Adam Bengelmann

1600 -

• Name	Adam Bengelmann  [1, 2]
  Birth	Between 1580 and 1600	Adelmannsfelden, Aalen, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany   [3]
  Gender	Male
  Death	Y  [4]
  Notes	Adam Bengellmann was identified as our earliest known Benkelman ancestor through the tireless research of Margaret "BonnieMargaret" McDonald Benkelman Jacobs. On page 19 of the 1981 unpublished edition of her manuscript, BonnieMargaret cites the Reichsstadt records of Schw?bisch Gm?nd for the years 777 to 1450, which include records of early Bengelmanns and Benkelmanns. She noted that all of the German literature on early names assign the name of Benkelmann to a derivation from the Bengel Mann, the letters K and G having the same sound in German. Bonnie noted an entry for 5 Jun 1354, containing an early reference to a resident of that area using the Bengelmann surname. This reference concerned the decision of the church to establish a high mass, and lists the names of the men who will contribute. She notes that 'within the lists we discover not only a probable ancestor, but also the entire range of of developing names': "Fritz Abelin, pastor Konrad Argenhaus, the Agnerin, Albrect the reaper and binder, the men from the house of Adelburg, the Augustinian, Bengelmann, Bissinger the Lurn, Gotzin the Murerin, Konrad Grulich of Graben, Gumpolt of the Eselgasse, Graman the butcher, Hoppelhart of the Zieselgaus, Hans Imhog, Kurnegg from the Graben, Mangolt, Ottlin from the Graven, the one-eyed Roser, Heinz Rot, Heinrich Slamp, der Schwitzer, Walter Vertzbry and Sigfried Wusterriert. " (BonnieMargaret's full citation was "Urkunden und Aketn der ehemaligen Reichsstadt Schw?bisch Gm?nd. 777 bis 1500 A.D." Bearbeitet von Alfons Nitsch I. TEIL 777 bis 1450' und Inventare Der Nichtstaatlichen Archive in Baden-W?rttemberg Heft 11. Herausgegeben vom Stadtarchiv Schw?bisch Gm?nd. 1966). On pages 20 and 21 of her 1981 unpublished manuscript, Bonnie quoted Dr. Paul Edel, her initial genealogist in Aalen, as citing Josef Karlmann Brechenmacher's book, ETYMOLOGISCHES WORTERBUCH DER DEUTSCHEN FAMILIENNAMEN (C.A. Starke-Verlag Limburg A.D. LAHN Bergrundet in Gorlitz 1847. Leiferung 1-10, Erster Band 1957-1960, A-J) in which it was suggested that Bengel Mann derived from "Prugel (cudgel or club), Knuttel (also cudgel or club), starker (strength), derber Kerl (coarse man)"---the earliest Bengel being a coarse, strong man....whether through occupation or personality. Ingolf Vogel, a regular contibutor to the SURNAME-ORIGINS-L@rootsweb.com, agrees showing the name likely derived from the middle high German word "bengel" = stick, cudgel, and signifying a coarse, tough man. It is possible she was citing the same source as Dr. Edel. Ingolf added that the modern German word "Bengel" is a mischievous boy, and that it could very well have evolved from that old word for coarse/tough. BonnieMargaret made the same point. Ingolf also found listed in her sources the name BENCKELMANN - from Benecke, a Low German form of the name Bernhard (Germanic roots "beranu" (bear) & "harti" (hard). BonnieMargaret, on page 31 of her 1981 manuscript stated that "Herr Weyhreter who currently has possession of those records [the parish records of Adelmannsfelden] confirms that Adam and Hans Jerg Bengellman were brothers and the sons of ADAM BENGELLMAN, M?ller auf der Burghards M?hle (a "fortress mill/protected mill") in Fachsenfeld Parish. The mill still stands there today, as sturdy as it was then. "From all appearances, its workingmen might have left just yesterday, yet in was never again a working grain mill after the Thirty Years War." (The reference to Burghards M?hle as being in Fachsenfeld Parish--six miles northwest of Aalen--was in the first paragraph on page 31, in the third paragraph of that same page, she instead referenced Burghards M?hle as being in Adelsmannsfelden Parish---about 12 miles northwest of Aalen.) Her detailed German map section does show Burghards M?hle as closer to Adelsmannsfelden than Faschsenfeld. Additionally the parish records referenced above are for Adelsmannsfelden. In a letter Bonnie-Margaret Jacobs wrote Ben Benkelman Jr, dated October 13, 1980, she stated: "I had engaged my Stuttgart genealogist [Friedrich Wollmershauser] to meet us in Pluderhausen to go through old town records there. We climbed into an attic, behind two locked doors, and there I read pages and pages of marriage and death inventories that gave me a sense of the family fortunes---which were respectably solid, though not wealthy. That done, we had half a day left, and Friedrich suggested we go back to Aalen, where I'd failed to get even close to those oldest records....We deposited Friedrich in the parish records and Hans [distant Cousin Hans Benkelmann of Dewangen] and Bruce and I set out to find Benkelmans. An old woman we found told us that the Benkelmans in town were newcomers. That really startled me since this was the place of the oldest records of the family. We ran down the wife of one of them who agreed...and referred us to her husband's parents who live in a place like the Schneiderhof, called Berg, but much older and more primitive. (BonnieMargaret marked Berg on a German map, showing it northwest of Aalen, between the towns of Dewangen and Rodamsd?rfle). And these old Benkelmanns weren't terribly sure who they were either, except that the old man believed his grandfather had been born in Waiblingen. So we headed back to the parish house to see what Friedrich [the genealogist] had turned up. When we arrived Friedrich and the pastor were beside themselves with excitement. My recently deceased genealogist from that area had given me the idea that the record there would be the oldest we would find--and the parish records being so old, many were now illegible anyway...The parish records began in 1650, immediately after the 30 Years War that left two thirds of the Germans dead, and the country absolutely ravaged. It would be a miracle to find a thread of the family back through that war. But it was there! It develops that there was a displaced pastor in the area who had no church, but he continued to administer the sacraments to those who wanted him--and after the war he carefully recorded his records into the proper parishes! So we found the birth of the father of my eldest ancestor--and the place it occurred--in 1624. Since that record bore the place of residence of the parents---we had then located the place where the family lived prior to the war.... But even more interesting, both genealogists have assured me that wherever the family lived before the war was the place they had lived for generations, since there was no mobility prior to the war. This is the place they would have lived when the German people in the countryside assumed surnames! In other words--I have found where this family began as Benkelmans! Even Cousin Hans was equally stunned that such a record existed and that the name of that first ancestor was ADAM. After the Thirty Years War (l6l8-l648) the population of Wurttemberg was decreased by 75%. That was true in all of southern Germany. Those who weren't murdered by the troops just starved to death. Germany regained population very quickly, mostly due to migration of people. Many of the Swiss moved to the west bank (which was then German, not French) and many people like our Benkelmans were free to move west from around the Bavarian border to land that had been opened by the war. Our Benkelmans migrated from the east to Pluderhausen early in the l700's. (Research): BonnieMargaret Jacobs, in her 1981 unpublished manuscript, noted that from 1601 through 1651 children born to both Jacob and Hans Benggelmann were recorded in the Catholic parish records now on deposit in Aalen (p. 33). She did not specify, however, how Jacob and Hans might be related to Adam. (Though it might be possible that Hans is Hans Jerg?)
  Person ID	I11923	Strong Family Tree
  Last Modified	24 Jan 2021

  
  

  Children	1. Adam Bengelmann,   b. Abt 1620, Adelmannsfelden, Aalen, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany d. Yes, date unknown   2. Johann Georg "Hans Jerg" Bengelmann,   b. 3 Mar 1624, Adelmannsfelden, Aalen, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F3912	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	9 Dec 2006

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - Between 1580 and 1600 - Adelmannsfelden, Aalen, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Sources

  [S152] Jacobs, BonnieMargaret McDonald--Family Researcher, Letter to Ben Benkelman, Jr., 13 October 1980. (Reliability: 3). [S1610] Jacobs, BonnieMargaret McDonald "The Family Benkelman" Unpublished Manuscript, 276 pages, October 1981 Version, (Copy owned by Barney Benkelman, Helena, Montana; which he xeroxed and sent to Melinda McLemore Strong in San Antonio, Texas), p. 31, 88 (Reliability: 3). [S1610] Jacobs, BonnieMargaret McDonald "The Family Benkelman" Unpublished Manuscript, 276 pages, October 1981 Version, (Copy owned by Barney Benkelman, Helena, Montana; which he xeroxed and sent to Melinda McLemore Strong in San Antonio, Texas), p. 33, 88 (Reliability: 3). [S1610] Jacobs, BonnieMargaret McDonald "The Family Benkelman" Unpublished Manuscript, 276 pages, October 1981 Version, (Copy owned by Barney Benkelman, Helena, Montana; which he xeroxed and sent to Melinda McLemore Strong in San Antonio, Texas), p. 31 (Reliability: 3).