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The Eckart Family

Picture of Betzenstein castle, home of Heinrich Eckart, the family’s earliest known ancestor.

Researching the family history and writing down stories and facts of ancestors and relatives – it was started by the Eckart family around the mid-19th century. This mission was passed down from generation to generation, with the Munich family branch having been particularly dedicated to genealogical research. In 1937, Otto Eckart (1877 to 1942) published a chronicle with family trees and biographies for the first time. He also established a family archive, which has continued to grow ever since and now comprises the family’s documents, pictures, letters, and objects spanning several centuries. Further chronicles and genealogies of the Eckart family have emerged.

All the gathered information is now available online in this wiki, supplemented by selected documents and picture material from the archive.

Ancestors of the Eckart family, 1460 to 1865

Johannes Eckart (V 11) from Emskirchen.

Eckart is an old German surname. Originally, Eckart was a first name, for example spelt Ekkehard. It later also became a surname. The name comes from the Old High German and is derived from “Ecka”, meaning “sword”, and “harti” meaning “hard”, but also “strong”. The Eckart family has their own coat of arms. With regard to this coat of arms, one of the ancestors once said: "Those whose coat of arms is decorated with a heart shall remember their ancestors’ sincerity and loyalty and likewise strive for such virtues."

Many important documents and sources, which could have provided information about the Eckhart family’s history, were destroyed during the Thirty Years’ War (1618 to 1648). However, pertinent material dating from 1648 onwards, with virtually no gaps in information, can be found in the national archives of Bavaria, the parish registers, the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg, the family archive of the Counts of Egloffstein etc.; this material makes it possible to reconstruct the family history.

The family’s earliest verifiable ancestor is Heinrich Eckart (around 1460 to 1516) from Eckenreuth near Betzenstein, Germany. He is considered to be generation –V in the Eckart’s genealogy. He is followed by his son Friedrich Eckart (around 1490 to 1540), whose son – also called Friedrich (around 1515 to 1561) – left Betzenstein and took residence on the nearby estate Hunger. Heinrich Eckart (around 1540 to 1569), the son of the latter, was the first Protestant member of the Eckart family. Wolff (1565 to 1632) was the first member of the Eckart family who worked in the food business – he was a baker. For a long time, his son Conz Eckart (1595 to 1634) had been the family’s earliest known forefather and is therefore considered to be generation I. His younger son Hans Eckart the Younger (around 1619 to 1681), from whom the contemporary Eckart family line descends, owned an estate in Egloffstein called Prechtelhof. His son Georg Eckart (1639 to 1713) and his grandson Sebastian Conrad Eckart (1688 to 1748) became innkeepers and ran the taverns “Roter Ochse” (Red Ox) and “Zur Krone” (At the Crown) in Langenzenn. Johannes Eckart (1725 to 1790) from generation V is the most well-known Eckart of the 18th century. He lived in Emskirchen where he ran the coaching inn coaching inn "Goldener Hirsch" (Golden Deer). In the following generation – generation VI – the various family lines of the Eckarts split: Johannes’ daughter Johanna (1778 to 1837) is the progenitrix of the JS-Eckarts, while Johannes’ sons Philipp (1781 to 1841), David (1785 to 1853) and Carl August (1787 to 1857) are the progenitors of the Phi-Eckarts, Da-Eckarts and CA-Eckarts, respectively.

The Eckart family in Munich, Germany, 1865 to today

Letterhead of Johannes Eckart’s company, dating between 1887 and 1899. The manufacturing plants as well as the sales and administration building are clear to see.

Two lines of the Eckart family are especially worthy of interest, the first being the line which was continued by Carl August Eckart. This line is closely linked to the coaching inn "Goldener Hirsch" (Golden Deer) in Emskirchen and could be dubbed the "coaching inn line". The second line, whose members became highly successful factory owners, descended from David Eckart, captain of the Landwehr (land defense) and keeper of the inn "Schwarzer Adler" (Black Eagle) in Emskirchen. This line could be dubbed "line of entrepreneurs".

David Eckart and his wife Jeanette, née Wich, (1801 to 1874) had twelve children. Between 1850 and 1870, all descendants of the Eckart family left their hometown Emskirchen and four of them even left Germany. Babette Eckart moved to Russia as a governess, Christian and Maximilian moved to Hawaii. Benjamin joined the French Foreign Legion in 1859, having initially spent two years in Algiers and then moved on to Mexico. Johannes (1840 to 1899) and Friedrich (1827 to 1907) tried their luck in Munich.

In 1863, Johannes Eckart came to Munich where he founded a fruit juice factory in 1868. He is the founding father of today’s Munich line of the Eckart family. He and his wife Susanne, née Zick, (1844 to 1909) had 13 children, only seven of whom survived early childhood. Friedrich Eckart also came to Munich, but later than his brother. Friedrich was a chemist and started a tar factory in 1877.

In 1899, "Johs. Eckart Konservenfabrik" (Johannes Eckart’s canning factory) was taken over by Johannes’ eldest son Friedrich Eckart (1870 to 1928) – alone at the beginning, later with his brother Otto (1877 to 1942). In the aftermath of World War I, they failed to put the company back on a successful track. Otto left the company in 1926 and later founded the company "Otto Eckart" which became the "Pfanni" factory after the end of World War II. In accordance with family tradition, it was then always the eldest son who took over the company: first Werner Eckart (1909 to 1997), then Otto Eckart (1936 to 2016) and today Werner Eckart (*1968).

The Eckart family in Hawaii, USA, 1866 to today

Maximilian Eckart and Maria Louisa had a large family. This picture shows them with eleven of their twelve children and their son-in-law Hugo Landgraf (around 1900). From left to right: Meta, Hans, Tina, Lilia, Fritz, Maria Louisa with Willie on her lap, May, Kauwila, Maximilian, Max junior, Marie, Hugo Landgraf and Minette.

Christian Eckart (1831 to 1875), the fifth child of David and Jeanette Eckart, had already left Emskirchen in 1855. He chose a completely different and far more distant destination: Honolulu in Hawaii. This is where he opened a jewelry store in 1867.

Maximilian Eckart (1842 to 1918), Christian’s brother, eleven years his junior, came to Hawaii in 1868. He was evidently so impressed by his brother’s reports that he followed him. At first, Maximilian earned his living as jeweler in the store of his brother, Christian. He then took over the business following the death of his brother and his sister-in-law Mathilde.

Maximilian and his wife Maria Louisa, née Campbell, (1862 to 1908) had twelve children and thus started the Hawaiian branch of the Eckart family. Contact with the Eckart family’s Munich line was always preserved, and relations were intensified by Maximilian’s youngest daughter Yette from the 1950s onwards. "Aunt Yette" was seen as the driving force that held together the families that were scattered over two continents.

Since 1957, the widely spread family holds regular family reunions.

Link to the picture gallery of the Eckart family in Hawaii