History and ancestors of the Weppelman(n) family
from the book "Familie Weppelman(n)"
For many years, my personal archive has included records about the Weppelmann
family, mostly originating from my father, aunts or uncles. Until
a few years ago, and for a variety of reasons, I was not able to examine
these notes. Only after the death of my father Josef Weppelmann on
January 1, 1998, who had left me further data, did I begin to organize,
assemble and research the data. Through the Internet my interest
increased evermore; I received a lot of encouragement and made many contacts
I would not even have dreamed of. Suddenly there were Weppelmanns
in the Netherlands, the USA, South Africa and Australia, and now it was
a matter of finding out if there was a common root, if we belonged to the
same tribe. I received special support from Mrs. Renate Kaup in the
Münster area; time and again she would research the Archives of the
Diocese in Münster, thus providing me with more than 1000 names and
dates. To her goes a special thanks.
I would also like to thank the Weppelman(n)s from all over the world
who have shared their personal data and the results of their research over
the Internet, by fax and telephone. Now we have a fairly certain
and clear overview of who belongs to the Weppelman(n) family, how the name
originated, what it means, and how it changed through time.
Many thanks also to my wife Heidi for her understanding, because this
hobby is very time- consuming and- what I did not realize at the time –
it takes a lot of writing. For all secretarial work, especially for
this chronicle, thank you!
During her short vacations here, I regularly goaded my daughter Annette
into translation work, and my daughter Monika had the task to research
data in Tasmania and Australia. My thanks also to both of them.
I hope and wish that this Weppelman(n) chronicle will be a pleasure
to all readers. While studying all these names my insight grew that each
of these ancestors was a necessity in order for me to be here, and to make
the next generation possible.
In our fast paced time it may be good to reflect with gratitude upon
our forebears, who they were, where they came from, and the often-adverse
conditions that shaped their lives.
Once again I wish to thank everyone who has contributed in some way,
so that this work could be completed. I am well aware that there
cannot be an end to this extensive family history. There will always be
new facts and data here and there that I could not take into consideration
at this moment. I would be grateful if you could send me additional
information with a photocopy, or a note in the Guestbook
.
It would be nice if we could maintain the established contacts over
the next year; that means that you would keep me updated about births,
marriages and deaths in the family. In turn, I am willing to continue
the family history until the time comes to hand it over to a younger generation.
I wish you great pleasure in reading this information.
Franz-Josef Weppelmann
Riedeselstr.15
82319 Starnberg
Beyharting , January
2000
e-mail:frajowep@t-online.de
The ArbeitskreisFamilienforschung Ahlen und Umgebung has been
of great help and support.
ArbeitskreisFamilienforschung
Ahlen und Umgebung