A SHORT HISTORY OF
THE WALLENBROCK FAMILY
Origin of the
Wallenbrock Name
European surnames arose during the Middle Ages from the need to more
specifically designate individuals than the limited number of Christian names
allowed. The surname might refer to occupation, physical appearance, relation
to family members, or most commonly the location of the individual. This seems
to be the case regarding Wallenbrock. The locale Wallenbrock can be found in a
very complete gazetteer to be a “population center” located at Latitude 52deg
18 min 57 sec and Longitude 7 deg 52 min 33 sec in Northwest Germany close to
the Dutch border. The word “brock” or “brook” can be taken to mean a marshy
area or a small stream. The term “wallen”means surge or wave, and may refer to
fields of long grass or perhaps uneven ground. An alternative interpretation is
that “wallen” is derived from “wall”, meaning fortress.
Today
Wallenbrock is within the political boundary of Westerkappeln, Germany, a town
of 11,000 inhabitants located 8miles west of Osnabruck and 26 miles north of
Munster. Wallenbrock is identified by local residents, and on maps, as a rural
area about 1 square mile containing 15-20 farms and homes. The area includes
some “niederung”, low ground with drainage canals, as well as some gentle
hills. The homes are for the most part dairy farms although several of these
have been converted to horse stables. Three connecting roads that run through
the area are posted with the name Wallenbrock. The Westerkappeln phone
directory shows 30 individuals to have a Wallenbrock Street address, but no one
with the name Wallenbrock. In fact, the surname Wallenbrock is quite rare. The
only Wallenbrock found in the phone directories of Europe is Eric Wallenbrock,
a recent immigrant and an American citizen. North American phone directories
list only 23 individuals with this name.
Approximately three miles south of Wallenbrock, in Westerkappeln proper,
is an Evangelish Church dating from the 12th century. The births and
marriages of Wallenbrocks from 1674 to 1818 can be found in the records of this
church. Almost certainly the surname Wallenbrock arose from an attempt to
distinguish certain individuals living in a small marshy area of Europe known
as Wallenbrock.

History of Wallenbrock,
Germany
The
locale called Wallenbrock is very old. Originally referred to as “Uber (above)
Wallenbrock”, it was a small self-supporting settlement in the present day
Seeste Bauernshaft (one of 9 administrative sections of Westerkappeln). A
document of 1188 places “ Domus Wallenbroeke” in the fiefdom of Kappeln. The
Kappeln castle, built in the 12th century, is in Westerkappeln. In
1262 the Gravenhorst Monastery was sold to the “heirs of Wallenbroke and
Seeste” by Bishop Baldwin of Osnabruck secured with a loan from the Prince of
Tecklenburg. A document of 1350-1366 names " the house of Dietrich
Wallenbroke " as a fief of Bishop Johan Hoet of Osnabruck. The 1770 tax records of the farmland
designated Seeste 13(the 13th farm in the Bauernshaft of Seeste)
shows the owners to be a Meyer zu Wallenbrock family. I was able to confirm by
the writing above the barn doors (“ Steffen Heinrich Meyer”) that this farm was
at least in part the dairy farm with the current address of Wallenbrock#4.
Historical Aspects of the
Wallenbrock Surname
At
least 15 different spellings of Wallenbrock can be found in genealogical
records. Many of these can be attributed to sporadic clerical errors. However,
some consistent changes over time are clear. Variations of interest and the
time period in which they are found are as follows:
Wallenbroeke 1188, earliest spelling.
Wallenbroke, most common medieval spelling.
Wallenbrocke, 1453
Wallenbroick, 1603
Wallenbroch, 1623
Wallenbroock, most common spelling in the late 17th
and early 18th centuries. Also used by one branch of Wallenbrocks in
Missouri in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Wallenbrok, 1705, 1762, 1766, 1772
Wallenbrook, most common spelling in the late 18th
and early 19th centuries.
Wallenbrock, most common spelling in the 19th
and almost exclusive spelling of the 20th century.
The
relationship of the Meyer (Meier) zu Wallenbrocks to the Wallenbrocks is
unclear. The Meyer zu Wallenbrock family members are found in civil records of
Westerkappeln in the 17th and 18th centuries and as
stated before were the apparent owners of land historically identified with the
name. It is interesting that the changes over time of the spelling of the
Wallenbrock portion of their name are essentially the same as stated above for
Wallenbrock. Meyer is a common surname but is also an old term for designating
a full heir of a peasan farmstead. The Westerkappeln records suggest that the
Meyer zu Wallenbrocks dropped the zu Wallenbrock portion of their name sometime
very early in the 19th century. A Steffen Heinrich Meyer zu
Wallenbrock born in 1798 in Seeste is probably the father of Steffen Heinrich
Meyer, the owner of Seeste#13 in 1862. How did the Wallenbrock line originate?
In 1603 Johan Wallenbroick paid rent on land in the Seeste Bauershaft, and all
indications are that by the 19th century the Wallenbrocks were
landless. In this area of Europe the land was passed down intact to the first
son. If the other sons married they generally had to rent a farm from a
landowner, possibly even their own brother. It is probable that the
Wallenbrocks are the landless cousins of the Meyer zu Wallenbrocks. It is also
interesting that a marriage between a Wallenbrock woman and a Meyer zu
Wallenbrock man is recorded in the 18th century.
The Wallenbrock Family in
Germany
Our story will begin in the 18th
century in Westerkappeln. It appears that a large extended family of
Wallenbrocks (Wallenbrooks) lived in the area at this time because there are a
number of christenings and marriages in the Evangelisch Church records. I have
only been able to place about two thirds of these individuals in the family
tree. In this part of Europe, farmers lived in “housebarns” which were large buildings
shared by the farm family and their animals as well as a storage facility for
the crops. People and animals used the same entrance. Although this situation
seems terribly primitive today, it was typical until the 20th
century.
Johann Heinrich Wallenbrock (8FEB1747) and Catharina Margaretha
Kopats (Konats) had 7 children whose births are recorded between 1773 and 1796.
Several of these children would eventually come to America but not until late
in life, following children and nephews. Essentially all of the children of the
next generation would end up in America.
The first born of Johann and Catharina Wallenbrock was Johann
Henrich (24JAN1773) who at age 28 years married Catharina Margaretha Schraeers.
They had two children, Johann Heinrich (10OCT1802) and Herman Heinrich
(29SEP1805). Catharina probably died giving birth to Herman because two years
later his father married Anna Catharina Grothaus and over the next 11 years
they had four children. Herman’s older brother must have died very young because
Johann and Anna gave their only son the same name, Johann Heinrich (18DEC1814).
Herman Heinrich (29SEP1805) was the first Wallenbrock to leave for the United
States and is the most central character in this narrative.
Immigration to America
Toward
the end of the 18th century immigration from Germany had tapered off
and most of the German states had laws against it. In the early 19th
century Westerkappeln and the Principality of Tecklenburg to which it belonged,
became part of Prussia under King Frederick William III. The developing
industrial revolution had a special impact on the area around Westerkappeln.
The typical farmer was either a tenant farmer (huermann) or small landowner
(brinckliggere or brinkman). In either case the amount of land was insufficient
to support a family by farming alone and a secondary source of income was
required. In most cases this source was the manufacture of linen from flax or
seasonal work in Holland. This cottage industry of linen production was
displaced first by more efficient factories, and later, by cotton imports in
the 19th century. The resulting hard times caused massive
immigration from many parts of Germany. Prussians had to apply for and receive
official permission to leave their homeland and records of this process were
kept at the local level. However, many
single men immigrated without permission because they wanted to avoid required
Prussian military service.
Gottfried Duden, a well off Prussian jurist traveled to Missouri in 1824
and purchased a farm in what would become Warren County just west of St. Louis.
He lived there for two years and then returned to Prussia. He published a book
in 1829 in which he described his experience in glowing terms. The area between
the Missouri and Mississippi rivers near St. Louis became known as “Duden
Country” and by 1830 German settlers had begun arriving. The particular area of
“ Duden country “around Femme Osage Creek is where the first Wallenbrocks would
eventually settle. This is also the area that Daniel Boone along with several
hundred of his followers came to when he left Kentucky in 1800. Before the
arrival of Germans they comprised the vast majority of the population. The
first large party of immigrants to leave Westerkappeln came to this area in
1832. The vast majority of these individuals were farmers. Their average wealth
on arrival was about 80 American dollars for each family, less for single men.
The least productive land could be purchased from the government for about $2/
acre. Letters home brought more and more of their neighbors and relatives and
by this process of “chain migration” transplanted German settlements developed.
Westerkappeln was an excellent example of this phenomenon. Nearly half of the
town’s departing emigrants from 1830-1850 settled in a two county area ( St.
Charles and Warren) of Missouri. Towns such as Cappeln, New Melle, Dutzow
Lippstadt, Augusta, and Femme Osage sprang up. These communities retained the
culture of their parent German area. Their schools taught in and church
services were given in the low German dialect used in their region of Germany.
The Femme Osage Evangelical Church (where the births of Herman Heinrich
Wallenbrock’s children are recorded) did not abandon it’s German services until
1948 and the church ran school taught in German until 1920. Several German
newspapers operated in the area until the 20th century. It is also
interesting that 96% and 99% of single German men and women married Germans
after arriving in Missouri. A glance at the Wallenbrock family tree makes clear
that this trend continued into the second and third generations.
A
town archive of Westerkappeln shows that “ Herman H. Wallenbrock” left for
“Nordamerika”on the 9th of September 1833 with his wife “Cath.
Elsabein Bunemann” and their two-year-old daughter. The Bunemans were a large
and prominent family in Westerkappeln some of whom had gone to Missouri with an
earlier group in 1832. Herman is listed as a “heuermann (tenant farmer) und
wagenmacher”. Other Wallenbrocks
followed over the next two decades. The Wallenbrock women married into and
immigrated with families such as Bunemann, Walbrink, Diekamp, and Westermeier.
The Wallenbrock men often married women whose families were also immigrating to
the area such as Tupker, Staggenmeyer, Bunemann, and Freese. All the
Wallenbrocks had immigrated from Westerkappeln or passed away by 1860.
A list
(probably incomplete) of known immigrations follows. In an attempt to avoid
confusion I have designated the earliest immigrant, Herman Heinrich Wallenbrock
(29SEP 1805) as H.H.W. and stated the family relationship to him. Those
individuals who left Prussia without permission are marked.*
1833. Herman Heinrich Wallenbrock(H.H.W.), 27 years, with
wife and daughter.
1833. Anna Elsabein Wallenbrock Diekamp, 45 years, aunt
of H.H.W., with husband and children.
1835. Anna Margaretha Elsabein Wallenbrock Westermeier,
23 years, half sister of H.H.W. with husband.
1836. Catharina Margaretha Wallenbrock Bunemann, 54
years, Aunt of H.H.W. with husband, son, daughter-in-law, and grandson.
1837. Catharina Margaretha Wallenbrock, 19years, half
sister of H.H.W.
1842. Johann Heinrich Wallenbrock, 28 years, half brother
of H.H.W. with wife, daughter, son, and mother.
1842. Stephan Henry Wallenbrock, 21 years, 1st
cousin of H.H.W.*
1842. Anna Catharina Wallenbrock, 57 years, aunt of
H.H.W.
1848. Johan Heinrich Wallenbrock, 24 years, 1st
cousin of H.H.W.*
1848. Herman Heinrich Wallenbrock, 55 years, Uncle of
H.H.W. with his wife, daughter and son in law.
1848. Herman Heinrich Wallenbrock, 30 years, 1st
cousin of H.H.W. with wife and daughter.
1855-1859. John Henry Wallenbrock, 25 years, and Herman
Henry Wallenbrock, 25years, twin 1st cousins of H.H.W.*
1857. Catharina Elisabeth Wallenbrock, 21 years, and
Catharina Elsabein Wallenbrock, 32 years, 1st cousins of H.H.W.*
1858. Catharina Wilhelmina Wallenbrock, 23 years, 1st
cousin of H.H.W.
1859. Catherina Elizabeth Wallenbrock, 12 years, 1st
cousin of H.H.W.

Wallenbrocks in
Missouri
Two
years after arriving in Missouri Herman Heinrich Wallenbrock married another
german immigrant Christina Maria Meier (Meyer) in St. Louis, MO. I find no
other records of his first wife or young daughter, so presumably they had both
passed away within two years of departure from Germany. By the time of the 1840
census Herman and Christina were living on their own farm in Femme Osage
township of St. Charles County, MO(point A on map). During the next 16 years
they had 9 children whose births are recorded at the Femme Osage Evangelical
Church (now called United Church of Christ) or whose existence can be
determined from the census record. Femme Osage is located about 30 miles west
of St. Louis between the tiny German communities of Cappeln (after
Westerkappeln) and Augusta. Today the church (rebuilt in the 1880s) as well as
the tiny one room schoolhouse his children attended (no longer used) are still
standing and essentially make up the entire community. Between the 1850 and the
1860 census Herman’s net worth increased from $400 to $1960. Herman Heinrich
survived his wife and died in 1872. At that time he was still farming 146 acres
valued at $10.50/acre and was apparently living alone. His children had all
left the farm and moved to St. Louis. An examination of the probate record
shows that hundreds of his farm implements and household items were auctioned
(including the apples in his trees). In addition to his children, many of the
buyers were from Westerkappeln families. His eldest son Henry Wilhelm
administered his estate and distributed $250 to each of the surviving 7
children. His body was transported to St. Louis where his funeral and burial
took place.
Johann Heinrich Wallenbrock (half
brother of H.H.W.) and his wife Catherine Elisabeth Staggenmeyer came to
America in 1842 and raised 8 children on their Femme Osage farm(point B on the
map). This farm was in Femme Osage township and was probably very close to
Herman Heinrich’s farm as judged by their proximity on the 1850 U.S. census
list. Their third son Herman became a farmer, but the others ended up in the
city of St. Charles. Herman had a large family and his children also left the
farm and moved to the city of St. Charles. Johann Heinrich died in 1881 and is
buried in St. Charles as are at least 29 other Wallenbrocks.
Stephan Heinrich Wallenbrock deserves special mention because he is included in a collection of biographies of prominent St. Charles County citizens published in 1895. Although he may have been more successful than many of his fellow immigrants, his story is typical of them. He came to America with a childhood friend when he was 21. He stayed with his cousin (H.H.W.) for the first two years where he learned farming and the trade of wagon making. He then went to St. Louis where he made and sold wagons, saved his money and bought land in St. Charles County. He married Maria Wellman (from Hanover, Germany) in 1849 and they eventually moved to his St. Charles farmland where they built a large house and wagon shop (point C on the map) conveniently located on busy Booneslick Road. Stephan fought for the North in the Civil War and raised 8 children. His 1895 biography related that he was still a member of the Evangelical Church, a staunch Republican and was living on his original 140 acres farm with his son Benjamin, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. His nearest neighbor was his childhood friend from Westerkappeln, Germany. His children and grandchildren also ended up in the city of St. Charles and contribute to the large number of graves there today. His house on Booneslick Road still stands.
John
Henry Wallenbrock(5MAY 1830) came to America with his twin brother sometime
between 1855 and 1859, married Anna Margaret Vorndam in 1861 and settled in
Quincy, Il(point D on the map) about 100 miles up river from St. Louis. They
had 7 children, several of who were living in Quincy in the early 20th
century. John Henry’s occupation was a woodworker and his sons became the same.
The
story of Catherina Elizabeth Wallenbrock(24FEB 1847) is a rather sad one. She
was the youngest of four children. Her father died before she was born and her
mother passed away on her 10th birthday. The following year both of
her older brothers died within weeks of each other. Six months later her sister
left for America where she worked as a “ domestic” in St. Louis. Catherina Elizabeth left Westerkappeln a
year later( perhaps after her sister made enough money for her fare). To my
knowledge, she was the last Wallenbrock to leave Westerkappeln.
Wallenbrocks in the
Military
German immigrants were very much against slavery and despite the fact that the Missouri population was split, essentially all the Germans fought for the North in the Civil War. Records show 5 Wallenbrocks that served with the Northern forces. These men include the sons of Herman Heinrich Wallenbrock(29SEP1805), Henry Wilhelm (~1840) and Herman Henry (~1846) and their 1st cousin John Henry Wallenbrock(~1842). Henry Wilhelm contracted Tuberculosis while serving and died of the disease 20 years later. Also included are Stephan H. Wallenbrock (26 Feb 1821), previously mentioned, and another of Herman Heinrich’s cousins, Herman Henry Wallenbrock(5MAY1830) who had only recently arrived in the United States. It is of interest that the single men left Prussia without consent to avoid military service and found the Civil War in America. Herman Henry Wallenbrock(5MAY 1830) also settled in St. Charles and his grandson Albert Louis Wallenbrock(4MAR1896) served in World War I and co-wrote a book History of the World War in St. Charles County. Gustave H. Wallenbrock(9APR1891), a grandson of Johann Heinrich Wallenbrock served with distinction for the Allies in France during W.W.I.
Wallenbrocks in Modern Times
Herman Heinrich Wallenbrock’s great- granddaughter, Jean Audrey Wallenbrock, recalls being told by her father that his family had always had nothing to do with the St. Charles relatives, the implication being that some ill feeling existed. It is interesting that Johann Heinrich Wallenbrock and his children are not among those listed as buyers at his brother’s estate auction only a few miles from his home. Perhaps some ill will arose between them. Clearly one family gravitated to St. Charles and the other to St. Louis. It seems that since that time not all the Wallenbrocks of the St. Louis area know each other personally or understand how they are related. Today Wallenbrocks are listed in the phone directories of Missouri, California, Florida, Ohio, Tennesee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and New York. Generally, these migrations out of Missouri took place during the middle of the 20th century.
Knowledge of the Wallenbrock ancestry was gradually lost. My own relatives didn’t have a clue as to the country of origin or when the Wallenbrocks arrived in America. However, according to the information given to the 1920 U.S. Census takers, most of the St. Charles relatives at that time did know that their grandparents were Prussian born and one even knew specified “ Cappelan, Germany” as the place of origin.
My Branch of the Wallenbrocks
The sixth child of Herman Heinrich Wallenbrock(29SEP1805) and Christina Meier was John Friedrich Wallenbrock (8APR1849). John Friedrich married Wilhelmina Heissmman (Hussman) in St. Louis in 1874. Edward Henry Wallenbrock(11May1875) was the oldest of their five children. We have reached a point in our story where oral history begins to blend with and add meaning to the dry facts found in recorded events. It has been passed down in our family that Edward Henry Wallenbrock (11May1875) expressed to his children bitter resentment concerning his father John Friedrich. He recalled long days of driving a cart to pick up and deliver laundry that his mother did to make ends meet in Denver, CO while his father was away looking for gold. He apparently felt that his father should not have left his family. The gold and silver rush in Colorado began at about this time and was centered in the Silverton Gunnison area. The 1880 census recorded John Friedrich as a resident of the Virginia City Mine in Gunnison County, CO. He moved his family to Denver at this time and is found in the 1890 City Directory of Denver, CO as a “shoemaker” but most of his career was spent in the gold and silver fields. This was apparently a very hard time for Edward, his mother and his younger siblings and they eventually moved back to St. Louis. John Friedrich’s pursuit of riches continued on but was unsuccessful. He died of pneumonia at the Camp Bird Mine near Ouray, CO. July 15, 1903. According to the obituary in the Ouray newspaper he was intending to return to his family in St. Louis “to spend the rest of his days” the very week of his death.
John Friedrich’s first son, Edward Henry Wallenbrock, became a bricklayer and later started his own successful construction company in St. Louis. He married Sadie Bell Alexander( the first non-German in this line) in 1898 and they had three children, Gleyn Frederick, Martha Jane, and Jean Audrey. Gleyn Frederick (1FEB1900) had no interest in his father’s business and became a salesman. He married Mabel Irene Schulze, and eventually moved from St. Louis to Terre Haute, IN to start his own paper company. Gleyn and Irene had three boys, Gleyn Frederick, Ralph Eugene, and Dale Edward. Gleyn Frederick II served in the United States Navy during World War II and was awarded the Silver Star for his actions during the Japanese attack on the U.S.S. Franklin. He then followed family tradition and moved to Fort Myers, FL and started his own office supply company. Ralph Eugene became chief design engineer for Whirlpool Corporation in Evansville, IN. Dale Edward Wallenbrock (20MAR1925) stayed in Terre Haute for many years but his career in the trucking industry eventually led him to move to Norman, OK. In 1944 he was flying bombing missions as a B-17 pilot from Sudbury, England over Germany. On several occasions he bombed the cities of Munster and Osnabruck a few miles from Westerkappeln and , unknown to him, the Wallenbrock homeland 150 years earlier.
Summary
My research of the Wallenbrocks has
been very enjoyable. I have not uncovered any famous or wealthy individuals. I
have discovered no dark or shameful secrets. It is perhaps remarkable that I
have found no murderers, thieves, adulterers, bigamists, rebels, or
revolutionaries among them. Judged in this light, the Wallenbrocks are a dull
lot. However, viewed in another way I found it wonderful that this family is so
representational of the attitudes, events and people that have made our
Country. They are the story of people forced by economic necessity to take
great risks, to leave their home, relatives and culture. Theirs is a story of
newly arrived men and women working the land with great intensity to achieve
the American dream. Theirs is the story of the industrial revolution and the
mass migration from farm to city. It is the story of the United States of
America.
Mark Wallenbrock, third son of Dale Wallenbrock
August 2001
Sources:
Westerkappeln, Chronk Einer Alten Gemeine Im
Nordlichen Wesfalen by Friedrich Ernst Hunsche 1975, Herausgeben von der
Gemeinde Westerkappeln
Records of Westerkappeln Evangelisch Church, primary
Westerkappeln immigration permit records, primary
1840,1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920 US census
records, primary
Funeral Home bill for J.F. Wallenbrock in Ouray, CO,
primary
Social Security applications, primary
Civil War muster rolls, secondary
Civil War widows pension applications, secondary
Maggie Wallenbrock’s Civil War widow’s pension file at
the National Archives, primary
Von Heuerleuten und Farmern by W.D. Kamphoefner,
P. Marschalck, and B. Noite-Schuster, 1999, Rasch, Druckerei und Verlag,
Bramsche
Personal communication with Dr. Walter Kamphoefner, 2000.
Portrait and Biographical Records of St. Charles,
Lincoln and Warren Counties ; Chicago, Chapman Pub. Co. 1895, primary
St. Charles County Index of Deeds 1840-1870, primary
St. Charles County Probate Court Index 1875-1952,
primary
St. Charles County Probate Record of the estate of H. H.
Wallenbrock 1873, primary
Quincy, Ill. City Directory 1890, secondary
St. Charles, Mo. City Directory 1906, secondary
Personal communication with Dr. Gunter Boehlke, 2001.