This page contains information about Speidel family members who are important to the Speidel family history or who made
contributions to society in general.
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Veit (Vitus) Speidel
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Born in 1358 at Heidelberg and killed in 1388 during the Battle of Doeffingen. Veit has been described as
the oldest Speidel known in Wurttemberg. He added to his name the designation "von Speidelberg" and the
designation continued to be used for two more generations. A square in present day Weil der Stadt, Germany
still carries the name von Speidelberg and contains the
former home of Veit.
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Ludwig Speidel
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Born ? and died in 1484. Ludwig was a grandson of Veit. He was a Merchant and Councillor at Heilbronn.
Ludwig became the first known Speidel to be granted a coat-of-arms when Emperor Frederick III awarded
his coat-of-arms on March 20th, 1467.
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John Speidel
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John was a mathematician whose book "New Logarithms" was published in 1619. The book contains hyperbolic log
sines, tangents and secants for every number of the quadrant to five decimal places. A copy of this book can be
found in "The Treasure Room" of the Boston, MA Public Library.
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Fredrich Speidel, Sr.
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Founder of the Speidel Watchband Company.
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Merritt C. Speidel
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Born 19 May 1879 and died 02 Mar 1960. Prominent newspaper editor/owner. During his lifetime, Merritt
corresponded with such noted individuals as President Herbert Hoover, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and
J. Edgar Hoover. The Special Collections Department at the University of Iowa holds many of
his papers.
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Hans Speidel
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Born 28 Oct 1897 and died in 1984. Served as Chief of Staff to General Erwin Rommel. Imprisoned for his
involvement in a plot againist Adolf Hitler. After World War II he was a professor of modern history at Teubingen.
He became Commander of Allied Land Forces in Europe after NATO was formed. Photo and additional information
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Sidney Merlin Spidell
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Born 19 Dec 1900. Speidel family genealogist and author of "The Speidel Family History and
Genealogy". Merlin spent many years researching the Speidel family and corresponding with other
family members around the world to compile nearly 100 pages of family history. Professionally,
he was a school teacher and collegiate principal for 45 years. He was also a member of the
Legistative Assembly for the Province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Photo
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