The Nendel family in America
About 80 persons with the surname Nendel are listed in the white pages and similar directories in Northern America. With just a few exceptions, their geographic distribution is limited to four core regions: Oregon/Washington, California, Pennsylvania und New York. These distribution areas are supported by historic documents. From the very first national census in the United States Nendel families have been recorded in these regions. The census data surveyed every decade helps putting together widespread parts of the families.
The Nendel family in Oregon turned out to be the ancestors of most of the now living Nendels in the U.S. The family progenitor was the weaver Ludwig Wilhelm Nendel of Chemnitz, Germany (*1825), who left Germany for America with his wife and two children in 1852. Moving from Massachusetts to Wisconsin and Nebraska, his children later ended up in Oregon and California.
Johann Carl August Nendel of Berlin (*1819) came to America in 1854 with his wife Auguste and six children. He was recorded in Jackson, Missouri, in 1860 as Charles Nandell. The family moved to Anamosa, Jones, Iowa, where the elder children settled. Charles, Augusta and the younger children later moved on to Santa Barbara, California. Charles' descendants, the Nandell family, is still prospering in Iowa and California.
During the great emigration waves in the 19th century further emigrants can be verified in various sources: Otto Nendel came from Silesia, Germany, to Indiana (Evansville) in 1890. At the same time, his second wife Bertha came from Pommarania, Germany. In addition to the three children of Otto`s first marriage with Helen Romenel they had another three children together. Of the descendants, three still live in Evansville, IN.
Georg Nendel of Hemhofen, Franconia, left Germany in 1857. His later wife Barbara Schorr gave him six children, which they raised in Luxemburg, Kewaunee county, Wisconin. Offsprings of this family that carry the Nendel surname are not known.
Robert Nendel and his wife Martha emigrated in 1871 from the city of Leipzig, Saxony, Germany, to New York and settled in New Rochelle, Westchester, NY. The couple had five children and three grandchildren.
The blacksmith Caspar Nendel travelled between 1868 and 1869 from Bavaria, Germany, to Ohio. Together with his wife Susan he had five children. Their trace is lost in Sycamore, Hamilton.
Also of Stephen Nendel, emigrated to Grand, Colorado, there is no more evidence than the 1910 national census. The dyer Hermann Nendel from Prenzlau, Germany, lived in Philadelphia, PA, in 1870. After his wedding in 1866 he immigrated to America together with his wife Mathilde Seefeldt. Neither of them descendants can be found. The carpenter brothers Fritz and Leonhard Nendel of Nuremberg immigrated March 1905. They continued travelling to Salt Lake City, UT, where their brother Johann had settled a few years before. They are probably the progenitors of the Nendell family that today still lives in Utah and Texas.
From passenger lists more direct emmigrants named Nendel are known. In 1866, the tinker Ernst Nendel came from Bremen to New York. The musician Bruno Nendel arrived in New York in 1872. He also had boarded in Bremen, as well as the maid Martha Nendel of Hammerleubsdorf, Saxony, who immigrated in 1923. Of all them no further trace can be found in the U.S.
Nendel family members emigrated not only from Germany, but also from other European countries. Nels Nendel from Sweden immigrated to Foster, North Dakota. Of him no descendants can be traced, nor of Nils Gustav Nendel of Oak Park, Cook, Illinois, who came from Mollfort, Sweden via Oslo to America. Anton Nendel from Kolding, Denmark, had seven children with his wife Hansine in Manhattan, New York, of which only one survived childhood. Anton was the eldest son of Maximilian Johannes Anton Nendel of Kolding (* about 1840) and crossed the ocean in 1891. A few months later his sister Emmi Auguste followed, who in 1896 returned for a visit. Another six years later her brother Georg Hugo and her sisters Hanna Josephine and Marie Johanne arrived. In 1923 finally nephew Maximilian, a printer, completed the family. The danish Nendels are descendants of Carl Gottfried Nendel of Lichtenwalde (Saxony), who was recorded working as a shoemaker in the town of Schleswig (Denmark, now Germany) in 1845. Of the Danish family no descendant bears the name Nendel anymore.
The 15 year old French Mathien Nendel came via Liverpool to New York in 1878. With Jean Nendel and his son Nicol, who was baptised 1725 in Longwy, Merthe-Et-Moselle, Nendel family members were recorded in France already in the 18th century.