MOELLENBROCK, MUHLENBRUCH, MOHLENBRUCK, MELLENBRUCH, MELLENBROOK

Welcome to the All- Moellenbrock, Muehlenbruch Page!

If you have a name that looks like this, please contact me so we can see where you fit into the overall scheme of things. In addition to the online contacts and links posted here, I have postal addresses for some offline researchers. Read this article first, then e-mail me: Kilowat 357@aol.com

If you do not connect with this surname, you might wish to explore site anyway in the name of German-American Immigration History. You might find some clues about your own family’s German or American origins. You can examine how a “one-name” study can be done and perhaps decide whether to do one for your own surname. Please feel free to contact me with your comments or questions.

A "ONE-NAME" OR "ALL-NAMES" PROJECT

This site replaces a booklet which I used to distribute to interested researchers who were working on all the different variations of the MÖLLENBROCK - MÜHLENBRUCH surnames.

My own surname was MELLENBROOK, which might appear closely related to MELLENBRUCH. These are two anglicized spellings popular in America, along with all the original German spellings in many variations. (I have counted as many as 20 different spellings in both USA and Germany, with and without umlauts and prefixes!)

It may sound hopeless to try to sort them all out (which is what a one-name study does) but, with the continuing help and input of numerous family researchers, both online and offline, we have found that the project is “doable” for a number of reasons:

(1) Thankfully, our name stands out in a crowd, unlike Muellers, Millers, Schneiders, Schmidts, et al. It’s much easier to find in an index, a crowded census page, even when the name is thoroughly misspelled. We have seen variations ranging from Manbrook and Mallenbrook to Melin-brough in our travels, not to mention Mellon-brook, Millonbrook, Moerlenbruck -- well, you know how it goes.

(2) It turns out that there are only about 6 primary immigration sites in the USA, and only 3-4 sites in northern Germany from whence our emigrants came. Ultimately, that is not very many immigrants to trace. We have contact with at least one family historian or senior researcher in each American branch so far, and more than one in some families. We have also established online contact with others who have not yet connected with any of the 6 main groups. And we are getting help from numerous online correspondents and genealogists in Germany. (This project is ongoing, never finished.)

(3) In the end, the surname really boils down to two variations: MOELLENBROCK and MUEHLENBRUCH, the low German (Plattdeutsch) and high German spellings of northern Germany, along with MÖHLEN-BROCK, -bruck, which lies somewhere between the two. If you can find your family’s oldest records, you will probably see one of these at the heart of it all.

HOW THIS PROJECT GOT STARTED

In trying to find my early MELLENBROOK (Ohio) ancestors, it seemed logical to start with my MELLENBRUCH neighbors in Indiana. Their original ancestors had emigrated to Ohio in 1830’s, through Cincinnati-Springfield area to New Bremen OH where they remained a few years before moving to Indiana. Around the turn of the century, a large group of these spun off and settled in northeast (Brown Co.) Kansas.

Those Mellenbruchs came to Ohio from the province of Hannover, Germany, same as my Mellenbrook ancestors. In addition, all their given names (Wilhelm, Johann,Friedrich, Mary, Anna, etc.) seemed identical to those in my own family. (Little did I know...) I found given names in their group that duplicated ours, even so far as a Norman-Kay father-daughter combo like my own.

My first encounter with the Mellenbruch family tree was like falling into a parallel universe, a mirror image of my own ancestry! I couldn't believe my eyes. We must certainly be related!

No such luck. What happened next led me deeper into my own family’s genealogy, investigation of USA records, the German church records and, as I amassed more and more MLNBRK names, to the creation of this “all-Möllenbrock” project.

I learned that the anglicized spelling these two families seem to hold in common actually stem from two different variations of the name:

The High German version (MUEHELENBRUCH, MÜHLEN-BRUCH) became American MELLENBRUCH, while the Low German or Plattdeutsch version (MÖLLENBROCK, MOELLENBROCK) sometimes became American MELLEN-BROOK. For ease in pronunciation, many with our surname tend toward pronunciation or re-spelling in the latter form, or see their name incorrectly spelled that way in print, anyway.

The MÖHLENBROCK, -bruck form has been found in 2 documented cases of ancestors attached to the Mühlenbruch (Muehlenbruch) lines. It seems to be a popular older form of the more modern or standardized Mühlenbruch, the first spelling to insert an H.

A GERMAN LESSON: MÜHLEN + BRUCH

Regardless of a lot of confusing spellings, the meaning of its parts are these:

“Mühlen-” refers to a mill (die Mühle). Compare French /moulin/ as in Moulin Rouge, and Spanish /molina/. In German /mühl/ refers to the larger device or building, whether windmill (Windmühle) or water mill (Wassermühle). It is also used as we do for “coffee-mill” or other small grinding devices. But a different word is used for the grindstone/ millstone (Schleifstein, Mühlestein) itself, or for an industrial, textile or cotton mill (Fabrik, Textilfabrik, Spinnerei).

“Bruch” means English “-brake” as in “cane-brake.” It is a swamp, or the clearing in a

swampy forest. Bruch can also mean quarry. Scholar George F. Jones explains: “Although Germany has been well drained for the last few centuries, it was [once] a land of vast swamps. As a result we find many name-roots referring to marshes, bogs and swamps...” (Jones, G.F., German-American Names, 2nd edition, Genealogy Publishing

Co. Baltimore MD, pp.30, 231.)

GERMAN NAMES "IN ENGLISH"

Much confusion arises from the convention of inserting an “e” into our name, in places where the umlaut appears in German. This “e” is not part of the original German spelling.

Modern Germans are familiar with the tradition of using Latin letters without the umlauts. Putting Moe- or Mue- into most search engines usually yields the correct umlauted version of Mö- or Mü.

The presence of the “e” became confusing to Americans, who started to pronounce it instead of the original letter. Sometimes "oe" became "ay" or "ae," or "ue" became "i" or "oo." In our case “Moellen-” or “Muehlen-” became “Mellen-”. Other folks dropped both the umlaut and the "e."

Thus, the American variations became as follows:

Möllenbrock became Moellenbrock, or Moellenbrook or Mellenbrook. On the other hand, one might come out with “Mollenbrock,” where the Mollen- rhymes with pollen. This often gave rise to a mis-hearing as Mallenbrook. (You might want to check this misspelling when seeking family records.)

Similarly, Mühlenbruch becomes the often-seen Muehlenbruch or Muhlenbruch (with a "moo" or "mew") or Mellenbruch. Möhlenbrock becomes Moehlenbrock, or just Mohlenbrock, starting with a "Mole" sound. None of these are hard to hear correctly.

However, to confuse matters, we have families in both Germany and USA with the two components of the name "mixed" as follows:

High German MÜHLEN plus Low German -BROCK, -BROK (Du. Muelenbruek, -broek)

Low German MÖLLEN, Moellen, Moolen- plus High German -BRUCH. (Du. Moolenbroek, -broik)

In any case, if you go back far enough, your name probably boils down to one of the following:

(a) MU(E)HLENBRUCH or MO(E)HLENBROCK, found at Nienburg region in Hannover or around Petershagen, Westfalia

(b) MOELLENBROCK around Osnabrück in Hannover or near Borgholzhausen and Wiedenbrück, Westfalia

Our German Families Found in 6 Midwest States

We have identified 6-7 primary German immigration sites in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa. (It may be easiest to think of them by State. I have included zipcode abbreviations for researchers who may not be familiar with them.)

1. The KANSAS (KS) folks are clearly linked by good records to the Seymour INDIANA (IN) group. We don't have much info on Iowa (IA), but it appears they originate from the same area of Germany as the Kansas-Indiana group.

This MELLENBRUCH - MUHLENBRUCH group is perhaps the largest single group found in the U.S. centering near one spot. The Mellenbruch Family Reunion in Kansas is one of the oldest in the U.S.; it began around 1799. (See link below to visit their web site.)

2,3. The Moellenbrocks of PENNSYLVANIA (PA) and OHIO (OH) are working hard to find a common link with Missouri, as all were Protestant families using the low-German spelling. See links, below.

4, 5. There are 2 separate groups in MISSOURI (MO), one Catholic (St. Louis MO, E. St. Louis IL), one Protestant (Washington, MO.) Their researchers have determined they are not directly related, but are still collaborating on this.

These 2 above groups seem to have immigrated from neighboring towns in Westfalia: Rheda-Wiedenbruck (kath.) and Dissen & Borgholzhausen (ev.) These sites have the oldest dates found in the German records and may represent the original appearance of MLNBRK in northern Germany.

6. Campbell Hill, ILLINOIS (IL) This group has roots in the Nienburg-Stolzenau, Hannover area. Their original ancestor is said to have emigrated from Amsterdam, Holland, to Bremen, Germany.

THE MAIN DESCENDANT-RESEARCHERS IN USA ARE:

(1) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (PA) area:

MOELLENBROCK surname (1 family)

Researchers: Becky Smith, Dolores Robitzer

(2) Northern OH and Cleveland (OH) area:

MOELLENBROCK > MELLENBROOK (1 family);

Researchers: Kayle Brooks, Louise Varisco

Assistance from: Robert Goecke, Lila

Palmiter, Erika Giftge (Hüsede,Germany),

Southwest OH (Springfield area)

Researcher: Mary Bailey

(3) MELLENBRUCH sometimes found as MELLENBROOK:

Seymour, so. Indiana (IN) nr. Indianapolis

Researcher: Barbara George

Assistance: Dianne May, Selma Mellenbruch

Web site coord: Nathan Kramer

Northern Indiana (Ft. Wayne) MOHLENBRUCK var's

Researchers: Richard & Linda Scheimann

(4) Campbell Hill, Illinois (IL)area

MOHLENBROCK (1 family)

Researcher: Dr. William Mohlenbrock

Southern IL, around E. St. Louis

Researcher: Jim Egan

(5) Both of these found as MOELLENBROCK:

Washington, Missouri (MO)- evangelical.

Researchers: Dorothy Luelf, Tommy Dobsch

St. Louis, Mo - catholic.

Researcher: Robert F. Leifield

(6) MELLENBRUCH, MUEHLENBRUCH, MUHLENBRUCH

N.E. Kansas: see Seymour IN, above.

Iowa (IA) Researcher: Dorothy Miller

FREEDOM OF OPPORTUNITY, FREEDOM TO DISPERSE

After dispersing from those 6 original sites, there are now Muhlenbruch or Moellenbrock descendants spread over the entire U.S.A. (I have not checked the white pages lately, but one could probably find a variation in nearly every state.)

Our family histories are now so varied that no one can say "All MLNBRKs are alike" any more than they could say "All German-Americans are alike."

Our religious affiliations, occupations, and locations (urban-rural) vary greatly now, much due to the opportunity, expansion and technological progress found in a very young nation. These things were already beginning to change back in Germany; our immigrants came to the USA and completed the process.

Main Emigration Sites in Northern Germany

By tracing the American immigrants of the 19th century, we have identified three major regions of northern Germany (both Hannover and Westfalia) who provided those immigrants:

(1) Stolzenau (Nienburg), Hannover and surrounding area, as connected to the Petershagen Windheim region of Westfalia, with an important parish at Ovenstaedt. (evangelical)

(2) Osnabrueck, Bad Essen, Wittlage, esp. Huesede and surrounding villages, with records at Essen parish, Hannover. (ev.)

(3) Dissen in Hannover as connected to Borgholzhausen, Westfalia, with church records at Borgholzhausen. (ev.)

(4) Rheda-Wiedenbruck, Westfalia region, which might have been the original ancestral site for #2 and #3 above. (katholische=catholic)

(5) Other German emigration sites remain unidentified to date. However, it should be noted that variants of (von)(der) MOOLENBROEK and (von) MUELENBROEK are widely prevalent in Holland and, in the past, the boundaries between Holland and northern Germany were somewhat blurry.

One Dutch family has traced its roots to von der MOULENBROUCKE origins in 1500's Belgium. A form "auf dem Moulenbroucke" is seen in Germany. This opens the possibility that some Germans with our surname may have immigrated from Belgium, with or without stopping at the Netherlands.

Du. Researchers: Jan van Moolenbroek, Anthony Sehl

THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT

The purpose of this web site is to act as a clearing house for researchers of the M**LENBR*K surname lines -- so we can find each other and collaborate. Please let me know if you want something added (web site URL) or removed (like your name).

Soon I hope to summarize briefly the oldest Immigrant Ancestor data from each primary researcher, on additional pages here. This will be ONLY for identification or connection purposes -- so you can see if you are barking up the right family tree.

I will not be publishing full pedigrees at this site. If you have a name like this, you should contact the original researchers, by mail or Internet, to view their full lines and family trees. They will not be duplicated here except as noted.

You may print or copy for research purposes, but you may not duplicate for commercial use. Thanks.

(This page was last updated July 5, 2001.)

Moellenbrock & Muehlenbruch Links