I am a descendant of Joseph Merkel from Iffezheim, Germany.

Iffezheim is a municipality in the district of Rastatt in Baden-Wurttemberg, southwestern Germany. It is located on the Upper Rhine Plain near the French border, just northwest of the spa town of Baden-Baden. The town is famously home to a major horse racing track.

Martin Eisenkolb has done a great deal of genealogy work on his relatives from Iffezheim and surrounding cities. If you are looking for ancestors from this area, it would be well worth your time to visit his genealogy site at:

http://www.eisenkolb-genealogie.de/Ahnen_Iffezheim.html

You can also meet Martin by going to his own site at:
http://www.eisenkolb-genealogie.de/ 

Other Iffezheim Sites:

Iffezheim Home Page
More Iffezheim Information
Another Iffezheim site
Iffezheim Race track

A little History

With a current population of around 4,000, Iffezheim is 19,95 square kilometers in size. It is located  ten kilometers southwest from the city of Rastatt.The town of Iffezheim has changed its spelling over the years. Antonia Jacob & Roman Merkel have provided the following information. Before B.C., The name was UFFO at the edge of the Rhein River.

Later UFF-HEIM, UFFINS-HEIMz and later:
1717 Iffersheim
1734 Hiffentzem (came from a French map)
1793 Iffertsheim
1841 Iffezheim

Christianity came around 600-700 when many churches and monasteries were built. The ALLEMANNEN (native people of the area) lived there at the time. Around 1689, King Ludwig XIV of France burned down all the villages and towns. All German writing on buildings was destroyed and there was no education for most people. No one could read or write until the 19th century. Conditions were poor and people began to immigrate to America.

The following list of Emigrant Surnames from Iffezheim came from the Black Forest Genealogy site:
http://www.websters.net/blackforest/rastatt2.html#I

Ambros, Eisemann, Eller, Erhard, Fritz, Greß, Groß, Hatz, Heitz, Herr, Heyer, Huber, Huck, Huttlinger, Jacob, Jakob, Jülig, Kohler, Leichtner, Leppert, Merkel, Metz, Nachbauer, Oesterle, Peter, Pfetzer, RIchter, Schäfer, Scheffel, Schmitt, Schneider, Schocher, Schubert, Schwarz, Siegel, Sievert Walter, Weber, Wilhelm, Wirkner, Wurz, Ziegler, Zimber, Zoller

Information Sources: Catholic Church Records
birth and baptisms: 1731-1900
marriages: 1731-1900
death and burial: 1731-1889
confirmations: 1895-1900
family registry: 1679, 1818