Maintained by: Timothy Hilgenberg in London, UK
This site was conceived early in 1998 after my father had suffered a stoke. It seemed the only way to try and hold on to what little I knew about the family.
The aim of this site was also to act as a point from where other online Hilgenbergs could start their own voyage of discovery.
The name Hilgenberg comes from Middle High German meaning: Mountain or Hill of the Sacred or Saints. The modern High German equivalent would be Heiligenberg. There are two towns that I know off called that today: one in France, west of Strasbourg, the other near Lake Constance in Southern Germany.
However there is also a castle Heiligenberg in Melsungen, Germany and the town of Stadtlohn, near the Dutch/German border has a little chapel called Hilgenberg - from the 12th Century!
I came to this after buying one of those mail order books about your family name in the early 1990. It listed some 1800 Hilgenbergs worldwide, the largest group, around 800 were said to be living in Germany, but the second largest group - to my surprise - was found in the USA - some 700 in fact!
There were also records of Hilgenbergs in Australia and Canada amongst other countries. At the time I was the only Hilgenberg living in the UK. Meanwhile another Hilgenberg family has moved to the UK too - alas I don't know them!
Since this site's inception I have been getting emails from other Hilgenbergs or decendants of Hilgenbergs from around the world. From these I have learned that there is a branch of the Hilgenbergs in Russia.
My father's name was Nikolaus and he was born in Wuppertal, Germany in 1934, first child of Alfred and Lotte Alfred Hilgenberg. A crude family tree can be found by clicking here.
My father had four siblings: Ulrich (Uli for short) and two sisters, Bärbel and Hanne, there was also another brother who died at the age of 7, called Peter.
My grandfather had a brother named Carl, but throughout his life he spelt it with a "K". It was not until he died that it was discovered that it had been originally spelt with a "C". The things you never knew.
Mailing List
There are three lists, one at Topica, one at MSN (a community) and now one I'm running on my own domain: www.hilgenberg.co.uk. The first two you can subscribe to yourself, but the last, you need to let me know and I can add you to the list.
No need to worry about an overflowing inbox - it is quite infrequent.
Communtiy
I have also set up a Community at msn: Hilgenbergs Worldwide.
Althought it might seem a little more bothersome - you need to set up a "passport" if you don't already have one. But then you will be able to interact with all members directly rather than through me! I hope you will join!
Please note this is a private community, when you request to join I'll have to ok the request... I normally try and to this as quickly as I can, but it may take a day or two. So please have patience.