Research on several Merkel families in Rochester, NY.

I've descended from both Paternal & Maternal Merkel families. This section explains my research on these Merkel families as well as several other Merkel families in Rochester that have direct or indirect connections to my Merkels. There is a page with information on these Other Merkel families in the Rochester, NY area. There names were discovered while researching my Merkel branches so I hope that this information is helpful.

You will also find information on the other surnames involved with these Merkel families.

Pedigree and Descendant charts: You can find a Pedigree and Descendant chart for anyone in the database ( currently over 32,000). First go to the SEARCH NAMES page and find the person you are looking for. Once you find the person, look at the top of the page under the person's name. You will see links to create a Pedigree and Descendant chart. Here is a sample chart starting with me.

My Paternal Merkel line is nearly complete and the lineage traced back to the late 1600's with Joseph Merkel from Iffezheim, Germany.  Jacob Merkel was my great Grand father who left Iffezheim and came to Rochester in 1867.  Jacob had 11 children in Rochester to continue the Merkel ancestry.

Jacob's brother, Anton, arrived in Rochester in 1882. His wife was Magdalena Weber. The Weber's are also from Iffezheim, Germany. I've followed the Weber's back to the 1700's in Iffezheim, Germany.

When I first started my research, I often wondered why Jacob Merkel decided that Rochester would be a good place to settle. After several years of research, I discovered that members of the Weber family were already in Rochester when Jacob arrived along with at least two members of the Pfetzer family, Juliana Pfetzer and her cousin Cecilia Pfetzer.  Juliana Pfetzer is the sister of Jacob Merkel's mother, Barbara Pfetzer. There were other families also from Iffezheim who settled in Rochester. So it seems that Jacob met some familiar faces when he arrived. To see which families from Iffezheim immigrated to Rochester, go the the Iffezheim page.

For complete details about my paternal Merkel line go to Paternal Merkel page.
For facts and history about certain people, visit the histories page.

My Maternal Merkel family begins with Valentine Merkel born 1789 in Langenbrand, Germany.  Valentine Merkel arrived in Rochester in 1851 along with his entire family. Most of his children went on to have large families in the Rochester and Irondequoit areas.

Other families on my maternal side that I'm currently interested in are the Sippel, Pabst and Dill families.

For facts and history about certain people, visit the histories page.

For information on the other Merkel families in Rochester, go to the Other Merkel Page.