Zoll is a pretty unusual name, that’s part of the reason we like it. Strangely, different members of our family pronounce it differently. Isn’t that odd? Our dad died a couple years ago so now we have no definitive authority on the proper pronunciation. Of course, my sister think’s she’s right just because she has a degree in Linguistics.
While I have spent some time researching our family tree I have not been able to go back more than 5 generations.
There seem to be two major branches of the Zoll family in the US. There are the Zolls that settled in Massachusetts around 1906 and the Zoll’s that settled in Ohio around 1833.
There are a few outstanding Zoll family members.
Paul Zoll – Inventers of one of the first pacemakers and defibrillation equipment
Samual Zoll – Chief Justice of the Massachusetts District Courts
Estelle Zoll – Published Organic Chemist
Daniel Zoll – Surgeon
We’re always looking to connect up with other Zolls and find out more about the family though.
Where are we from?
You would think this would be an easy question to answer but ….. Anyone who has researched there family tree will be familiar with the changing boarders due to wars and conflicts. My branch of the Zoll family was based out of a town called Ponadele. Ponadele is a city in northern Lithuania. Ponedel lies on the road from Rakishok to Birz. Ponedel is surrounded by the little towns of Suavenshki, Anushishok, Ponimunok, Skupishok and Papel. It is ~28 kilometres from Rakishok.
| 1591 | The town of Pandėlis is mentioned for the first time |
| 1655–1660 | The Northern War |
| 1655 | Involved in a Swedish attack |
| 1777 | First Parish school was established |
| 1781 | Allowed to hold markets and hold taverns. |
| 1814 – 1915 | The patrol was hit by fires. |
| 1831 | Uprising near the town took place between the rebels and the Russian army. |
| 1842 | A distillery was established |
| 1863–1864 | Some residents contributed to the marching Zigmantas Sierakauskas rebel team |
| 1868 | Town consists of a warehouse, 75 wooden houses, 15 shops, 6 taverns, and has weekly market |
| 1905 | Revolution, about 900 people signed a petition to Tsar Nicholas II |
| 1915 | The Russian Army retreated, Cossacks rode into Ponedel. They called on the old rabbi and gave him the order that the town [ie. the Jewish population] had to be evacuated within 24 hours. Germans captured Ponedel and the immediate area |
What an odd last name, Where does it come from?
Bavaria, one of the oldest and most expansive of the German states, is the esteemed birthplace of the prominent Zoll family. After the 12th century, hereditary surnames were adopted according to fairly general rules and names that were derived from occupations were particularly common in this region. The family name Zoll is an occupational surname for toll-taker or tax gatherer. The Zoll family became landed aristocrats and they resided in an elegant feudal manor on a vast estate in Bavaria.
In the medieval period, very few people were literate and scribes often recorded names as they sounded rather than according to uniform spelling rules. As a result of the multitude of local dialects in Germany, it was entirely possible that a name would even change between father and son. Additionally, the German language was divided into the linguistically distinct dialects of High and Low German. High German has become the standard modem German language, whereas Low German is linguistically closer to Dutch. Many German surnames may be recognized as belonging to a particular region by their suffixes. It was also common in Germany to add phrases to a name, in order to express something about a person’s place of origin, religious background, or character. Thus, German surnames are distinguished by scores of regional spelling variations. Some of the spellings found were Zoller, Zolner, Zollner, Zoller, Zoll, Zoellner, Zoeller and Zollner.
The development of surnames in Germany occurred much later than in Italy, Britain, or France. During the Middle Ages, the practice of adopting hereditary surnames began in southern areas and gradually spread northward. The first hereditary surnames in German-speaking regions were found in the second half of the 12th century when the nobility began to call themselves after their ancestral seats. Among the citizens, surnames were not adopted until the 14th century and did not become stabilized, universal, or fixed in form from one generation to another until the 18th century, when Emperor Joseph 11 decreed that all people throughout the Empire were to assume surnames. The first records of the surname Zoll were found in the town Eger on the border between Bavaria and Bohemia. Although the name Zoll originated in Bavaria, it branched into many houses and became located in Amberg in Bavaria, Austria and Switzerland during the Middle Ages. The earliest records of the name date back to the 14th century, when Hartman der Zoller resided in Ernmerdingen and Johann Vryenstat der czoellner lived in Liegnitz, Silesia. In the late Middle Ages, the status and financial holdings of the Zoll family was increased by marrying with distinguished families such as the Klick and Taufkirchen-Engelburg families. They were later raised to the ranks of the nobility as barons in 1671, and a Saxon branch of the family was ennobled when Gottlieb Zoellner, an officer, was honored in 1822.
The great European flow of migration to North America, which began in the middle of the 17th century and continued into the 20th century, was particularly attractive to those from Bavaria who wished to escape either poverty or religious persecution. For many Bavarian farmers, the chance to own one’s own land proved to be a major incentive. The process of the widespread colonization of the United States began in 1650, when many immigrants from Germany settled in pockets in Pennsylvania, Texas, New York, Illinois, and California. In Canada, German settlement centered around Ontario and the Prairie provinces. As cited by Family Heritage Deluxe