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| (I don't really think this is it, but it is possible) |
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| Monicher (Munker) is a name first used in conection with the convent Meer near Krefeld in 1166. The Countess (Grafin) Hildegrunde from Liedberg/Meer bestowed the name upon the family who donated land to the convent in the year 929. In the year 1201 the land was returned to the Munker family. It is not stated why the land was returned. |
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| By the year 1271, 20% of the Krefeld district was owned by the family MUNKER. Between 1201 and 1560 the family donated land to the church (es) in Siegen, Dillenberg, Weidenau, Bernberg, and Eisterfeld. |
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| At least one member of each generation was usually a member of the priesthood, but not always in the Catholic Church. It appears that having a son in the church was a way to insure that the orders for iron and other ornamentation from the foundries kept coming to the family. The family was very well educated for their time, as well as preachers, the family were business men, teachers, lawyers and engineers. It was almost as if one section of the family supported the other. There was a lengthy lawsuit filed in Krefeld district court in 1544, which was not resolved until 1549. It concerned the quality of goods delivered to the Count of Dillenberg by the Munkershutte (Munkers foundry). The family won the lawsuit, but it was very expensive. They did not receive as much business as they were used to during the five year long legal battle. |
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| It was during this time that the family branched out into the wine selling business, and bought several more foundries in the area, most were controlled by the family, however, the names of the foundries did not change until the lawsuit was over. The idea being to get the business, but not let everyone know who was making the money. |
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| By 1559 the family had also purchased a GASTHAUS (Bed and Breakfast , with restaurant) in Weidenau, near Siegen. They were involved in a little bit of everything so to speak. |
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| From 1475 to 1624 the STAMMVATER (guild leader) was always a member of the Munker family. |
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| One of the earliest ironworks to give benefits to the workers was the Munkershutte, they paid better than most of the other foundries and supplied many of the employees with places to live. They even guaranteed a three month notice to workers if their services would no longer be needed. |
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| The census listing for 1563 states that Jakob Muncker had the following: |
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| one servant nineteen beef cows |
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| twenty four sheep three wagons |
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| The law at the time stated that women could not own property when Thonges Munker disappeared in 1560, his share of the ironworks was inherited by his son-in-law Peter Flender, who by 1563 had legally changed his last name to Munker. This was probably due to pressure from the other owners of the foundry, who were either sons or brothers of Thonges. |
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| There were several spellings in the family even as far back as the middle ages, among them: |
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| I have tried to use MUNKER or stated "the family", as it tends to be somewhat confusing. |
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| As of 1987, the city maps of Siegen show MUENKERSHUTTE to be an operating foundry still known by that name. Branches of the family are also involved in a brewery (Mounkes ) and furniture manufacturing (Munker) in Germany today. |
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| The "ch" was dropped from the spelling of the name by 1785 except for a small branch that settled in Switzerland. This branch remains mostly Catholic while the remainder of the family is predominately protestant. |
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| Most of the documentation comes from the ironworker and blacksmiths tax lists. Some of the family information comes from the elected historian of the MUNKER family in Germany. |
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| By 1645 more than twenty foundries were owned wholly or in part by the family. |
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| Records state that HEYNE MUNKER owned or was in possession of more than 1200 measures (acres of land), which at the time was a substantial amount. His grandson was the TILLMAN MUENKER mentioned in the early family history. |
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| ---translated and compiled by Larry and Dru Mounkes |
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| This information comes by way of Earl Perry, taken from information found by Loleeda |
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| NASSAU-SIEGEN IMMIGRANTS TO VIRGINIA |
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| Tillman Muenker was born at Eiserfeld about 1475 and died at Muenkershuetten in the Weidenau township 1535/38. The name Muenker is perhaps derived from "Moencher" i.e. "Monk-Man", a person connected with a farm belonging to a monastery. Tillmann Muenker's father was Ewert Muenker of Eiserfeld (born ca. 1440/45) (D: after 1503) shown by the tax lists 1467-1503 as an owner of iron works property and son-in-law and heir of Tillmann Dilthey of Siegen, a prosperous ironmaster of Eiserfeld and Siegen. Tillman Muenker married before 1500, Treina (Catherina) (B: ca 1475-D: after 1538) daughter of Tonies Fick. Through her he inherited the Hammer founded by her great great grandfather Fick in the Wiedenau township, called Fickenhuetten in 1417, but later known as Muenkershuetten. Tillman Muenker was one of the wealthiest ironmasters of his day. By about 1530 he had bought out the other heirs and was sole owner of the Hammer which later bore his name. In 1512 he made a gift of iron for the repair of St. Martin's church in Siegen, and sold large amounts of iron to the county. In addition to the Muenkershuetten iron works, he also owned land in Weidenau and Eisborn, and houses in both Siegen and Krombach. In 1535 he was an Associate Justice of the Court of Hain (Siegen District Court) but was dead by 1538. Tillmann and Treina (Fick) Muenker had the following children: Jacob, Toenges (Anton), Jost, Hans, and Leisgen (Elizabeth) who married Tillmann Schuette, and probably Else, who married Herman Wenderer. The sons were quite prosperous, Jost being particularly so and becoming an Associate Justice of the Hain Court in 1563, the Chief Justice 1577/78. all the children lived at Muenkershuetten except the Schuettes, who lived at the Hardt. |
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