Origin

According to the archives of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck, Germany of November 1932, the Vermehren Family originates in Antwerp (Antorf) Belgium and/or Brabant; however, despite all research efforts, we have not succeeded in proving without doubt that our ancestors came from that area.

The research by the archives of the city of Hamburg and Lübeck agree that our ancestors fled around 1567~1575 the religious persecutions of the Duc d’Alba (Top Commander of the army of Emperor Karl V, leader of the troops in the Smalcald War and Governor of the Netherlands). The names varied in the archives, such as Von Mehren, von der Mehren, van der Mehren, van Meeren, Vermehren, Vermeeren, vor Mehren, Vormehren, Former und de Mera

Which made the research that much more difficult.

Research has led to two ancestors who emigrated to Stade, respectively Hamburg, where the name first appears. It is believed to be a pair of brothers, namely:

WOLTER VERMEEREN VON ANTORFF (Antwerpen)
Married to Janna de Licht, *28.Sept 1566 †30. Jan 1652 in Hamburg; daughter of Johann de Licht and Heiltje de Rijk.
Janna moved 1585 with her parents to Emden, and subsequently to Stade, to escape the persecutions of Duc d’Alba (“left their home in Antwerpen”).
Wolter was a citizen of Stade, where in 1608 he bought a house by the water which he sold in his name again in 1613.
Of this marriage came, amongst others, a daughter MARGARETA VERMEHREN, †1672, which was married to Johann von Münster (†1626) in her first marriage.
PAUL VERMEHREN, a merchant/businessman in Stade, was born somewhere between 1550 and 1575; his oldest son was PAUL VERMEHREN * 1. Aug 1600 in Stade, moved to Lübeck and was married to Elisabeth von Münster, *30. Nov 1598.

This dual connection of the two Vermehrens with members of the family von Münster gives credence to the indication that Wolter and Paul were related, and most likely brothers.

WOLTER’s descendants lived in the Hamburg region, while PAUL’s oldest son of the same given name (on record of having been born in Stade on 8/1/1600) left for Lübeck, where he obtained citizenship on 5/5/1632 and became the ancestor of the Lübeck branch of the Vermehren family.

A distant relative of the family, CHR. VON MEHREN, COPENHAGEN, whose ancestors moved from Lübeck to Denmark, and with whom we corresponded in 1933, had done a lot of family research and claims to have found the connection to the Von Mehren family (van Mehren, de Mera) in Brabant, going back to 1270. He based this on a document he found in the City of Hamburg archives, titled "Honorary Memory and Curriculum Vitae of Mrs. Ulkin, born De Dobblerin". Despite the very detailed information about the family tree van der Mehren, there is no conclusive evidence that this family tree is connected to the Vermehrens, who emigrated to Stade, resp. Hamburg and/or Lübeck, even if this connection is possible, maybe be even very likely.

For this reason, our family tree begins with PAUL VERMEHREN, born August 1, 1600 in Stade, who then moved to Lübeck, where he became citizen of Lübeck in 1632, the first proven traceable ancestor of our family branch.

WILHELM VERMEHREN, *16. Jan 1847, † 9. Aug 1944, conducted substantial family research in his retirement and wrote the following Note in the family tree compiled by him:

"This our family tree, compiled by our grandfather C.W. Vermehren or Michael Vermehren 1659, was without doubt based on the Register of Lübecker Families, compiled by the then mayor of Lübeck H. von Dorne in the 17th century. The same was complemented by highly regarded historical official Mr. Schröder, and then continued by the City and State offices. It is officially considered as a reliable source. Since 1910 I have been engaged in trying to correct and update our family tree. signed:
W. Vermehren, June 24, 1934"

Over the centuries, the family spread all over the world and now has known descendants in Germany, Holland, Denmark, Spain, Mexico, Chile and the USA. All branches can trace in one way or another their roots to these two brothers.