>Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 20:44:06 -0700 >To: [email protected] >From: Janet Reinhold <[email protected]> >Subject: Re: Meaning of "Kunkle" >In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> > >Wow! Paraguay. >Dear Joseph, >I will be glad to run your letter in my newsletter. As a matter of fact, I need a better article on the meaning of it. Here's what I have in the first issue, Jan 1995: > >Many medieval German merchants took their name from the wares they sold, since, in the Middle Ages, merchants usually specialized in a single item. In the same way, many items became names for the people who made them or used them frequently. The name Kunckel is typical of the names. >"It meant distaff," says George F Jones in the book, "German-American Names." My home dictionary shows the meaning of distaff as (1) a staff that holds on its cleft end the unspun flax, woo, or tow from which thread is drawn in spinning by hand; 2) a woman's work and concerns, 3) women in general, such as "the distaff side" meaning the female line or maternal side of the family. Jones' book goes on to say that the name came "from the Latin 'conicula.' > >Patrick Hanks' book, A Dictionary of Surnames, give the original name as Gunkel. Its meaning is given as "German, a metonymic occupational name for a spinner or a maker of spindles, from German Kunkel meaning 'spindle, distaff.' Hanks says that the Middle High German form is Kunkel, from Latin 'conicula,' which itself comes from the word 'conus,' meaning a cone or a peg. So that's how I came up with the newsletter's name--I just chose one of the meanings floating around. There are others, I've learned since 1995, but I haven't printed them up into an article yet. > >While they may have been spinners at one time, the Kunckels became REALLY famous in the 1400-1500's as makers of glass. In particular, Johannes Kunckel invented the Ruby Glass. > >From Spindle's Oct 1996 issue: >"The greatest achievement in the realm of coloured glass was, however, made by Johann Kunckel (1630? - 1703), a chemist who had studied earlier treatises on glass and written, in 1679, a technical study of his own: "Ars Vitraria Experimentalis." In the same year, he founded a factory in Potsdam where he developed the process for making a type of red or ruby glass, "Rubinglas," by the addition of gold chloride. This glass was of a particularly warm and attractive hue and ideally suited to being mounted in gold, silver-gilt or gilt metal. Most of the pieces attributed to Kunckel are undecorated and, in fact, mounted in these materials, and are generally luxury examples of useful objects which were purchased by the rich."--from 'The History of Glass,' ed by Dan Klein and Ward Lloyd (Orbis, London: 1984). > >We have some Indiana Kunkle researchers. Have you seen our web site? Look on the Indiana page and see if any of those folks seem to fit in with yours. > >The area where the family originated is supposedly the Spessart region of Germany, near Hesse. Many of the lines we research in the US come from the Floersbach, Hesse region. I would say that the origins were "Hessian." > >How did you know to write to me? >Best of luck, especially in finding your family line. >Janet > >At 08:43 AM 8/27/97 -0400, you wrote: >>Greetings from Asuncion, Paraguay, >> >>Sorry about the blank message. I'm not sure how that happened, but here >>goes a second try. >> >>My name is Joseph Allen Kunkle. My family and I are serving as >>missionaries in Asuncion. My twin adopted daughters had a school >>assignment which involved a bit of research on their family ancestry. >>One item of information they were supposed to find, if not already know, >>was the meaning and origin of their last name. We have learned that the >>name is associated with the spindle, but it is not clear if that is the >>exact meaning or somehow related. The origin of the name "Kunkle" we >>understand is Dutch or German (Pennsylvania Dutch), but we do not have >>specific information concerning the area in Europe where the name >>originated. If you can help us obtain this information we will be very >>grateful. >> >>My mother has researched both sides of our family ancestry, but she is >>dying of bone cancer and in no condition to help us. >> >>My grandparents on Dad's side were David and Alameda (Parker) Kunkle. They >>migrated from Arba, Indiana (just south of Muncie) traveling by horse >>and buggy to Las Vegas, New Mexico about 1910. Grandpa died there after a few >>years and my grandmother moved on to California (about 1920 or 21) where >>she homesteaded 120 acres in Calaveras County right in the middle of >>what was the gold rush country. The gold mining and virtually ceased by >>that time as all the easy stuff was gone. Grandmother Alameda struggled >>through the depression raising most of her food by gardening, keeping a >>few chickens and milking a cow or two. My Dad, of course, provided a >>lot of the "elbow grease" for keeping food on the table. >> >>I was born in 1943 in West Point, a small community near the location of >>the old homestead. Unfortunately, Dad and his one sister Peninnah sold >>out all the land before it became really valuable. >> >>I understand that my grandfather Kunkle's folk were from Pennsylvania, >>but beyond that I know very little of the family line. I guess there are just >>three items of information needed; 1) The meaning of the name "Kunkle", >>2) the area where it originated, and 3) the circumstances under which it >>originated. Your help will be very much appreciated. >> >>Sincerely, >>Joe A. Kunkle >> >>PS: My wife and I met at Azusa Pacific College (now University) where >>we were students from 1962-66. Janet Reinhold PO Box 4001 Covina CA 91723 Family genealogy at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/8878 Editor for the Kunkel Kunkle Conkle Gunkel "Spindle" Family Genealogy Newsletter at http://www.flash.net/~conkle/INDEX.HTM Fax: 626-915-0798 Email: [email protected] New: Listowner for [email protected] ==== KUNKEL Mailing List ==== If you have any problems with this list please contact Janet Reinhold, [email protected]