In the year 1617 a person called Johan Sterkell brought his son Hans for baptism. This is the first baptism entry of a "Sterkell" in the church books of Erbstadt (entry is shown above). The father Johan had another baptism in 1619, his daughter Irmelia. Johan died in 1635 together with his wife and another son called Caspar. In the same year also a person called Bastian Sterkell, his wife and two daughters died. Potentially, Bastian was another son of Johan or he was a brother. The years from 1635 to 1637 had been probably the most awful ones in the history of the village. The "Thirty Years War" and the pest were raging in Europe, Germany and also in the region called Wetterau. Within these three years there had been 155 funerals in the village of Erbstadt while there had been just a handful in normal years.

One person who had survived was Hans Sterkell, probably the one who had baptism in 1617. He had several children with his wife Lucretia: Adam, Johannes, Gertraud and Peter. Two other children died. Maybe he had survived the years of the pest because of the fact that he had not been in the village in these years. That is to say because he is asking the priest in 1664 to write a transcript of a marriage contract into the church book (see below). That contract had been originally established in the year 1639 by a military priest of an army fighting in the Thirty Years War. In that letter it is certified that Johan (Hans) Sterkell from Erbstadt in the region of Wetterau had married a woman named Evila from a place called Bösingfelden. Obviously, Hans was among the soldiers and moved with his army through Germany. It is not clear if Evila and Lucretia are the same person.

 

For all of us Stoerkels with ancestors from Erbstadt, this implies the consequence that we all have the same forefather, called Hans, and that we are all related to each other.

 

Maybe my closer look into the church books and the resulting family tree help for each Stoerkel family member who is interested to find his path to our forefather Hans. All his descendants can be assigned to his four children.

 

Gertraud had married Andreas Leichner in the year 1667. The family name Leichner is also one of the very early ones which occur in Erbstadt. So far, I have not followed her descendants.

 

Adam had married a woman named Anna from the village Boenstadt and moved to that place. However, that move was very small compared to those of his descendants. In the year 1766 Adam´s grand-grand-grandson Johann Wilhelm (*1744) emigrated with his wife Maria Katharina Juenger to Russia, together with many other people from the village and the region. He had arrived at Norka in the region of the Wolga in the year 1767. I don´t know anything about the other Stoerkel families from Boenstadt. In the late 19th century a Friedrich Karl Stoerkel moved from Boenstadt to Erbstadt. Potentially he originated from Adam. For the descendants of the emigrated Johann Wilhelm, Russia was also just an intermediate station. For example, in the year 1880 a man called Conrad Starkel emigrated with his family to the USA. First to Iowa where his son Con was born, later he moved on the Washington state. Con became a baseball professional in the early 20th century. It is likely that other descendants of the "Wolga-Germans from Boenstadt" emigrated as well to the USA because in our days there are many Americans who show Johann Wilhelm Stoerkel from Boenstadt in their family tree.

 

With that, all other Stoerkels who remained in Erbstadt are either originating from Johannes (*1654 and married with Anna Margaretha Heckmann) or from Peter (married since 1663 with Catharina Walther). Within the Johannes-line there are many different professions but almost no farmers. In contrast, farming was continued over many generations by the descendants of Peter.

 

Today, the descendants of Johannes can be found in the following Erbstadt families: Family Heinrich Stoerkel (the former mayor), Family Stoerkel in the Winnerstraße (crossing to Bönstädter Straße), bakery Stoerkel (Plagens), Gutermuth, Härtlein, Hild, Wolf, Weisenstein, Meiß, Schaubach. Several descendants of Johannes emigrated (see chapter Emigrants).

 

 

 

The descendants of Peter can be assigned in a first step to his sons Johannes and Wilhelm. From Johannes the "Wirtspeters" originated. Personally, I belong to them and will talk in another chapter in more detail about them. Also originating from Johannes (via a Conrad who married in 1780 a woman named Christina Boenig from Eichen) are the families Bär (Erbsengasse) and Reitzammer. Originating from Peter´s son Wilhelm is the family Steffan and are those Stoerkels who are called in the village "Haneses" (in relation to their ancestor Heinrich 1844-1935). Also originating from Wilhelm are those Stoerkels who are called in the village „Hofleuts“ because their forefathers had been farmed the large estate called Pfaffenhof. Their forefather had made a short trip (over two generations) to the village Stammheim and returned later to Erbstadt.

 

 

In his documents, my grandfather mentions the teacher and later schools inspector Heinrich Schaefer. He would have found in a library in Marburg (potentially the federal library of Hesse) that the name „Sterkell“ would have existed already around the year 1400 in the context of Erbstadt and the Naumburg castle. To confirm this and to make a link to Johan and Hans from the 17th century remains to be solved.

 

Maybe also a look to the neighboring village Heldenbergen helps. In a very detailed book which was published in 1989 in the context of the celebration of their 1150 anniversary, our family name appears a few times. In a list of obligations to pay to the church from the year 1581, a Johann Sterckel can be found. And in a list of the jurymen of the village´s court, for the year 1455 a "Sterckelhenn" and for the year 1433 a "Sterckelhenn´s neighbor" are mentioned.