Where did our name come from?
http://nona.net/features/map/placedetail.478169/
|
Name der
Gemeinde |
Gem.schl. |
PLZ |
Bundesland |
Regierungsbezirk |
KFZ |
Landkreis |
|
Name of
Municipiality |
Key
|
Zip code |
Land/State |
Region/Adm.
District |
Lic.Pl. |
County |
|
Kemmen |
12018270 |
3205 |
Brandenburg |
N/A |
CA |
Calau |
|
Kemmenau |
7141071 |
56132 |
Rheinland-Pfalz |
Koblenz |
|
Rhein-Lahn-Kreis(?) |
|
Kimmlerhof |
7235123 |
54314 |
Rheinland-Pfalz |
Trier |
TR |
Trier-Saarburg |
Eric,
In the AC (German AAA, only better) atlas, just east of Koblenz is a little
town called Bad Ems, right on the Lahn river (which runs into the Rhine south
of Koblenz). From Bad Ems, you can go 3 km north east and find
Kemmenau. Quite a bit of that is uphill--Kemmenau is in the hills, on the
ridge line--Bad Ems is down on the Lahn river. In fact, there is a 459
meter 'peak' right next to the little village mark and it appears to be one of
the higher points in the locale. If you drew a line from the town center of
Koblenz to the center of Bad Ems, then a line prpindicular to that line from
Bad Ems to 'up'. Kemmenau is approx 1/3 of the distance 'up' as Bad
Ems is to Koblenz.
Jon
http://www.kimminau.org/Kemmenau/index.html
A message from Paul Kimminau (paul@kimminau.org)
to Brian Kemmenoe. (kemmenoe@earthlink.net, Kemmenoe.1@osu.edu)referencing
Siobhan (Siobhan@kimminau.org).
Brian:
As Eric noted in his e-mail, I am his Uncle and have done some work on the
Kimminau genealogy. Actually I got the vast majority of what I have from
a distant cousin in Omaha, NE. She is really into this stuff and spent a
lot of time getting this data. I have it all in my computer (a Mac) in a
program called Family Reunion. I don't think it will transmit very well
over the Internet and is probably way more than you want on this branch of the
family. Let me give you my take on what data I have.
A little background first. My Dad always told the story that our name
came from a village in Germany and our ancestors took that name when they
landed in the United States. When I was working with Hughes Aircraft
Company, I traveled to Germany pretty often and got to be friend with some very
nice people. I found out from them that there was a village in Germany
named Kemmenau. My oldest son is in the Air Force and was stationed in
Germany and on one of the trips I took (my wife was with me) my son took us to
the village Kemmenau. [Later I found out that another cousin had spent a
couple months in the area of this village and learned that most of all the
church records were destroyed in the war. She also learned that maybe the
name Kemmenau was a take on a Roman word for “above the hearth.” This
would make some sense since just a couple of kilometers away, in a river
valley, are a lot of hot springs/baths.] Anyway this seemed to give some
weight to the story my Dad told about the name coming from a village since
“e’s” in Germany are pronounced like “I’s” in English.
Then I get this data from Siobhan Kimminau (the cousin in Omaha, but not the
same cousin that spent time by the village Kemmenau) and here is what she had
to say to me about that data: “By now I hope that you have received
the limited information that I sent you. I have information from
Ferdinand, Dubois County, Indiana, the church in Telgte, Westphalia, Germany,
many census records, etc. I figured out today (courtesy of going through
the microfilm of Germany) that Heinrich and Bernard Herman are brothers!! I
also have information on their parents and many siblings. The reason that
the Kimena line cannot be found going backward in Germany is that the old way
of doing things was if a man married a woman and they lived on the land of a
person with another name, the man took the other surname! So, if a woman
marries, and her husband dies, and then she remarries, both husbands would have
the same last name. In the church records that I found, the Kimena family
is referenced under the name Wöstenköetter. (At least the parents and
some of the siblings of Heinrich and Bernard are!) The source is a
microfilm of parish records for St. Clemens in Telgte, Westphalia, Prussia, at
the time of their attending.”
Heinrich, it appears would be Randall’s (Siobhan’s husband) Great Grandfather
while Bernard Herman is my Great Grandfather. This would make our Great
Great Grandfather (Johan Theodor Kimena [Wöstenköetter] the same. [It is also
of note that my family has forever thought that our Great Grandfather was
“Herman Bernard.” Now, however, the records clearly show his name as
“Bernard Herman.” ] Please note that some of the time you will see it
spelled “Wöstenköetter” and some time “Wöstenkötter.” The first spelling
is the way the records from Germany have it while the second spelling shows up
in the records from Ferdinand, Indiana. You should now understand that
maybe the story of the Kimminau Family getting the name from the Village of Kemmenau
in Germany might not be true. This dosen't mean that the “Kimian’s” could
not have been from the area of the village Kemmenau. There could also be
some justification for believing that the name “Kimminau” was an effort to get
the spelling standardized from “Kimina”, “Kimena,” “Kimna,” which appear in the
records, and if the family was in fact from the region of the village Kemmenau,
“Kimminau” would/could have been the logical result. I am not sure if it
is worth the effort to see if records exist back beyond J. Heinrich Kimian
(Wöestenköetter).
A couple summers ago, my wife and I, when traveling back east, stopped off in
Ferdinand, Indiana. We did see some head stones in the church cemetery
with the name Kimena on them. In the Ferdinand census records one time it
shows Kimena’s living at this address and the very next census the people at
that address (all first names the same) are now shown as “Kimminau.” No
explanation as to WHY the name changed.
I have been told that there are some Kimminau’s in the West Point, NY
area. Once while in that area we looked in the telephone books and did
not see any listed. Again, they well might be some of the Kimminau’s that
lived in Ferdinand, Indiana that moved to that area. My Great Grandfather
Bernard Herman moved to Nebraska. Most of the records show St Stephen,
Nuckolls County, Nebraska. There is no longer a Post Office at St
Stephen. I believe that the nearest town is Lawrence.
As you can see, going back even to Germany there is no mention of the name Kimminau
being spelled Kemmenoe. I sure wouldn’t bet that somewhere back there,
there might just be a connection. Don’t know if this will help but as
noted earlier, it is probably more that you ever wanted to know about the
Kimminau name.
Paul Kimminau
A letter from Siobahn to
me:
From: Siobhan Kimminau
<bigkids@doglover.com>
To:
<eric@kimminau.org>
Hi!
My husband is Randy
Kimminau. I have been in contact over
the last couple
of years with Paul
Kimminau (papakilo@aol.com). With
records that I have
found in Germany, he and I
have put together a very complete Kimminau family
tree for the ancestors who
left Germany. I believe that he (Paul)
is from
your branch of the
family. My husband descends down from
the branch of
Kimminau that stayed in
St. Stephens, Nebraska. His lineage is
roughly
this:
his grandfather was
Theodore Kimminau, his great grandfather was Bernard
John Kimminau, his great
great grandfather was Heinrich Theodor Kimminau,
his great great great
grandfather was Johan Heinrich Kimena, and finally,
his great great great
great grandfather was Johan Theodor Kimena
(Wöstenkötter) who married
Maria Catharina Laudieck. Johan Theodor
Kimena
(Wöstenkötter) was the
progenitor of my husband's and your two lines of
Kimminau. So, from him on back, you all share the same
ancestry. Your
particular branch stems
from his son Bernard Herman Kimena, whereas my
husband's comes from his
brother, Johan Heinrich. So,
genealogically
speaking, that is who we
are. I guess technically I just married
into the
Kimminau group! LOL!
Speaking of the genealogy,
if any of it interests you, I can send you
information, or Paul can.
Talk to you soon!
Siobhan
Richardson-Kimminau
Omaha, NE
