Main Lines oft the Z Pedigree – Origins of
Zerweck / Zerwekh / Zerrweck
/ Zehrweck
Working on a family tree with a rare name
like Zerweck – different from a family with a name like Miller or White or
Hansen – it is tacitly hoped that all persons with that name could be linked to
one common ancestor. Actually we are far from that target, and it may be
doubted if this ever will be achieved.
Therefore it has to be evaluated as an – even limited – success that by far most of the Zerweck/ Zerwekh/Zerrweck/Zehrweck of this collection can be deduced from 2 or 3
ancestors who had lived in the 16th and 17th century, 10 to 14 generations
before the actually living Zerwecks.
An important „nest“ where much more than
half of all Zerwecks originate from is situated in the central area of
Württemberg, in Untertürkheim, a little wine village
few miles up the Neckar river from Cannstatt (both suburbs of Stuttgart today). Unfortunately in 1694, during a
French raid in connection with the Palatine War of Heritage Succession, all the
older church books were lost by fire, together with the church and the reverend’s
house. Therefore only few isolated names are known for
the 16th and 17th century from „Güterbücher“
(Property Books), but not their family relationships.
In Property Books, mainly vintners and
farmers are listed, much more than other professions. Already in 1603, however,
a certain „Johann Jakob Zerweckh from Untertürkheim, Konstanzer Priester und Vikar im
St. Albans-Stift zu Mainz“
(Constancian priest and vicar in Mainz) had let by
testament a fund of 200 florins, to be administrated by the community of Untertürkheim. The return of this fund had to be used as
6-years scholarships for students – predominantly but not exclusively from the
Zerweck family. This foundation remained in force till the beginning of the
20th century!
The historical background of this
foundation , however, appears rather strange to me: How was it possible that in
the years before 1600, when the Duchy of Württemberg – including Untertürkheim, of course – had been evangelical already for
decades, a man from Untertürkheim became a catholic
priest, and then made a foundation which in the following years and centuries
quite naturally was used for students of evangelical theology? Questions which
I have not been able yet to find answers.
Even a few decades earlier there was an
evangelical theologian, Latin teacher in Maulbronn,
and „Präzeptor“ of the Latin school in Marbach, Alexander
Zerweck (died 1572). His beautiful tombstone is attached to the outer wall
of the “chor” of the Alexander church in Marbach (Neckar). According to the List of Immatriculations of the Tübingen University, this Alexander
Zerweck was from Marbach; if and how he was related
to the Untertürkheim Zerwecks
is an open question: In 1693, almost the whole town of Marbach
was also destroyed by fire, unfortunately together with all earlier church
books of the entire deanery!
The oldest carrier of our name who was
mentioned in a church book was Jerg Zerweckh from Untertürkheim.
When his son Johannes married in Uhlbach in 1614 he
was mentioned as the groom’s father, already deceased (Jerg frequently is cited
as Johannes Jerg which is wrong). From the church books it was possible to
prove that all Zerweck (with different spellings) from Fellbach, Uhlbach, Rommelshausen, Herrenberg, Freudental, Cannstatt
and Leonberg, with ramifications inside and outside Germany, including USA,
descend from this Jerg Zerweckh, his son Johannes
Zerweck(h) (died before 1640) and his grandson Johannes (Hans) Zerweck „from Uhlbach“
(born 1617), Georg Zerweck (born
1618), and Balthasar Zerweck (born
1628).
A second line of the Untertürkheim
Zerweckh and Zerweck – and thus the whole later „Untertürkheim Line“ – can be attributed to Johann Jacob Zerweckh (born 1669). It
is rather probable that Johann Jacob Zerweckh and the above mentioned Jerg
Zerweck were of the same kinship, (grandson? great-grandson? grand nephew?) but
it could not yet been proven. A famous member of this Untertürkheim
Line was the missionary and later town physician of Markgröningen,
Nathanael Zerweck (1868 – 1937),
ancestor of the branch „von Velsen-Zerweck“. Furthermore
the Rietenau / Backnang branch, the Zerweckh descendants in Chile as well as a second group of
the Zerwecks und Zerwekhs
in the United States also belong to this Untertürkheim
line. During the last years, it was finally possible to connect also the branch
of the Zerweck family living near Rheinhausen, on
both, the Swiss and the German side of river Rhine, to this Untertürkheim
line.
A third big branch of the Zerweck family
descends from Georg Zehrweck,
born before 1640, and died before 1688. This Georg Zehrweck
(his descendants omitted the „h“) was „hochgräflicher
Amtskeller (i.e. Administrator) oft
the Counts of Erbach-Erbach on the castle of
Reichenberg near Reichelsheim in Odenwald.
He was ancestor of the Zwingenberg
line, and of their descendants in USA (Zwingenberg / Bergstraße near Darmstadt). Up to now it was not possible
to find any relation of this Georg Zehrweck with the Untertürkheim Zerweck/Zerweckh.
It is interesting, however, that more than
200 years later (1891) a real affinity between the Zwingenberg
and Untertürkheim lines originated from a marriage
between William G. Zerwekh (his father Gottlob Jacob Zerwekh
had emigrated in 1853 from Untertürkheim) and Wilhelmine
Gertrude Zerweck (her father Johann
Georg Zerweck was still born 1836 in Zwingenberg,
but emigrated with his family in 1837 to the USA).
All individuals and families of these lines
– Uhlbach with Untertürkheim
as well as Zwingenberg – may be found in the tree (pedigree) “Zerweck”.
Another family line named Zerwick descents from Erhard
Zerwick, born 1712 in Hersbruck
near Nürnberg (family
tree “Hersbruck”). Erhards
grandfather, Matthes Zerwick,
possibly came from Bohemia. A first son of Erhard Zerwick,
on the other hand, became progenitor of a family branch living in Lindau (Lake
Constance), whereas descendants of a second son are found in Brandenburg and
Berlin, Mecklenburg and Stettin – and by another branch, one generation later, with
many descendants in South Africa.
In addition to these important lines of
descendance – 2 from Untertürkheim (Württemberg near
Stuttgart), one from Zwingenberg / Bergstraße (Southern Hesse near Darmstadt, one from Hersbruck (Middle Franconia near Nürnberg)
– there are several smaller „islands“, groups of 2 to 4 generations of the name
Zerweck, with different spellings, which however could not (yet) been linked to
one of the big lines (family trees Oettingen, Böhmen, Inseln).
It is one of my hopes that this internet
publication of my family data base may create new contacts with members of such
„island pedigrees“, and with other
carriers of our name, and that we’ll be able to jointly complement our lines of relation.
In the meantime, on the other hand, I think
more realistically on the possibility that our name might have arosen independently at several different locations.
Especially the fact that American immigration lists several times show the name
„Zerwick“ for immigrants from Slovakia (until 1918 a
part of Austria) may be a hint that the same or a similar name exists or
existed in eastern Europe, not necessarily linked to the Württemberg or
Hesse-Darmstadt Zerweck families. Of course one could
now speculate whether this eastern European occurrence of our name was based on
earlier emigrations from Germany, or vice versa, but I am afraid that such
ideas will forever remain improvable speculations.
Korntal-Münchingen, October 26, 2025
Günter Zerweck