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The Eckart Family
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.[1] 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.[2]
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
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
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.
„Johs. Eckart Konservenfabrik“ wurde ab 1899 von Johannes' ältestem Sohn Friedrich Eckart (1870–1928) weitergeführt – anfangs allein, später mit seinem Bruder Otto (1877–1942). Nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg gelang es nicht, die Firma wieder auf Erfolgskurz zu bringen. Otto schied 1926 aus und gründete später die Firma „Otto Eckart“, die sich nach dem Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs zu den „Pfanni“-Werken weiterentwickelte. Gemäß der Familientradition führte dann jeweils der älteste Sohn das Unternehmen weiter, zunächst Werner Eckart (1909–1997), danach Otto Eckart (1936–2016) und heute Werner Eckart (*1968).
Die Familie Eckart in Hawaii, 1866 bis heute
Christian Eckart (1831–1875), als fünftes Kind von David und Jeanette Eckart geboren, hatte schon im Jahr 1855 Emskirchen verlassen. Er wählte ein ganz anderes und weitaus entfernteres Ziel: Honolulu auf Hawaii. 1867 eröffnete er dort ein Juweliergeschäft.
1868 kam auch Maximilian Eckart (1842–1918), Christians elf Jahre jüngerer Bruder, nach Hawaii. Er war offenbar von den Berichten seines Bruders so sehr beeindruckt, dass er ihm nachfolgte. Maximilian verdiente sich seinen Lebensunterhalt zunächst als Juwelier im Geschäft seines Bruders Christian. Nach dem Tod seines Bruders und seiner Schwägerin Mathilde übernahm er das Geschäft.
Mit seiner Frau Maria Louisa geb. Campbell (1862–1908) hatte Maximilian zwölf Kinder und gründete damit den Hawaiianischen Zweig der Familie Eckart. Der Kontakt zu den Münchner Eckarts brach nie ab und ab den 1950er Jahren wurden die Beziehungen durch Maximilians jüngste Tochter Yette wieder intensiviert. „Aunt Yette“ galt als die treibende Kraft, die die Familien, die über die zwei Erdteile verstreut lebten, zusammenhielt.
Die weitverzweigte Familie Eckart trifft sich seit 1957 regelmäßig auf Familientagen.
Hier geht es zur Bildergalerie der Familie Eckart in Hawaii.
Einzelnachweise
- ↑ Eckart Family Archive, FA-B30 Chronicle of the Eckart family, 1937.
- ↑ Eckart, Werner: “Chronik der Familie Eckart” (Chronicle of the Eckart Family), 1967; Killinger-Eckart, Heidi: “Die Genealogie der Familie Eckart” (The Genealogy of the Eckart Family), Munich 2015; Eckart, Otto and Kamp, Michael: “Die Geschichte der Familie Eckart” (The History of the Eckart Family), Munich 2015; Eckart, Otto: “Pfanni, Mein Leben” (Pfanni, My Life), Munich 2012.