Mungenast Family

Emmy’s parents, Nikolaus and Emmy Mungenast (one g), arrived at Ellis Island in 1922. Nikolaus had been assigned to the German Consulate in Minneapolis prior to WW I, and Emmy’s sister was born there. Nikolaus and his wife returned to Germany during WW I, immigrated to America in 1922, and Emmy was born in Illinois, a few years later. How many years later? You’ll have to ask her.

Emmy’s father was one of seven Mungenast children: Matthias, Katharina, Jakob, Nikolaus, August, Luise, and Josefine. When we first visited Germany in 1970 we visited Aunt Josefine, the last sibling of Nikolaus, in her home in Saarburg. Tante Finchen (as she was called in Germany) died a couple of months after our visit.

Nikolaus’ sister Katharina, who married Joseph Herrmann, was the mother of seven children, and we have visited with Emmy’s many “Herrmann” Cousins in Mettlach, Germany, during each of our nine trips to Europe, and have spent more than 300 nights with ten different Cousins.

Emmy’s Cousins assured her that one of her ancestors, Joseph Munggenast (2-g’s), supervised construction of the beautiful Baroque Benedictine monastery at Melk, Austria. He was also responsible for the monasteries of Herzogenburg, Altenburg and Dürnstein, Austria.

One year we stopped in Zams, Austria, looking for families with the name Mungenast (one “g” or two??). Near the campsite a “Zimmer Frei” had the name Mungenast, and the grocery store next door was identified with “Mungenast” on the awning. Down the street there was another “Zimmer Frei, Haus Mungenast,” so there are a bunch of them around there.

In the towns of Schnann (where Emmy’s Great-Grandfather lived), and Flirsch, we were given information telling where we would find more of Emmy’s relatives. We asked a postman for directions, then found we had already passed the house we wanted. The street was so narrow we could not turn around, so we ended up at the town garbage dump, turned around, found the house, and met Johann Mungenast and his wife.

We had an interesting conversation — a few words of English, a few of German. They have nine children, 30 grandchildren, and Johann had spent five years in the German Army, mainly in Russia, during WW II.