| Comment: | Other soruce list his birthdate as 17.07.1816
Friedrich Frerichs Muennink and his wife Antje Frieden Schoon immigrated to Medina County, Texas in 1856, from Aurich-Oldendorf, Ostfriesland. This particular spelling of the surname appears to have originated with, and be confined to, this family.
In the Aurich-Oldendorf Ortssippenbuch, the family is listed (along with several others) under Münk, Munik, Münke, Münnich, Munick, Münik.
There is a gravestone in Ogle County, IL (an Ostfriesen settlement) with the inscription "Rieke Harms Muenk 1854-1883". Muenk is an Anglicization of Münk. Is this the same family?
Tracing the family back to Wöbbel, Lippe-Detmold in church records, we find the spelling to be Mönnich, and earlier Mönch and Mönich from the name of the family farm in Belle. The name before this was Christian. (Ameling Christian was the Mönnich Meyer in Belle).
An article on p.47 of the 1995 bulletin of the German-Texas
Heritage Society ('Ostfresians in Texas', by Lydia Eisenhaur
Biegert) says that agents of the Castro Colony were in
Ostfriesland in 1846 drumming up settlers after a crop failure
in 1845. The first wave to Medina County had been Catholics
from Alsace-Lorraine. The 2nd/3rd waves were Germans,
Belgians, Ostfresians, and English. Most of the Ostfresians
were from Kreis County (Aurich). All were Protestants and were
chafing under the post-Napoleonic Wars and rule by Hannover.
. |
googlemail.com
