The origin of the Cronbach name

So interesting! Hi Private User! My great-grandfather was Abraham Cronbach (born in the US). His father Marcus was born in Prussia is 1825. The story we read somewhere in the family documents was that Cronbach was made up (we thought in the US) and anyone with the name was related. Our great-grandfather has a lot of documents at the The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives at HUC Cincinnati - http://collections.americanjewisharchives.org/ms/ms0009/ms0009.html - It was through these that we found out his father had a first wife and many children with her. My father didn't even know of them!

But we have little knowledge of them prior to the US. Would love to learn more.

The picture of , what we believe to be, 'the original Cronbach' was from 1805. I've come across the US Cronbach's in my digging around. First time I have got the link to 'Marcus', Prussia, 1825. There may be a link there. Silesia was adjacent to Prussia, and I think that's closer to the region the Cronbach's came from. Prussia was an organic 'empire' for most of it's existance, boundaries changed during many conflicts. As a geographer, I'll try to do some digging up. Cheers

Thanks Stephen! The geography in that area is... challenging... haha. All of Eastern Europe... In the beginning of our genealogy search, seeing a birth place come up on one census as Russia and the next Poland was confusing. Now I just accept it and move on. haha

I would love to figure out how they all connect. My great-grandfather didn't discuss much about the family to my father (his grandson). And my father never met any other the other half-siblings. Also my grandmother was adopted by them so we don't have a blood link to look for the DNA. All in all, the Cronbach side is a bit of a mystery to us. Finding his half siblings in the archives was a stroke of luck that really opened up doors for us. And that's where we heard that the name Cronbach was made up but we might have mistook the information and what they were really saying was what you said - they had to take a last name in 1805 and so they created that!

Good to 'meet' you!

Talia, Thanks for adding to the discussion. It really does give me a better picture. I'm going to be spending some time on it next year. Hopefully I might come up with some link, or at least answers.
Cheers for now.

I found your interesting entry on "Cronbach" by luck as I'm a complete ignorant person re this Genii entry..hadn't looked it up in years and now can't navigate it easily. HOWEVER, Abraham Cronbach, according to what I have learned, was my father, Robert Marcus Cronbach's, great-grandfather. Abraham Cronbach lived in Chicago, had two successive wives, and quite a few children. His son was my father's grandfather, Marcus Cronbach, who settled in Posey County, Indiana, after working as a traveling peddlar...took over the pharmacy, stayed during an epidemic while the owner fled. Abraham became a notable figure in Posey County... took over a bank, I believe, and led services for the very small Jewish congregation. His son, Leon "Bud" Cronbach, moved to Saint Louis, and he was my grandfather...the father of Robert Cronbach, a noted sculptor.
Hope this helps. I would love to hear from you. My current email...best way to reach me...is mariaespinosa999@gmail.com