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Hopefully this will help descendants avoid the most common errors found in online trees for Friederich Merckel. Much of the following information comes from recognized Palatine authority Henry Z. Jones. Please, people, do a little research and avoid passing on others' errors.
1. NAME. Records in Germany and New York all refer simply to "Friederich Merckel," although spelling of the given name does vary. Certainly "Johann" was a common saint's name for German boys, but there is absolutely no basis for adding it in Friederich's case.
2. ORIGIN. Friederich was from Hassloch (usually written with "Alt + 0223" instead of the double "s", but that does not translate to mailing lists). Hassloch is in the Rhineland-Palatinate, not to be confused with Hasloch--a completely different city.
3. FATHER. The Hassloch churchbook lists the baptism of Friederich's daughter Elisabetha on 24 Dec 1704; sponsor was "Elisab," wife of Ludwig Wurth and *daughter* of Felix Merckel. Jones proposes "Elisab" as Friederich's sister and, therefore, Felix as Friederich's father. She could as easily have been an aunt or cousin, but the sibling relationship is plausible. Some trees also show two Georges and a Wolf as additional ancestors; these are complete fiction.
4. There is no known relationship between Friederich and "son" HENRICH Merckel, husband of Maria Estes. The story that Henrich was a son left behind in Germany is a rationalization concocted to explain why two men with the same surname immigrated some 20 years apart.
5. MICHAEL Merckel was not Friederich's son. Michael and his brothers Christopher Friederich and Joseph Friederich were all the sons of Hans Michael and Margaretha (Schneider) Mercklin. All were baptized in Hoheneck, Germany, and immigrated probably in the 1750's, to what is now Sharon, New York. (From Jones, citing original research done by Ejvor Merkley.)
6. FIRST WIFE. Friederich's first wife was Anna Barbara (from Hassloch records cited by Jones) as was his second. (Also see below.)
7. Johann ADAM was not born at sea on the ship 'Globe.' Adam's parents probably never met until they reached the refugee camps on the Hudson River in New York, both widowed at the time. The Hunter Subsistence List shows Friederich as early as 4 Jul 1710; Adam was not born until 10 Dec 1711.
8. SECOND WIFE. From Jones and the Hunter Subsistence Lists, Friederich's second wife was Anna Barbara Alman (not "Altman"), widow of Christoph Mey or May. Friederich and Anna Barbara were married about August 1710, probably at West Camp--not on Nutten Island.
All of this information is readily available in Jones' books and some in "The Book of Names" by Lou D. MacWethy. Contradictory evidence is invited.
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