My surname by the way, is pronounced “A-blen” — and so is not spelled as it is pronounced. I am sure that back in the old country it is pronounced differently. The name means “son of Abel” and rumor has it that the first man with that name was a Viking — Abel is not only a Biblical name, but an ancient Germanic name also.
Abeln is hardly a common name, but there are several Abeln families hereabout with that name, and we know of no common ancestors. According to an Abeln genealogy website:
The surname Abeln has his roots in north-west Germany.Abelns today are concentrated in that region of Germany as well as in the nearby regions of the Netherlands. Reading the links, above, I noticed that the Abeln ancestral homeland is quite swampy — and I've always had an affinity for swamps. These Abelns are Catholic, a ‘diaspora’ located in a Protestant region.
In a document from the year 1394 "Abele zu Wieste" is mentioned as "freibauer des Hümmlings".
The first Abeln lived round 1600 in the region Emsland + Cloppenburg round the Hümmling.
The surname Abeln was sometimes changed in Abelen or Abel.
There is no proof that all Abeln have one common ancestor.
As I mentioned, there are several Abeln families in Saint Louis. I am not from the family in construction, nor from the family from the north side, but rather from the family that had tobacco businesses along South Broadway.
I now include my middle name ‘Scott’, although I never used it until adulthood. If you Google ‘Mark Abeln’, you will find an architect, a real estate appraiser, a large political donor, and a race car driver. I am none of these men, and since I don't want to harm their reputations, I use my middle name. But please call me Mark.
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