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The mystery of the Rothermels from Berks County originating from Holland may now be solved. The families sailed up the Rhine to Rotterdam from Baden and Württemberg where they caught their passenger ships to the UK and America. On arrival it was propably recorded as their place of origin but was only the port of embarkation. Janice

ROTHERMELS UK

It was with some amazement that I read through your webpage last night, not only the scope of what you have achieved but because I believe that one of the marriage certificates you show belongs to my great-great grandfather. The strange thing about this is I only learnt something of him yesterday morning at the local FHS and then there he is, mentioned in your page. Life is odd!
Just three months ago I began this genealogical journey and started with my maternal grandparents. While I awaited the certificates to prove my research there I decided to look at the Rothermel side (my maiden name) knowing that this would be a tougher assignment in that my great grandfather was from Germany and very little history was known within living members of the family. My father came from Basford in Nottingham and he is the son of Fritz Pendred Rothermel. From the limited amount of research I have done thus far I believe that F. P. Rothermel is the son of John Rothermel (you refer to brother John’s wedding certificate) and his wife Ellen Pendred. In the 1901 census he is listed as having come from Henlibbach Ya Hall in Germany. No doubt that is misspelled and I wonder if he was saying , “Horlebach , yes”, to the census taker! All is speculation at the moment.
Thank you for the opportunity to read your fascinating site. It really is amazing and appears to have taken on a life of its own!
Regards
Shelagh (Canada)

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First, I'd better put you in the picture as regards George C.Rothermel, born Wellingborough UK
I am the eldest of his three grand-daughters. I am Shirley , then there is Pauline
and finally Audrey . Our mother was Beryl Ford (nee Rothermel), and she was the only
child of Grandy (George) and our grandmother Elizabeth Rothermel (nee Hargreaves).
Beryl (born 25th Oct. 1913) married Alfred Ford on 26th Dec 1933.
Mum died on 11th May 2005, and afterwards I found a number of old photographs.
I decided to use these to make up a "scrapbook of memories", and going right up to the present.
Grandy was a very private person, and none of us knew much about his family. We were aware of his "roots" in Germany, and the fact that he had a brother, Frederick, and one, or possibly two, sisters, but Mum rarely talked about them.Grandy served in WW1 as a stretcher-bearer, and hardly ever talked about his experiences, other than being wounded and having shrapnel embedded in his legs. Ever since we could remember, he had great difficulty walking. By profession, he was a Master-Butcher, and continued part-timefor a local butcher, right up to his death. Our family, plus Gram and Grandy, moved to Blackpool from Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffs, in 1953.
After all, you must be cousins!
We can't thank you enough for all the time, effort and dedication you have shown in the production of the whole website.
I can't believe that only a couple of weeks ago, we were a very small family. Now there must be a hundred of us, or more!
Shirley

From Salt Lake City
My pedigree is Irvin Fager--Harold W. -- John W.-- Danial G. Married Sarah Wagner her Father--Samuel S Wagner, m . Anna Rothermel b 26 July 1813 at Berks co. Pennsylvaina U S A father--Abraham - b abt 1788 mother -- Mary Yeager. I have many names on my computer but have not as yet organized them. Thanks for your work and knowledge of our families. Irvin

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I am descended from a branch of the Rothermal family that immigrated to Pennsylvania, then to Indiana and, finally, to Texas.
My great great great grandfather appears on the 1850 Fayette County Texas Census as

L.M. or S.M. Rodarmell, 34, born in Indiana, Carpenter

Other records in Texas list a Lemuel M. Rodarmel. This Lemuel participated in the Battle of Plum Creek, TX, 1840 and was also a Pensioner on the Republic of Texas Pension Rolls, 1835 - 1846. An A.C. Rodarmel also shows up on these rolls and land grants.

Land grants in Fayette County Texas were granted to a L.M. Rodarmel in 1839

I am fairly certain that this L.M Rodarmel is the "L" M Rodarmell appearing in the 1850 census with his NC born wife "M.E." and their children, one of which, George, being my great great grandfather.

However, I have not yet been successful in tracing Lemuel in Indiana.

I know that several of the Pennsylvania Rothermel sons moved into Indiana in the early 1800s and that they changed the name to Rodarmel; Lemuel M. Rodarmel is probably tied to one of them, but I cannot find the link.

My great great grandfather, George T. Rodarmel, L.M.'s son, was a SGT in the Confederate army. He is buried near Houston, Texas; I have a photo of the grave. After the war, George rode into Gonzales, Texas where he met and married Mary Jane Burton. His brother, Robert Rodarmel, married Juda Lea (sometimes Julia) Burton. One of the children born to George and Mary Jane was Eula Lee Rodamel (b. Pilgrim Lake, Gonzales County Texas, 1877) She married Drewry M. Pollard of Blanco Co. Texas. They homesteaded in Oklahoma and then moved back into Texas. My grandmother was their daughter, Hallie Viola Pollard. Eula Lee remarried after Pollard's death to Jake Martin in Shamrock, Wheeler County Texas. AB


Please contact this site if this is your branch of the family and you have information.


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Information in January 2014 from MK

I am a great granddaughter of Robert Rodarmel. He married my great grandmother, Judy Burton. Their marriage had a tragic ending. I just learned today what the real story supposedly is. I always knew they divorced, and that it was very hard for my grandmother, who never knew her father.

Robert Rodarmel born 1857 in Fort Bend County Texas married Judy Burton in 1875 - Judy born 1859. Child from 2nd marriage May Belle Rodarmel 1880 - 1966 married John Newton Ramsey in 1900 born Alabama, Farmer.

Robert Rodarmel remained in Texas. Judy Burton Rodarmel remarried Mr. Hawkins and had two more children. She and Robert Rodarmel had had my grandmother, Maybelle Rodarmel. She and Mr. Hawkins had Dolly Hawkins, who became a nurse in Houston involved with early brain surgery, and Iris Hawkins Hardy, who married and had children in Houston. Mr. Hawkins was murdered one day when he was out on the ranch with a hand from Mexico, whom my great grandmother had begged him to let go because she was afraid of him. When Mr. Hawkins did not return, a party went out and found him with a knife wound in his back and his bloodied wallet emptied of cash. Dolly and Iris were still very young. My grandmother was just married, but was very worried about her mother and sisters living alone on a ranch in Artesia Wells, Texas, and would spend time out with them.
Robert Rodarmel went to prison for two years. The reason was that he had a horse and a mule with mortgages on them. He did not know that you could not sell something with a mortgage, so he did. He went to prison for it. Then, when he got out, he wrote to my great grandmother Judy and asked if she wanted him to come home. She wrote back, " Yes". But he did not return, and, after a couple of years, she received a divorce petition. My grandmother found her bitterly weeping in her bedroom, and Judy told little Maybelle, "Your father is not coming home."

He married the post mistress of the town from which he had written. Back then, it was common for a post master, or mistress, to open mail. That was true in Artesia Wells. She (Minnie Hendrickson) opened letters and then gossiped about what she learned. So the surmise is that the woman Robert Rodarmel married had destroyed the reply from Judy Burton Rodarmel telling him to come home.

The story from my mother has always been that Judy Burton was very difficult and demanding, which she was in her older years. Dolly never married, and spend most of her life taking care of her mother. Judy Burton Rodarmel Hawkins spend her older years with Dolly in Houston. This story puts her life in a new light. I already knew she suffered tragedy, but I did not know how sad the breach with Robert Rodarmel was. Learning about it has actually made me sad. I know my grandmother suffered from not knowing her father and from her mother's unhappiness.

MK

notes:

1860 US Census: Father ME Rodarmel Farmer born in North Carolina living Fort Bend Texas ( presumably with his second wife half his age)
3 children listed - N Rodarmel 15, H Rodarmel 8, R Rodarmel 3

There's a reference of Robert farming in 1880 in District 71 Gonzales Texas

There's a tree on line for the Burtons going back to John Isaac Burton 1755 from South Carolina

Mrs Ziegler called us in January for wishing us a happy new year and she said something remarkable to me: she thinks, that our ancestors very often had a very hard life, so it is our duty, to take care that they will not be forgotten. That is a nice idea - isnt it?

Mrs Ziegler is getting very old and she is the only one left in the village who remembers the Rothermels, please let us have any more questions about your family before it is too late so we can ask her before you come again in September.

Bille and Folker Frank Stuttgart

We wish to thank Folker for his initial enthusiasm and his tireless efforts in contacting and visiting both the Schwäbisch Hall and Stuttgart Archives on our behalf.

From Joan Rothermel

Yes we have considerable information that dates back prior to the first Rothermels that came to the US. There is a news letter "Rothermel Family of America" Earl Rothermel President 201 Main Street Blandon PA 19510 USA No email. Also Florence Heydt email hfheydt@aol.com She prepares the yearly notice of Die Rothermel Familie.My husband retains an interest. There is a very thick book that several of his family over two generations have put together, And one in the making. Give us a mailing address and we will send copies of the last two yearly meetings. Also how to order the book This group in PENNSYLVANIA ARE VERY ACTIVE. MANY HAVE GONE TO GERMANY TO HUNT THE PLACES WHERE WE ORIGINATED.
We do know that ALL the Rothermls, Rhodhamels etc are related. from the first family that married inthe US.Peter Rothermel married a Fetterolf in the early 1700s Will give more info later

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From Diane Marshall

Here's the exciting stuff I just learned a week ago: My Great Great Great Grandfather William Wessner b. abt 1782 married Rebecca Rodermel (and yes the original name of Rothermel and even Rhoadermal are all the same family and there are probably MORE misspelled surnames. You see when so many immigrants to the US took place, many times the people themselves were not literate in reading or writing and then the officials who wrote down PHONETICALLY the names they were told just added to the misspellings!
So, I have sent your name and connection to the people who published the original book a few years ago called THE ROTHERMEL FAMILY IN AMERICA and presently are in the process of updating current information. Here is the fellow I've been talking with so you can contact him also. I'm convinced that the American Rothermels (who of course came from Germany so long ago MAY BE connected to the rather current ones you are working with. But in your last e-mail you had such a great generation list going back so far, all the more reason that you need to talk with this fellow. I am going to forward his reply to me so you will have his e-mail address to correspond with. I told him about you too.

I really have no info on the Rothermels other than Rebecca who married into my Wessner family.

But this is such good fun for me to meet you and learn more about my ancestor's! Diane

Dear Janice,
If you could contact Joan Rothermel from Ohio, She's an artist, and also a Rothermel historian. There also is a Rothermel Book out ..I think that would give you al ittle more info..
David Rothermel


OK just a brief note to let you know that the information has been published in a book called the Rothermel families of America published in 1985 we are currently working on updating and plan to print later this year or early next year. However the first book is not as documented as this edition will be. So I would like to ask you if you would like to contribute your information to the new edition .

Cousin John

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