My name is Denise Marie Manahl (a U.S.A. Manahl) and the purpose of this page is to let anyone named Manahl know a little about their family background. There are not alot of us out there, so this should be helpful.
The information that is on this page was taken from a family research paper that I had gotten from a cousin, Arlene Manahl Solomon. The paper was originally researched by Vernon Auderer in 1985 and I believe she may have added some things to it.
In the future I will add photos and any additional recent information that I can find. If you know of anything about the Manahl family that you do not see posted here, please forward it to me. Thank you.
One of the oldest families is the MANAHL family. In old times their name was written as MANALL or MANNALL and this is how this name is spoken today. We find them mainly in Schruns.
Scholars say that the name has latin-roman roots, in connection with "manual". This would mean that the first MANAHL was some kind of artisan, in ratoroman this is still called "habilitad manuala".
In the old Berger calendar, which supposedly begins in 1305, six MANAHLs are already mentioned. Claus lives in Gampratz, on the Zagraps farm, one Tschan MANAHL also in Gampratz. Then there are Gabriel, Hansli, Peter and Joss (Jodok) in the same book.
In 1420 we find Peter MANAHL in Gampratz and a few decades later again Joss, Thomas and Clas in the same area. 1464 finds Kaspar MANAHL high up there at Ganzigg. 1492 we find Klaus and Duris in the church records of Schruns. The name Duris means in Roman Ulrich.
Later it gets to be more exact. There lives one Hans on the Ganatscha in 1507, one Claus on the farm Gamarink, today unpopulated, and another Claus on the Kapiescha. In 1556 Hans and Klaus appear as semi-owners of the big Vergalden alp, which is situated in the Gargellen valley.
In the year of the dreadful flood of 1762, the Ill changed its bed from the side of the Biezel into Rafenegg and devastated the hamlet of Sands so thoroughly that this barren land was given to Tschagguns. Beneath the Lentsch house a bridge seems to have existed and also a little chapel, until the flood came. Sand was named the little Zelfa in these times. A few prosperous farms existed there. One of them belonged to Jorg MANAHL, about 1508. In 1575 there is a Matheu MANAHL further inside the Mauren. In the same century the documents tell the first names of wives, Greta and Anna. Again in Gampratz, Hans and Claus are living high up there on Gamplaschg.
There are also MANAHLs which are living in Schruns, like in 1541 a Wolfgang and Jakob. On the occasion of the Schmalkaldish was we find one Jakob on the military rolls.
IN 1574 there are already MANAHLs in the village Vandans and right at the start of the birth registers in Tschagguns and St. Gallenkirch. In 1640 there are also some in Schruns, where the registers start in 1638 they start with quite a few of that family.
Some MANAHLs seem to have been quite rich farmers. In the old stock taking lists of the Vergalda alp, we find Jodok MANAHL who had 25 cows there. Only some years later, on 1686 he bought 16 and his namesake Sebastian had 12 cows and 6 calves. In 1695 Jodok brought another 13 cows, and one Stina MANAHL sent 17 to this alp. Such a big number of cows would have been unthinkable on the mountain flanks above Gampratz.
In the church registers at Schruns there's a Zacharais in 1648 and in 1688 his son with the same name. According to tradition one of them should have been quite a giant.
You can separate the later MANAHLs into four families. Their names are repeatedly Jodok, Peter, Christian or Hans. In 1754 one boy was baptized Melchior and his descendants are still known as "Melker", today.
Martin born in 1641 emigrated to Lothringen. One of his descendants Roland MANAHL is a scholar and lives in Paris and helped a lot with the work on their family history. He also found the coat of arm in Chur (Switzerland).
Very early MANAHLs moved to Schwaben. First to Langenargen and later to Leutkirch. From the Salvatorian monastery in Bad Wurzenbach comes from time to time a monk who is also very interested in his family. Two years ago I took him to Zagraps and showed his some MANAHL houses in Gampratz.
A few years ago there were three very old MANAHLs. They were real originals, Albert who lived to be 90 was a true storybook. Sophia his sister was always involved with spook things. She saw ghosts everywhere and lived her life according to the signs of the moon.
A Johann Josef MANAHL, born in 1780 came to Bludenz and became the fore father of the family which lives there in Bings. The archivar MANAHL of Bludenz belongs to this group and part of this information came from him. Some dates I took from the book of the area names of the Montafon by Werner Vogt, which is a bonanza for family research.
The MANAHLs in Montafon have shrunk considerably. There is still one family in St. Gallenkirch which is carrying the name on.
Do you have information on the Manahl family?
