Gene Gillen's Home Page

While this document will focus mostly on my paternal grandparents, Peter and Christina Gillen and their descendants, we first need to go back in time to the 17th century.

We will start with the first know Gillen ancestor and move forward in time.

To start this venture, I first have to say that out surname Gillen was not always spelled the way it is today. For instance, my grandpa, Peter's name was spelled with only one "L" on his baptism record, however his brothers and sisters were spelled Gillen in the records. One of his half-brothers was Gielen. Our great-grandfather, Nikolaus' name has been found to be spelled Gillen, Gielen, Gilen and Gihlen.

There has been speculation that the Gillens were not German, but rather Irish. One story being that Nikolaus was brought to Germany from Ireland by his parents as a young child. All I can say to that is that it's not true and I can prove it! One of my beloved uncles even made a trip to Ireland to kiss the BLARNEY STONE! I have found the Gillen name and the like as far back as 1623 in the Eifel area of Germany where our ancestors came from.

In the "old" days in some parts of the Rheinland, people were not known by a surname, but rather by what house they lived in, all houses and farms having the name of the owner. As an example, Peter Gillen was not known as Peter Gillen, he was known as Peter from the name of the house his parents lived in. I hope this is understandable. Anyway this naming practice affected our Gillen family. As to the various spellings of names, one must remember that education was not one of these peoples priorities so many times names got spelled like they sounded, for example, on the marriage record of our gr-gr-grandparents marriage record, the priest stated that neither participant could write their name and a witnees had to sign for them.

As to the origin of our name GILLEN, German omomastic dictionaries mention the name Gillen in a series of similar names such as Gielen, Gilen,Gehlen and the like which are said to go back to an old Germanic word meaning HOSTAGE. This peculiar name origin is due to the medieval custom of taking children hostages (usually from nobility) in conquered areas in the East and rearing them in places far from their homes, to discourage revolts and retaliation from their parents. When grown, these children would settle down in their 'guest country' since the had accomodated to it completly. That is the story German dictionaries give to the name GILLEN. I might add that the Gillen name is found rather infrequently in Germany other than the Rheinland/Pfalz and adjacent Belgium and Luxembourg.

Prior to 1871, Germany as we know it today did not exsist. It was made up of many Germanic speaking people from countless Principalities, Independant States and Cities, Empires, Dukedoms, etc. Some of these places are Brandenburg, Bavaria, Hesse, Rheinland/Pfalz, Wuerttemberg, Baden, Westphalen, Prussia and others. Our interest is the Rheinland/Pfalz from about Trier northward to a little north of Prum and westward to the German-Luxemburg-Belgian border. That area is known as "The Eifel." Grandma Gillen's family came from the area east of Trier and known as the "Mosel Wine Country."

Some towns we will run across are Krautscheid, Ringhuscheid, Habscheid, Heckhuscheid, Bleialf, Buchet, Eschfeld,Langenfeld to name a few. None of these places are large enough to show up on a regular road map, but are all pretty close together between Prum and the Belgium border.

My father started this genealogy search of the Gillens about 1975. After he passed away in 1982, I compiled the research he had done and entered it into my computer. Some of the basis of his information came from his fathers diary, St. Agnes Church records, St. Paul City directories, Ramsey County Clerk of District Court, Calvary Cemetery records, School Sisters of Notre Dame in Mankato, United States Census records and Family lore.

When I saw all this, I became involved and was determined to continue Dad's project. I have found much more Gillen information in the last twenty years than I had ever hoped for. The Church of Latter Day Saints ( Mormon ) have filmed almost all of the Catholic Church Books in Germany. Their Family History Libraries are found in most large cities and are open to people of all faiths. I made full use of their facility in Modesto and Dolores and I made a trip to their main Library in Salt Lake City. That is where I found probably my most prized find, the marriage record of my gr-gr-grandparents, Paul Gielen and Veronika Jommes. Other information came from the Family Book of the town of Bleialf, the Catholic Church archives in Trier, Paul Gilen from Schalkenmehran, Germany, this Paul put me on the right track to find descendants of our grandpa's half brother Peter Gillen, Dr. Paul Georg Meyer from Duren, Germany, Paul is the fiance' of Veronika Gillen, one of our German cousins, Max Braconnier from Schwartzbach/Feuerscheid, Germany, Max is a descendant of our grandpa's half brother Peter Gillen. I must also thank Karl-Josef Tonner from Daun, Germany. Karl provided me with much information from early Family Books. And how can I forget all the Gillen Family members that provided their family information. This includes all the Gillens, Steidls, Dechs,St. Martins, Horwaths and Tibesars.

The real reason our grandfather came to America is unknown to us, but probably one reason was to escape being drafted into the German Army ( he was just the right age ), another, a desire to join his two brothers that were already here, and also to improve his own economic situation.

My Dad wrote a story of the German-Minnesota Gillens. He did not complete it before he died. I will add his story to this later. There are some errors in it because he did not have some of the facts that I have uncovered since.

Before I continue on, I need to explain more about surnames, I don't mean just mis-spellings. There was a time in that area in Germany where the Gillens came from that is unusual and not widely known. When a man married and the married couple lived in/on the brides family house or farm, that man was thereafter known by the 'House" name, not by his own surname and all children born to that couple were also named after the "House" name. For example, When Johan Doe married Maria Blank and they lived on Maria's family property, then Johan Doe became Johan Doe vulgo Blank and all his kids were Blanks too! Vulgo is Latin and means 'the people named him'. That was the custom and that custom affected our family. In the beginning we were not Gillen.

About five years ago I received informatiom from Karl-Josef Tonner from Daun, Germany about our family lineage that he got from the Bleialf Family Book. I now have a copy of that Family Book in my possssion.

Our first know male ancestor was JOHANN REITER We don't know when he was born. He died 1 Oct 1671 in Halenfeld. His wife was Susanna unknown surname. This couple had twelve children.They were:

Ria-no birthdate

Nikolous-6 Mar 1643

Johann-no date

Hubert-18 Jul 1653

Nikolaus-10 May 1655

Margaretha-10 May 1655

Jakob-25 Nov 1657

Valentin-22 Nov 1659

Elisabeth-15 Jul 1661

Peter-15 Apr 1663

QUIRIN-Abt 1665

Susanna-28 May 1667

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QUIRIN REITERS was born abt 1665 in Halenfeld and died 31 Oct 1723. He married Maria Kutschen on 7 Jan 1686. Maria was born 18 June 1665 in Langenfeld. Her parents were Nikolaus and Susanna Kutschen. QUIRIN REITERS was then known as QUIRIN REITERS vulgo KUTSCHEN. Quirin and Susanna had nine children:

Elizabeth-14 Jan 1687

Margaretha-18 Oct 1689

NIKOLAUS-21 Jan 1691

A. -9 Feb 1693

M.-13 Oct 1695

Michael-11 Apr 1700

Maria-22 Feb 1702

Christian-7 Apr 1704

Quirinus-26 Jan 1707

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NIKOLAUS KUTSCH was born 21 Jan 1691 in Langenfeld and died 21 Jan 1743 in Buchet. Nikolaus married Christina Gielen in Buchet on 13 May 1716. Christina was born 24 Feb 1701 in Buchet, she was only 15 years old then. Christina's parents were Paul Gielen from Buchet and Katharina Quirini from Eigelscheid. Paul and Katharina were married on 17 Feb 1700. Nikolaus Kutsch was known as Nikolaus Kutsch vulgo Gielen after his marriage.

Nikolaus and Christina had six children:

Hilarius-15 Oct 1720 in Buchet-died 2 Feb 1793 in Buchet Married Maria Elisabeth Kro'ltges on 13 Feb 1759 at Bleialf.

Anna Elisabeth-11 Dec 1725 in Buchet. Married Johann Kro'ltges on 13 Feb 1759.

Susanna-31 Oct 1730 in Buchet. Married Johann Hammels on 1 Jun 1769.

Margaretha-1 Mar 1733 in Buchet

Matthias-5 Feb 1735 in Buchet. Died 20 Apr 1736 in Buchet.

QUIRIN-7 Nov 1737 in Buchet. Died 8 Sep 1788 in Bleialf. Married Elisabeth Susanna Haensgen on 26 Sep 1767 in Bleialf.

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QUIRIN GIELEN was born 7 Nov 1737 in Buchet and died 8 Sep 1788 in Bleialf. He married Elisabeth Susanna Haensgen on 26 Sep 1767 at Bleialf. Elisabeth was born 5 Oct 1746 at Bleialf. Her parents were Joannes Haensgen and Susanna Kerstges. Quirin and Elisabeth had nine children:

Johannes-14 Jul 1768 in Caspars Haus-married Anna Maria Andres abt. 1801

Susanna-31 Oct 1769 in Bleialf

Peter-2 Jun 1773 in Bleialf. Died Feb 1774

PAUL-5 Sep 1775 in Bleialf. Died bef. 1843. Married Veronika Jommes on 25 Feb 1810.

Elisabeth-14 Feb 1777 in Bleialf

Maria-2 Apr 1779 in Bleialf. Died 1781

Catharina-9 Apr 1781 in Bleialf

Susanna-13 May 1783 in BLeialf

Peter-30 Aug 1786 in Bleialf. Died in Schonberg, Belgium. Married Anna Margaretha Raquet on 8 Oct 1810 at Bleialf.

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PAUL GIELEN was born 5 Sept 1775 at Bleialf and died before 1843 at Hollnich. Paul married Veronika Jommes on 1 Mar 1810 in St. Marien Catholic Church in Habscheid. Veronika was born 8 Jul 1788 at Hallert and also had passed away before 1843. Her parents were Nicolas Jommes and Rosina Krings. Paul and Veronika were the parents of nine children. They were all born in Habscheid and baptized in St. Marien Catholic Church. I list their names as found in the records (remember what I said earlier about spellings):

NIKOLAUS GILEN-14 Nov 1811

Maria Elisabeth Gilen-28 Jul 1813

Susanna Gilen-4 Sep 1815

Joannes Gillen-5 Aug 1819

Elisabeth-21 Aug 1821

Bernard Gielen-29 Aug 1824

Margaret Gielen-10 Sep 1825

Joannes Gielen-22 Apr 1829

Philippe Gielen-26 Mar 1833

I have not attempted to trace any of these other than Nikolaus, My great-grandfather.

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