The family patronymic of Faller is of ancient Teutonic origin, and in the 18th and 19th Centuries, was often found throughout the Grand Duchy of Baden, the kingdom of Würtemberg and the Franconian districts, as well as the Kingdom of Bavaria.¹ It's generally a topographical name for someone living by a waterfall or the site of a landslide, from Middle High German val, meaning ‘fall’, ‘waterfall’, or ‘landslide’. In our line, "Faller" is probably a habitational surname for someone from Ober- or Unter- Fall near Triberg in the Black Forest. (The Triberg waterfall, the largest in Germany, is shown, above.)
   There are several armorial bearings, or coats of arms, awarded to Faller (or Faller-derived surnamed) individuals. The Faller coat of arms at left, is from J. Siebmacher's Grosses Wappenbuch ("Wappen" means coat of arms or armorial bearing).² It consists of a quartered shield topped by helmet and cloak. Quarters 1 and 4 of the shield contain a red-garbed man holding a sabre in his hand; quarters 2 and 3 contain a bird. Two buffalo horns atop the helmet are split by a bird. The right horn is blue and gold; the left horn is red and silver. The plumed cloak around the helmet and shield is colored red and silver on the left, and blue and gold on the right.³
   Our Faller line comes from the Grand Duchy of Baden, in what is now the Black Forest, or Schwarzwald, in Germany. KONRAD FALLER was born in the mid-to-late 1600's, in Oberwihl, Baden, Germany. On the 8th of January, 1693/94, he married MARIA GERSPACH of Strittmatt, Baden.
   They had seven children, one being FRIDOLIN FALLER, (27 Jan 1709/10 - 17 Jul 1771) in Oberwihl. He married CATHARINA HIERHOLZER (19 Dec 1721 - 21 Aug 1768) on the 17th of October in 1741.
   They had a son, HENRICH FALLER (18 Jul 1749 - 13 Jan 1800) who married MARIA SCHEUBLE (1754 - 02 Apr 1796) from Russwihl, and they had a daughter, named KATHERINA FALLER (27 Aug 1776 - 22 Sep 1843).


   Katherina married JOHAN MICHAEL WENK (12 Nov 1772 - 13 Oct 1827), also of Oberwihl, on 03 Feb 1801. They had ten children:

CHILDREN OF KATHERINA FALLER AND JOHAN WENK

  • JOHAN WENK, JR., b. 28 Dec 1801, in Oberwihl. He married IDA GASSMANN on 26 Feb 1829. Johan then adopted her son, IGNATZ GASSMANN, who changed his name to WENK. Johan Jr. died on 06 Jul 1867.
  • JOSEPH WENK was born on 15 May 1803, but died before his first birthday, on 18 Feb 1804.
  • The second JOSEPH WENK was born on 18 Apr 1805. He died before his second birthday, on 10 Feb 1807.
  • KATHRYN WENK was born on 20 Jan 1807. She died on 27 Sep 1807.
  • KATHARINA WENK was born on 09 Mar 1808. We have no record of her death, but we can assume she didn't fare any better than Kathryn because Johan and Katherina next had...
  • KATHARINA WENK was born on 30 Apr 1811. No further record.
  • Yet another JOSEPH WENK was born on 10 Apr 1814. No further record. But soon after...
  • Still another JOSEPH WENK, born on 23 Oct 1814. He had a full life (comparatively), dying on 17 Feb 1871. He was an "Eisenbahnarbeiter" (railroad worker) from Krumholz, district Waldshut.
  • MARIA WENK was born on 16 Jun 1816, but she died on 14 Feb 1817.
  • VINZENZ WENK was born on 22 Jan 1819. No further information.

    • NOTES:

    ¹—Schlegel's American Families of German Ancestry, by Carl Schlegel. Published by the American Historical Society, New York; 1918. Pg. 179.

    ²—Listed under "Faller. Matthes, Uhrmacher." 1673 u. 1679 im Enkirch. Faller. "Der alte Siebmacher V, Zus. 52 gibt unter 'Bürgerliche' folgendes."

    ³—Thank you to Pierre Faller and Patricia (Faller) DeRoche for allowing me to include this color representation. The description by Heraldist Rudolph Johann Helmers, in his Wappenbuch, published in Nuremberg, Bavaria, in 1701, was: "Arms—Quarterly, 1 and 4 argent, a man issuant habited gules and wearing a bonnet of the second, holding in his sinister hand a sabre of the first; 2 and 3 or; on a mound vert a falcon azure, wings elevated. Crest—Out of a ducak crown or, between two horns, dexter per fess of the first and azure, sinister gules and argent, the falcon of the arms. Mantling—Dexter argent and gules, sinister or and azure."

    GENEALOGY

    KONRAD FALLER married MARIA GERSPACH and begat...

    FRIDOLIN FALLER, (1709/10 - 1771), who married CATHARINA HIERHOLZER (1721 - 1768) and begat...

    HENRICH FALLER (1749 - 1800), who married MARIA SCHEUBLE (1754 - 1796) and begat...

    KATHERINA FALLER (1776 - 1843), who married JOHAN MICHAEL WENK (1722 - 1827) and begat...

    JOHAN WENK (1801 - 1867) who married IDA GASSMANN (1802 - 1854) and begat...

    IGNANZ GASSMANN WENK (1823 - 1897) who married EVA CATHERINE MANZ (1837 - 1923) and begat...

    MARTIN WENK (1876 - 1964) who married MARTHA CAROLINA GRIEB (1880 - 1937) and begat...

    ERWIN WENK (1910 - 1982) who married DOROTHY PRITCHARD (b. 1918) and begat...

    MARTHA WENK (b. 1940) who married CARLETON MARCHANT HAUSE, JR. (b. 1939) and begat...

    JEFF (who married LORI ANN DOTSON), KATHY (who married HAL LARSEN), ERIC (who married MARY MOONSAMMY), and MICHELE HAUSE (who married JOHN SCOTT HOUSTON).