I have a TON of paternal German ancestors from in and around Klingenmünster, Germany. There was lots of intermarriage among the same families, and thus I descend twice from several of the same couples. Many of the surnames are more common ones such as Weiss, Wendel, Fried, Hacker/Hecker, Bohrer, Ohl, Willem, etc. But there are some surnames that are less common such as Propheter, Weinmann, Sartor, Sambach, LeBeau, etc. Then there are the ones that are actually much rarer, such as Fünfstück.

How we get back to my Fünfstück ancestry is via my paternal fifth great-grandmother Maria Katharina Sambach.

Maria Katharina Sambach was born on 1 June 1765 and died 29 January 1832 in Gleiszellen. She was baptized in Klingenmünster. Gleiszellen is 1.1 miles from Klingenmünster. She married on 11 Oct 1785 in Klingenmünster to Peter Wendel, who was the son of Johannes Wendel and Anna Maria _____.

Maria Katharina Sambach was the daughter of Johannes Sambach and Maria Magdalena Fünfstück.Her mother was born about 1742, as the daughter of Georg Fünfstück and Anna Florentina ___.

Because it is such a rare German surname, and often misspelled, I do not find it in very many places in German records. What I do know is my ancestors George Fünfstück and Anna Florentina____ were living in Gleiszellen-Gleishorbach, Südliche Weinstraße, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, when their daughter, Maria Magdalena Fünfstück (my direct ancestor) was baptized there on 12 April 1736. The family migrated to Copenhagen, Denmark, before August 1737. The baptism records for the next two children are found in the church records of Sankt Petri, Kobenhavn, Kobenhavn, Denmark.

Sankt Petri Kirke (St. Peter’s Church) in Copenhagen, Denmark, served the German-speaking congregation in Copenhagen. The baptism records for Christian Fünfstück and Anna Florentina Fünfstück are found within the church records of St. Peter’s.

Germans migrated to Denmark during this time for economic opportunities, to escape from German instability, and sometimes for religious freedom. Some reasons they returned to Germany: they found that Denmark also had economic hardships, conscription and increased control by Danish rulers, failed expectations, new opportunities back home – a new ruler in a German state might have offered incentives to return home, chain migration – if family members had already settled back in Germany, it provided support for them if they returned. There was constant warfare in the 18th century, as well as German fragmentation – it was not a single country, it had several small states, each with different rulers.

They disappear from church records in Copenhagen and returned to Germany sometime prior to 1761. Their daughter Maria Magdalena Fünfstück married on 11 October 1761 in Klingenmuenster, Südliche Weinstraße, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, to Johannes Sambach, the son of Stephan Sambach.

The Fünfstück surname was misread and mistranslated by many researchers attempting to read German church records (the church records often being quite difficult to read!) as Funstrocks/Funstercke. It was a cousin in Germany that correctly read and listed her maiden name in his tree as Fünfstuck.

The surname Fünfstück is a rare surname, in German the word means five pieces or five parts. Fünf is the word for the number five in the German language. The word stück has multiple meanings, including piece, item, and part.  It comes from the Middle High German word stücke and the Old High German word stucchi. It is related to the word stock and likely means “that which is cut off or hewn to pieces“.

The exact meaning of the surname Fünfstück has been lost to time, but it thought to be a nickname related to something involving the number five. 

Spelled with umlauts as Fünfstück, it is found mainly in Germany where there are 422 people with the surname, six in Austria, and one in Switzerland. Without the umlaut, spelled as Funfstuck, it is found only in the United States, where twenty-seven people carry the surname.

The beautiful photo above is of the charming wine village of Klingenmünster, Germany at the foot of the mountains. The photo is from a YouTube video Klingenmünster, Germany! Charming wine village 🍇 at the foot of the mountains 🏔️ /Autumn 4k walk from the GERMANIA 4K Youtube channel.

Currently, Klingenmünster has 2,400 inhabitants and is part of the municipality of Bad Bergzabern in the Südliche Weinstraße (Southern Wine Route) district in the southern part of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It’s located along the German Wine Route and is known for its vineyards, rolling hills, and picturesque villages. The region is also a popular destination for hiking. The village of Klingenmünster is located directly at the transition of the Palatinate Forest to the Rhineland plain and is surrounded by vineyards. The center of the village was once the important Benedictine abbey “Clinga Monasterium”, which is one of the oldest abbeys in Germany. High above Klingenmünster towers majestically the Landeck Castle, a ruined hill castle, accessible via hiking trails, the castle ruins of Heidenschuh and Schlössel can also be explored.

My direct line:

1. George Fünfstück and Anna Florentina ____
2. Maria Magdalena Fünfstück and Johannes Sambach 
3. Maria Katharina Sambach and Peter Wendel
4. Kathrina Wendel and Johann Jakob Weiß
5. Heinrich Weiß and Margaretha Fried
6. Margaret (Margarethe) Weiss and Elias “Eli” (Wegt) Nutick (my 2nd great-grandparents)

This blog post was updated with new information on 7 January 2026.

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