More Mercks

Back in December 2006 I wrote about a possible connection between our family and the Mercks who settled in Freeport, Illinois, about 1870. Francois Joseph Merck and his sons emigrated from Alsace, France, to Illinois. My grandfather, Joseph John Merck, was raised in South Russia and brought his family to North Dakota in 1912 after a three year stopover in Brazil and Argentina. His ancestors also had lived in Alsace. Through research of civic and church records, we have now linked the two families to common ancestors who had lived in the village of Schoenenbourg. Our group visited that village in June and learned that Mercks still live in that attractive community. JoAnn Merck Meyers, one member of the Illinois Merck family group, and I have been sharing information about our respective families and their history.

I have recently been communicating with a member of another Merck family, this one descended from Michael Merck who settled in Newark, New Jersey. He was born in 1823. Although we have identified a Michel Merck born that same year in Schoenenbourg, we have yet to confirm that it is the same person. Should Michael and Michel actually be the same person, we will have established a definite link to another branch of our family now residing in the United States. We are proceeding with some confidence to confirm this link.