(Ancestors of Maria Merten)

The only member of this family that is known for certain is Maria Merten.

American records have her born consistently on 15 May 1878 in Germany, usually in Düsseldorf, but sometimes Cologne (Köln). However, no corresponding German records have been found. Many of the records in Germany were destroyed during World War II, which is one problem. Another problem is that the name Maria (in other sources Marie or Mary) is extremely common, as is her surname Merten.

Her full birth name is not clear either. In some records, such as 1908 news articles about her wedding to Carl Luetcke, her middle name is Magdalena. A surviving life insurance record has her full name as Magdalena Maria Karolina Merten. Other records, generally later (such as her death certificate), have her middle name as Margareta. She sometimes went by the nickname “Minni.”

Her husband Carl Luetcke went to Germany in late 1916 to do some charity work during the Great War, and also tend to his mother and mother-in-law, who were both widows. He refers to his in-laws by the names Carl and Maria (coincidentally also the names of his own parents). No maiden name for Mrs. Merten, mother of Maria, has been found. Having these given names is of no particular use, as Carl is an incredibly common given name and there are several census records with a father Carl Merten, mother Maria, and daughter Maria in the 1878-1908 period near Düsseldorf or Köln.

Marie’s daughter Eleanor told family members that she had one French great-grandparent, so that could be a possible clue to identify this family if it is in fact true.

One possible candidate family has been found, although there are problems. Find a Grave lists 18 people with the surname Merten in the Melaten-Friedhof (Melaten Central) Cemetery. The proximity of the graves suggests possible relationships between these people.

Carl Merten (b. 1854) is about the right age to be the son of Carl Friedrich Merten (20 Mar 1827-24 Dec 1911) and his wife Emilie Magdalena de Foy (10 Feb 1829-12 Sep 1907). Her name is promising both because it is French and because her middle name is Magdalena. It would be common for a granddaughter to be given one or more of the same given names.

There’s one big problem with this reconstruction. The Find a Grave entry for C. Fr. Merten says “NO GRAVE – the gravestone is from a sample show of the federal garden show 1957 in Cologne.” No sources for this claim are given, and it’s unclear if that means simply that this is not a burial site but the info given is for a real person, or whether it is completely fabricated. It’s also unclear whether the information for other people is similarly affected.

It seems likely that this information is correct, as there is a surviving German record of a marriage of Carl Friedrich Merten and Emilie Magdalena de Foy on 15 Sep 1853. That record also lists her birthday (matching her gravestone), and it has a birthday for Carl Friedrich that matches his birthday. It also provides birth locations and their parents, providing an avenue for additional research.

Family of Emilie Magdalena de Foy (1829-1907)

Based on this valid marriage record, we know that Emilie Magdalena Foy was born in Linnich to Carl Jacob De Foy and Anna Eva Vermooten.

Linnich is located in the Düren district of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is about 65 km west of Köln and 60 km southwest of Düsseldorf, not far from the borders of both Belgium and the Netherlands.

Her mother’s name is Dutch. Given the location, that suggests Emilie’s parents might have origins in Belgium and/or the Netherlands. And perhaps the ultimate origins of the De Foy family are in France.

Anna Eva Vermooten’s birth and death information is listed on her gravestone. She was born 24 Apr 1793 in Linnich. No baptism record has been found (in Linnich or elsewhere). She died 17 Jan 1865 in Cologne.

Similarly, the supposed gravestone for Carl Jacob De Foy has him born 13 Mar 1787 in “Graefrath.” Gräfrath is a district of Solingen, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, about 35 km east of Düsseldorf. He died 27 Jun 1859 in Cologne.

Unfortunately, like the gravestone for Carl Friedrich Merten, this stone is apparently a sample from the garden show. However, the same names are in the valid marriage record, so it might be real information. No corroborating records have been found, however, so this remains supposition.

Possible ancestors of Carl Friedrich Merten

Carl Friedrich Merten is not entirely a person imagined for a garden show, because there is a record of his baptism as well as his marriage. Carl was born on 20 Mar 1827 (possibly in Urdenbach, a district of Düsseldorf southeast of the city center) and baptized 16 Apr 1827 in Benrath (close to Urdenbach). His parents were Johann Friedrich Merten and Anna Magdalena Vermooten (potentially a relative of Anna Eva Vermooten who was Emilie de Foy’s mother).

Johann Friedrich Merten (1791-1859)

Johann Friedrich Merten may have been baptized at the Evangelical Lutheran church in Wickrath (well to the west of Düsseldorf) on 23 February 1791, the son of Peter Mertens and Johanna Peters.

Possibly he and Anna Magdalena Vermooten were married there. A record has a “Johann Mertens” marrying an “Anna Maria Worm” on 16 February 1820. “Worm” could be a Germanized variant of a Dutch surname, and “Maria” another middle name. But if that is their marriage, their first child was born earlier.

Regardless, they seem to have had the following children: Gustav Wilhelm (1819) and Adelgunde (1820), both baptized in Moers (well to the north of Düsseldorf); and Arnette or Aletta (1823) and Carl Friedrich (1827), both baptized in Benrath.

Johann Mertens died 9 April 1859 in Wickrath, Mönchengladbach, Prussia.

Consider the following caveat, however. The middle/second given name “Friedrich” is only found in baptism records for the children and not in the identified baptism and marriage records, the only sources for his parents. So it’s possible “Johann Mertens” who married “Anna Maria Worm” is not the same as “Johann Friedrich Merten” who had children with “Anna Margareta Magdalena Vermooten” (also identified in the 1902 death record for daughter Aletta Elise Daber as “Agneta Vermothen”).

Anna Margareta Magdalena “Agneta” Vermooten (possibly aka Anna Maria Worm) (1783-1843)

Johann Friedrich’s wife Anna, if she was the same as Anna Maria Worm of Wickrath, was baptized 24 Dec 1783 in Oberwinter (the only current place of that name being south of Bonn). Her parents (also named in her first marriage record) were Heinrich Wilhelm Worm and Johanna Catharina Steigers.

Anna Marie Worm first married 13 May 1812 in Wickrath a “Jean Guillaume Jennesen” (b. c. 1779, the son of Gertrut Fabelge and Guillaume Jennessen). The record is in French because the area was under French control as a result of Napoleon’s conquests until 1814, and the names have been made more French (Anna Marie instead of Anna Maria, for example). Her husband’s German name was probably Johann Wilhelm Jennesen. Her parents are listed as “Guillaume Worm” and “Jeanette Catharine Steigers” which match the German equivalents in her baptism record. Nothing more is known about her parents.

It’s unclear when Anna’s first husband died, but his name is mentioned in her second marriage record in 1820, possibly indicating she was his widow.

Anna Maria Worm died 22 Jul 1843 in Wickrath.

Peter Martens (b. c. 1758)

If Johann Friedrich Mertens of Benrath was the same person as Johann Mertens of Wickrath, his father was Peter Martens.

Possibly Peter was the same as the person in a record in Mönchengladbach b. 1758 and d. 1822 whose father was Dietz Mertens and mother was Gertraud Hamachers. In 1758, that city was in the Duchy of Jülich, a state within the Holy Roman Empire, and from 1794-1815 was part of France as a conquest of Napoleon. However, there are at least a couple other Mönchengladbach death records that could be him (one in 1806 and one in 1833), so it’s not definitive.

Peter married Johanna Peters 4 Mar 1781 in Wickrath. Their children included Maria Sibilla (1782), Catharina Irmgard (1787), and Johannes (1791). Given the known birth years of children, there were likely more pregnancies and possibly children for this couple.

His wife Johanna Peters was born roughly before 1760, but her baptism and death records have not been found, so nothing else is known about her family.

Possible Descent

Peter Mertens (b. c. 1758)

m. 4 Mar 1781 Johann Peters (b. c. 1760)

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Johann Friedrich Merten (1791-1859)

m. 16 Feb 1820 Anna Margareta Magdalena “Agneta” Vermooten (1783-1843)

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Carl Friedrich Merten (1827-1911)

m. 15 Sep 1853 Emilie Magdalena de Foy (1829-1907)

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Carl Merten (1854-bef. 1916)

m. Marie ?

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Maria Margareta Magdalena “Minni” Merten (1878-1940)

m. Carl Julius Luetcke (1874-1966)

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4 children (all deceased)

5 grandchildren (4 living)

Many later descendants (at least 2 generations)