government he had used his own private fortune, hoping to be repaid some day. If he had really known trees, however, he would have been saved money and disappointment, for the so-called “pitch-pine” of our Northern States, while its sap is sticky enough, produces little pitch. It is the “Georgia pine” of the Southern States which is valuable for that purpose.

Two winters on the Hudson served to exhaust the Governor’s purse and the Germans’ patience. At last Hunter had to tell the Palatines that they must shift for themselves. Now they felt free to set out for their land of Canaan. Seven of their leading men traveled to get permission from the Indians. From Albany, guided by an Indian, they crossed the Helderberg heights until Fox Creek led them down into the deep, broad, and beautiful valley which they had longed to see.

The Indians received them and gave consent. In the autumn of the year of 1712 fifty families set out, and though a road had to be cut into the valley, they built cabins before winter began. The redmen gave them corn from their own scanty stock, but inside the cabins there was much hunger. The following March a hundred more families arrived, driving their sledges on a two weeks’ journey through snow which lay on the highlands a yard deep.

The Palatines then left behind never removed to Schoharie. They left the manor of Patroon Livingston, where the settlement of “Germantown” is their memorial, and took up land a little south. Today we find their traces in the names of Rhinecliff and Rhinebeck. [Where Chelsea Clinton got married]  The Schoharie emigrants settled in seven villages along the Schoharie, each one kindly named after one of the leaders who had explored the road.

Times continued to be hard with the Palatines. Until their first crop of corn ripened, their hunger “was scarcely to be endured,” and a few of the boys went to live in the wigwams of their red friends. When the corn at last was harvested, there was no mill in the valley to grind it. The strongest of the women would carry on their backs heavy sacks of corn all the way to Schenectady, have it ground, and bear the meal back again, all in the same day.

Though the Germans had settled and cultivated the valley, they had no title to the land, and Governor Hunter, indignant that the Government would not pay him back for his heavy expenses, would not grant the runaways any title. Troubles with those who did receive grants bothered the Palatines for nearly ten years. At last, out of the eight hundred Schoharie settlers, about three hundred decided to pay rent to the legal owners, unjust as they thought it was. Many others turned their steps to Pennsylvania, where one of them, Conrad Weiser [son of  Conrad WEISER Sr.], became a prominent man.

MERCKEL FAMILY MIGRATION AND NAME HISTORY
The first of this family to come to America, arrived in the year 1710. They came as refugees from the German Palatine. Their trek to the New World had led them by way of Holland and England.

The name was originally spelled Merkel or Merckel and pronounced in German as “Mare-kil”. The Palatines settled among, and intermarried with, the Dutch in Ulster County, New York. Here they soon were using the prevailing language which was Holland Dutch. (At Kingston church preaching was in Dutch until 1809).

In 1673, twenty-five years after the “Thirty Years War” ended in 1648, Louis XIV of France began his marauding expeditions for the purpose of exterminating the Protestant heretics. Destructive raids laid waste to the Palatine countryside. This ruthless pillage continued until 1688 when the French King himself entered the land “to make it a wilderness” as he declared.

The villages, towns and farms of the Rhine regions were pillaged and burned, and their inhabitants tortured, ravished or slain. Few escaped the country. Those who survived were spared further horrors when, in 1705, England, Holland, Sweden, and Prussia intervened and threatened reprisals unless this carnage ceased. The way of Spanish Succession followed (1701-1713) but it touched only lightly on the already devastated country.
Added to the horrors of the war, there came further to harass the unfortunate Palatines the unusually severe winters of 1703 and 1709. Vineyards and orchards were blasted by the cold. Birds froze on the wing, fires failed to warm the shivering populace. Also, there came ecclesiastical regulations that made still more unbearable the life of these “poor, protestant, Palatines.”

Their only salvation lay in migrating to other lands. The first group of 41 (men, women and children) left for England by way of Holland in 1708. They were led by the Rev. Joshua Von Kocherthal, a Lutheran minister, whose wife and three children were among the refugees. In London, they petitioned Queen Anne for permission to sail to one of the British Colonies in America. Hearing of their extreme poverty the good Queen granted them each a shilling a day towards their sustenance until a decision was reached.

England desired to expand her frontiers in the New World, so transportation for “these honest and laborious Palatines” was arranged on the British ship “Globe”. A special act of naturalization made them “denizens of the Kingdom.” (It is perhaps for reasons of gratitude that some of their immediate descendants, in the days of the American Revolution, seemed to have Tories and British sympathies, even to the extent of moving to Canada.”

This first group of Palatines  landed 60 miles up the Hudson River and built a town they called “Neuberg”, now called Newburgh, New York.  Queen Anne supplied them with agricultural implements and foodstuffs for one year. In exchange, the Palatines were to supply lumber for the Royal Navy.

A year later, when pastor Von Kocherthal returned to England for additional aid, he found 3000 refugees there. They were living in tents on the Black Heath of London. The queen acceded to his wishes that they too be sent to America to join the others. This time a whole flotilla of vessels was needed. They sailed from London in January, 1710. Among the ships was the “Globe”, making it’s second crossing with Palatine refugees.

For months this fleet of sailing ships with human cargo was tossed about on the stormy winter’s sea. At least one ship was wrecked and 470 immigrants died during the voyage. Another 250 succumbed after landing in New York on the 14th of June, 1710. After a period of quarantine on Nutten (now Governor’s Island, they proceeded upriver and settled on both sides of the Hudson, above Neuberg (New Town).

As time passed, some of the settlers moved on into the Schoharie Valley of New York and into parts of Pennsylvania. In the next few years Palatines migrated to the new land. Some of the ships landed at New York and some at Philadelphia.

One of the towns settled on the Hudson’s west bank was West Camp (now Saugerties) near Kingston. Here the minister who worked with Pastor Von Kocherthal was Dominie Haeger of the Dutch Reformed Church. It is in the records of the Dutch Church at West Camp that we first find mention of the name “MERKEL”. It was here, on 26 Dec 1711, that a baby born on the ship “Globe” was baptized. It was Johan Adam Merkel, son of Fredrik Merkel and Barbara Alman. [Adam was actually born 10 Dec 1711 in West Camp, Albany, New York]

We have no record of all the names in that second massive migration of the Palatine refugees, but from the baptismal record we know that Fredrik Merkel and his wife, Barbara, arrived with them.

Another account ….

“The first boats packed with refugees began arriving in early May 1709. The first nine hundred of them were given housing, food and supplies by a number of wealthy Englishmen who felt them deserving of charity. The immigrants were called ‘Poor Palatines’: ‘poor’ in reference to their pitiful and impoverished state upon arrival in England, and ‘Palatines’ since many of them came from lands controlled by the Elector Palatine. Yet the majority came from regions outside the Palatinate, and against the wishes of their respective rulers they fled by the thousands to the Dutch city of Rotterdam, whence the majority embarked for London. Throughout the summer, ships unloaded thousands of refugees, and almost immediately their numbers overwhelmed the initial attempts to provide for them. By summer, most of the Poor Palatines were settled in Army tents in the fields of Blackheath and Camberwell, and a Committee dedicated to coordinating their settlement and dispersal sought ideas for their employment. This proved difficult, as the Poor Palatines were unlike previous migrant groups – skilled, middle-class, religious exiles such as the Huguenots or the Dutch in the 16th century – but were instead mostly unskilled laborers, neither sufficiently educated nor healthy enough for most types of employment.”

When the flood of emigrants from the Palatinate region of Europe poured into England in 1709 , discussions were held as  to where they should be settled in the New World.  Colonel Robert Hunter, who had recently been appointed to the governorship of the Province of New York submitted his proposal for the settlement of Palatines in the frontiers of his province. His arguments were persuasive. A proposal was submitted to Queen Anne, and she approved it in early January, 1710.

A Commission was established to find the funds necessary to pay for ships to carry the Palatines to America. Arrangements were made  with the owners of ten ships to pay £5  ƒ10 per head for 3,300 Palatines.The Germans were scheduled to be boarded upon the ships between the 25th and 29th of December, 1709. That boarding took place as scheduled, but the convoy of ships  got no farther than Nore, fifty miles from London, when seven of the ten ships refused sailing orders. The actual date on which the ships set sail across the Atlantic is not certain but most accounts indicate 10 April, 1710 was the likely date of departure for the New World.

Whether lying in port on the Thames, or on the Atlantic Ocean, the Palatines were on board the ships, in conditions suited to the low rate which had been paid the ships owners, for nearly six months. The conditions were harsh and uncomfortable. Landfall was made at New York for the first ship on 13 June, 1710.  The death toll on the journey amounted to 446 by the end of July, and during the first month in the New World, that number rose to 470. The ships docked at Nutten Island. Due to the reports of disease among the emigrants, the people of New York City showed no hospitality toward them.

Four tracts of land had been suggested as the eventual site for the Palatine’s to settle in New York Province. There was a tract on the Mohawk River above Little Falls, a tract on the Schoharie River, a tract on the east side of the Hudson River and one on that river’s west side. The tracts  were still claimed by the Mohawk Indians. Governor Hunter began negotiations with them and on 22 August, 1710 the Indians made a gift of the tract on the Schoharie River to Governor Hunter to be used for the settlement of the Palatines.

A Mohawk spokesman said at the time:

“We are told that the great queen of Great Britain has sent a considerable number of People with your Excy to setle upon the land called Skohere, which was a great surprise to us and we were mush Disatisfyd at the news, in Regard the Land belongs to us.
Nevertheless since Your Excellcy has been pleased to desire the said land for christian settlements, we are willing and do now surrender…to the Queen…for Ever all that tract of Land Called Skohere.”

From that moment on, most of the Palatine emigrants thought of Schoharie as Paradise. But, Schoharie was not to be their destination.

The Schoharie tract was not really suited to the manufacture of naval stores or pitch and tar because no pitch pine trees grew in its vicinity, so  a tract of land closer to New York City along the east side of the Hudson River was chosen by Governor Hunter for the Palatine settlement.  The tract of 6,000 acres was (conveniently) owned by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Robert Livingston. Governor Hunter entered into an agreement for the purchase of the tract with the option to remove the pitch pine trees growing on Livingston’s neighboring lands. A third tract of 800 acres was purchased from Thomas Fullerton. The name given to the three tracts on which the Palatines were to be settled was Livingston Manor.

In early-October 1710, the movement of the Palatines to  Livingston Manor  was begun. They had been encamped on Nutten Island (later renamed Governor’s Island) since their arrival in New York in June.

Initially, life seemed to hold promise for the Palatine emigrants, and the Palatines worked hard to fulfill their part of the emigration contract that guaranteed each family 40 acres of land. Under the contract, passage was to be paid by Britain and Queen Anne. The contract stated that seven years after they had forty acres a head given to them, they were to repay the Queen with Hemp, Mast Trees, Tar and Pitch, or anything else. In reality, they quickly learned that they were having to work under different expectations, with no time frame within which to complete their service. They believed the changed circumstances made them no better than indentured servants and, claiming that they had been deceived and cheated into servitude, complained bitterly to Governor Hunter. A number of them secretly decided that they would resettle to Schoharie to claim rights that were previously promised to them by the Queen and  Indian leaders. After futile efforts by Governor Hunter to dissuade them with words, they were eventually disarmed and suppressed.

Children

There were several families with the surname of Merckel/Merkel who migrated to New York State in the 1700″s. During the 1950’s researchers thought these families had all descended from Johann Friedrich Merckle who came with the first Palatine Migration in 1709/10.    Threee other early Merckel families lived in New York, and fortunately they settled in distinctly different places so they’re not too difficult to separate with the records available today.  Those locations were Stone Arabia, New Dorlach (now Sharon), and Schoharie.  Friederich spent a few years at West Camp and then settled in Kingston, Ulster County, relatively far from the others.

Some researchers show the following to be children of Johann and Anna, but they probably had different parents.

Christopher Merckel b. 1693 in Durlach, Karlsruhe, Baden, Germany; m.  Catharina Kurtz bef. 1718 in Germany; d.  1722 in New York.   Ejvor Merkley, has done extensive research on the Merckels of New Dorlach (now Sharon) and has hired professional researchers in Germany to supplement her work. She has found clear documentation that brothers Hans Michael, Christopher Friederich, and Joseph Friederich immigrated from Hoheneck, Germany, in about 1755 and settled in New Dorlach. The brothers were tentatively listed as possible descendants of Friederich of Ulster County by genealogist Archibald Bennett (as was Henrich, above) and Bennett cautioned in his manuscript that further research could prove the connection wrong. It has, but unfortunately most people ignore the warning and treat the tentative and faulty connections as proven fact.

Hendrick Merckel b 1718 at Fonda: He doesn’t fit too well with Friederich’s family, having been born in Fonda.

1. Heinrich Merckel?

Heinrich’s wife Mary Estes was born 1706 in Germany. Her parents were xx. Mary died 1786 in Stone Arabia, Montgomery, New York.

It is most likely that Henrich was not Friederich’s son.  He and Maria lived at Stone Arabia while Friederich and his family are all readily traceable to Kingston. Henrich’s son Jacob was born in Germany in 1725 and son Johann Henrich was born at Stone Arabia in 1727, indicating that the parents immigrated about 1726 while Friederich immigrated in 1710. Some people rationalize by saying Johann was married in 1690 and it makes sense he had children born before 1697.  They say Henrich at age 19 stayed in Germany when his family immigrated in 1710 and came on his own later.

2. Johann Jacob Merckel?

Jacob’s first wife Elizabeth Shultes was born 1695 in Germany. Elizabeth died in 1717.

Johann Jacob  Merckel b. 1695 Kingston, NY; m. Elisabetha Schultheis;  d. 6 May 1717
West Camp, Ulster, NY.    Johann and Elisabetha were living at West Camp/Schoharie as late as 1716 when they sponsored a baptism there–after Friederich’s family had moved to Kingston. If J. Jacob was old enough to have been married before 1716, then he probably would have been born about 1691 and would be rather old for a son of Friederich. That, combined with the Schoharie vs Kingston locations makes me doubt that Johann Jacob was a son of Friederich. These families were very close-knit and almost always migrated together in the early years.

3. Laurens (Loretnz) Merckel

Laurens’ wife Zivilia Catrina Kehl (Sibylla Catharina Keel) was born about 1705 in Hoogduysland, Germany. Her parents were Georg Wihelm Kahl (Kell) and Anna Gertraud Winnen. Zivila died 1743 in Kingston, Ulster, New York.

4. Antje (Annatje) MERKEL (See Peter WINNE IV‘s page)

5. Anna Maretje (Maria) Merckel

Anna’s husband Johann Michael Planck baptized  7 Jan 1711 in N.Y. . . conf. 15 April 1729, aged 19 yrs. at Newton (N.Y. City Luth. Cbk.). . . He first Maria Magdalena (Marlena) Eberhardt, d/o Johannes, 4 Feb 1734 at Kisk[etamenesey] in Joh. Phil. Kreisler’s house (Loonenburg Luth. Chbk.). He married second Maria Merckel 20 Nov 1738 (Katsbaan Ref. Chbk.). He md. third as a widower 21 April 1746 to Anna Meyer.

6. Johann Mathius Markle

Johann’s baptism sponsors were Joh. Mathes Löffler (?) – Gemeinsmann [Common man] and butcher here (Haßloch Chbk.).

His wife Margaretha Kehl was born 1716 in Kingston, Ulster, New York. Her parents were Georg Wihelm Kahl and Anna Gertraud Winnen. Margaretha died in 1784 in Ulster, New York.

Johann Wilhelm Kähl (Hunter Lists #354): “The ch. of Hans Peter and Anna Kell at Melsbach were: . . . Georg Wilhelm, bpt. 9 April 1681. . . md. 26 June 1704 Gertraut, d/o Johannes Winnen at Rockenfeldt. . . The ch. of Georg Wilhelm Kähl and Gertraud were:
1) Sybilla Catharina (HJ) md. 6 April 1724 Lorentz Merckel (Kingston Ref. Chbk.).
2) Margaretha (HJ), md. Mattheus Merckel (HJ)

7. Elisabetha Merckel

The sponsor was Elisabetha (Merckel) Würth is believed to have been Friederich’s sister. Ludwig Würth was Elisabetha’s uncle, not her husband.

8. Johann Andreas Merckel

Andreas’ baptism sponsor was Joh. Andr. Schabebauer here (Haßloch Chbk.).

10. Johann Adam Merckel

Johann Adam’s baptism sponsors were Johann Adam Friderich and wife Regina (West Camp Lutheran Chbk.). (from the Kocherthal Records). It appears that someone has mistaken Regina as being the child’s wife rather than his sponsor.

His wife’s name was Elizabeth [__?__]

It’s commonly reported that J. Adam was born at sea, but this is another rationalization in an attempt to explain confusion about Friederich’s two marriages. The Hunter Lists show Friederich as a widower in mid 1710 and then a marriage to Anna Barbara (Alman) Mey in August 1710. J. Adam’s birth on 10 Dec 1711 is recorded in the Kocherthal Records as transcribed in The Book of Names by Lou D. MacWethy.

Adam lived in Williams Township, Northampton, PA, and died in late 1755 or early 1756 leaving five minor children. His brother Lorentz inventoried the estate, and his brother Johannes was one of the creditors listed in the probate record.

Adam Markell died before 27 Feb 1756 and left no will. Among creditors in the estate are listed William Kehl, John Marckell, and Lawrence Markell. The widow was instructed to pay the debts of the estate and divide the remainder among herself and five children.

11. Maria Elisabetha Merckel

Maria Elisabetha’s baptism sponsor was Maria Elisabetha Straub (West Camp Lutheran Chbk.)

Her husband Jacob Cornelis BRINK was baptized 5 Jan 1695/96 in Saugerties, Ulster county, NY.  His parents were Cornelius Lambertsen BRINK and Markjen Egertse MEYNDER. He married Annatje POST 17 May 1722 at the Dutch Reformed Church in Kingston, NY. After Antje died, he married second Maria Elisabeth Merkel, 22 Dec 1732. He married, third, Mareitje Elich  of West Camp 25 Nov 1735. Jacob died 24 Oct 1757  in Kingston, NY.

Jacob Brink was listed as a soldier in the foot company of the Militia of the Corporation of Kingston in 1738. He is listed in 1755 as owning three slaves: Dick, Charles, and Peg.

12. Berhardt (Barent) Merckel

Berhardt’s baptism sponsors were Barent Berhans and Margriet Jansz.

His first wife Cornelia Van Der Merken was born 10 Jan 1714 in Kingston, Ulster, New York. Her parents were Jacob Vandermark and Jannetjen Sluyter. Cornelia died in 1747 in Marbletown, Ulster, New York.

Berhardt’s second wife Barbara Van der Merken was Cornelia’s sister.

13. Eva Merckel

Eva’s baptism sponsor was Eva Mueller (West Camp Lutheran. Chbk.)

Her husband Jeremias Kittelon (Kittle) was born about 1712 in Marbletown, Ulster, New York.  His parents were Jeremiah Kittle and  Catherine Guderis. His first wife was Sara Veel,

Kingston Reformed Dutch Church, Marriage Records, p 578: “Jeremie Kittel, born in Mormel (Marbletown) widower of Sara Veel, and Eva Merkle, j. d, born at Kerkeland [Churchland/ Saugerties] both resid. in Mormel (Marbletown). Banns registered 16 Sept.” [Married Oct. 1739.]

14. Elisabetha Merckel

Elisabetha’s  baptism sponsors were Johann Klein and wife (West Camp Lutheran Chbk.)

Her husband Thomas Bosch was born 28 Feb 1714 – Marbletown, Ulster, New York.  His parents were Jacobus Bosch and Eycke Van Der Mark.  Thomas died 1774 – Ulster, New York

Records of the Kingston Dutch Church: “Thomas Bosch, j. m., born and resides under the jurisdiction of Mormel (Marbletown), and Lisabeth Merkel, J. D., born at Kerkeland (Churchland/ Saugerties) and resides in Kingston. Married 9 March 1739. Banns Registered 18 Feb.”

15. Johannes Merckel

Johannes’ baptism sponsors were Johann Klein and wife (West Camp Lutheran Chbk.).

His wife Elisabetha Anna Schnaub (Schnauben, Snover) was born about 1724 in Punstadt, Aabauerschaft, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Her parents were Johannes Schnauber Snover and Anna Elisabeth Windemuth. She immigrated with her parents in 1738.    Elisabetha before 26 May 1770 when her father’s will was recorded in Trenton, NY or 16 Aug 1807 – Smithfield, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania,

Johannes and Elisabetha were married in Smithfield Pennsylvania,  the original name given to the town when it was founded at the turn of the 18th century by Ralph Smith. German settlers began to arrive in Smithfield over the next few decades, and in 1758 the name changed to New Germantown. It remained New Germantown until 1918 at the end of World War I, when world affairs warranted a name change and Oldwick (meaning Old Village) was adopted.

Records of Baptisms of the Reformed Church at Machackemeck (Deerpark).
Reformed Church at Machackemeck (Deerpark, Orange County, New York Colony)

Vol 42, p 243: 11 Sep 1746, Maria Margreta and Maria Juliana, daughters of Johan Jory Windemuth and Johanna Margreta Elisabetha Bernhardin. Sp Johannes Snauber and wife, Anna Elisabetha Windemoedin, Jory Philip Windenmuth, Maria Juliana Huber, his wife.

Vol 42, p 247: 25 Oct 1747, Johannes, son of Jury Philip Windemoet and Maria Juliana Huber. Sp Johannes Merckel, Anna Elizabetha Snauber.

16. Whilhelmus Markle

Whilhelmus’ baptism sponsors were Wilhelmus Brandouw and Elisabeth Brandouw (Kingston Ref. Chbk).

His wife Sarah Koch  was born about 1730 in Marbletown , Ulster, New York. Her parents were Samuel Koch and Bridget Middaugh. Sarah died between 1790 and 1800 in Marbletown Township, Ulster County, New York.

17. Petrus Merckel

Petrus’ baptism sponsors were Pieter Overbag and Maria Overbag (Kingston Ref. Chbk.).

18. Petrus Merckel

Petrus’ baptism sponsors were  Manus Hommel and Grietjen Snyder (Kinston Ref. Chbk.).

His wife Sarah Westbroek was born about 1730.  Her parents were Dirk Westbrook and Janneken Van Keuren. Sarah died after 1784.

19. Anna Merckel

Anna’s baptism sponsors were Zacharias Bakker and Maria Merkel.

Her husband Jacobus Bosch was born 10 Mar 1723 – Kingston, Ulster, New York.  His parents were Jacobus Bosch and Eyke Van Der Mark

Sources:

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=31607606

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=vikingtree&id=I5264

The Palatine Families of New York: A Study of the German Immigrants Who Arrived in Colonial New York in 1710, 2 volumes  By  Henry Z. Jones,  Universal City, California: H. Z. Jones, 1985,

According to the Hunter Lists, Friederich had four children when he reached West Camp although there are baptismal records in Haßloch churchbooks for others.  Obviously several died young and never reached New York.  I believe the four who survived were Lorentz, Anna (Antje), Anna Maria, and Johann Matthias.  They most closely match the ages and sexes as given in the Hunter Lists, and there are later records for marriages of these four in the Kingston churchbooks.

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/m/c/n/Nancy-Mcnicol/PDFGENE22.pdf

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/15988137/person/560991892?ssrc=

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kykinfolk/web/heinrichm/pafg02.h

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/o/l/John-O-Solis/BOOK-0001/0189-0001.html

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~merkley/Intro.htm

The Markle DNA Project