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 the center of Westerkappeln, 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 the small marshy area of Europe known as Wallenbrock.
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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
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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 peasant 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.
These records extend back to the 17th century and the earliest Wallenbrock record is a
birth in 1674. Unfortunately, I am unable to place in the Family Tree any of the
Wallenbrocks recorded in the 17th and early 18th centuries. With few exceptions, the later
entries can be found in the Wallenbrock 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
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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
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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 3
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.
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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
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. Herman Heinrich Wallenbrock’s house is
still standing on a hillside overlooking the farm. It is mostly of stone construction ( same
stone and style as the schoolhouse), two storied, with a covered porch. I estimate it to have
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about 1000 sq. feet of living area. There are several small barns near the house. The house
is now abandoned although most of the land is being farmed.
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, daughterin-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 for America.
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
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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). He left the family farm and by age 22 was
living with his older brother and working as a bootmaker in St. Louis. John Friedrich
married Wilhelmina Heissmman (Hussman) in 1874 and by 1875 had his own shop listed in
the City Directory under “shoes”.
Edward Henry Wallenbrock(11May1875) was the oldest of five children born to John
Friedrich and Wilhelmina. 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
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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. This story is confirmed by the census record which shows
John Friedrich as a resident in the Virginia City Mine near Gunnison, CO in 1880. The
gold and silver rush in Colorado began at about this time and was centered in the Silverton
Gunnison area. John Friedrich later moved his family to Denver 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.
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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
Femme Osage United Church of Christ records, secondary
1890 Denver, CO City Directory, secondary
Funeral Home bill for J.F. Wallenbrock in Ouray, CO, primary
Ouray Dispatch obituary of JF Wallenbrock July 17, 1903, 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
The Westfalians , From Germany to Missouri by Walter d. Kamphoefner, 1987, Princeton
University Press.
Von Heuerleuten und Farmern by W.D. Kamphoefner, P. Marschalck, and B. NoiteSchuster, 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
St. Louis, MO. City Directory 1840-1920, primary
Personal communication with Dr. Gunter Boehlke, 2001.
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