How did the Wakolbingers come to their name? Well, in the Upper Muehlviertel, between Lembach and Huehnergeschrei ("Hens' Crying", you won't believe, is the name of a village in the valley of the Kleine Muehl) there is the hamlet Wakolbing. It is part of the village Krondorf which, in turn, belongs to the community of Hoerbich. Today Wakolbing consists of two farmhouses, in earlier times they were three, but one burned down more than 100 years ago, as we learn from one of the old inhabitans of Wakolbing who still lives in the region today. Wakolbing has been documented already around 1350 as "Wighelming". This allows to conclude that, when the Bavarians took the country, some Wighelm was donated a peace of land whose name later turned into Wakolbing.

All Wakolbingers of the world with high probability originate in their name line from this very Wakolbing. Already around 1540 Wakolbingers are mentioned e.g. in Sarleinsbach and in Berg bei Mairing. In the 17th century a larger number of Wakolbingers appear in three parishs: Sarleinsbach, Pfarrkirchen, and Putzleinsdorf. A few Wakolbinger families at that time show up also in other communities in the Upper Muehlviertel.

The "Hofkirchen line" can be followed back till about 1660, and leads back to Kaindlsdorf/Putzleinsdorf. From there it leads via Egnersdorf/Pfarrkirchen to Hofkirchen. The Jakob Wakolbinger mentioned in the text of the coat-of-arms (born 1814 in Klotzing/Niederkappel) was a farmer in Hofkirchen. His son Anton was allowed to learn a trade - something special for a farmer's son in these days.

The shoemaker Anton is my grandfather, his brother Franz is the grand-grandfather of my cousin Helmut, who explored the history of our familiy in a very careful and affectionate way. Helmut also found out about most of the historical facts which are mentioned on this page.

The great Wakolbinger expansion took place end of the 19th century, out of the Muehlviertel, to Linz and far beyond. In this way in 1911 a Franz (later Frank) Wakolbinger, born in St. Johann am Wimberg, emigrated on board of the "Lusitania" via Ellis Island to the U.S.A.

(An old information/invitation)

On Sunday, August 7, 2005 there will be a casual meeting of the big Wakolbinger family. Everybody is welcome who carries our name and/or feels linked with the name family. We are especially happy that some descendants of the above mentioned Frank Wakolbinger will visit, on the occasion of the Wakolbinger meeting, the country of their ancestors for the first time.

It is clear that the paternal line makes up only a small fraction of the genealogy. However, it seems equally clear that it is the Muehlviertel which in the last millennium was the home country of most of the ancestors, male or female, of the currently living Wakolbingers. This wonderful country between the Danube and the Bohemian Wood is praised by Norbert Hahnrieder, parson of Putzleinsdorf, who lived 1842-1913, in his "Muehlviertler Hymne":

You people from the Inn,
from the Enns, from the Traun,
come here, we let you see
our country, our home.
Oh yea, you will say,
the travel didn't displease us,
'cause heaven has given
something special to you...

As the location of the Wakolbinger meeting we have chosen the picturesque village Puehret, at the boundary and still in the heart of the Muehlviertel, high above the Danube, and not far from Hofkirchen. From there one can look over to the neighbouring Bavaria and to the Innviertel, up to the Bohemian Wood, and down to the Ranna storage lake and to the Danube water plant Jochenstein.

Frankfurt, December 2004

Anton Wakolbinger