Carl Runkwitz, the progenitor of the American Runkwitz family, was born in Altenburg, Germany on 24 Aug 1800. He married Sophia Dorothea Drescher 5 Jun 1827 in Altenburg. In 1834, he brought his family to America, landing in Baltimore, Maryland.
The family crossed the Appalachian Mountains to Wheeling, West Virginia, and then took a steamboat along the Ohio River and up the Mississippi, landing in St. Louis, Missouri. They lived there for several years, finally purchasing a farm in the Rock Springs section of St. Clair county, Illinois, on the boundary between Lebanon and O'Fallon townships. The family farm is still extant, being farmed by a present-day Runkwitz family member.
While still in Germany as a lad, Carl learned the bookbinding trade, a trade which he practiced both in Germany and in America. Perhaps because of his interest in books, Carl was one of the founders of the Deutsche Biblioteks Gesselshaft, which later was to become the Belleville Illinois Public Library.
A database of all Runkwitz descendants, both in Germany and in America, is being maintained by the author, and anyone descended from this family is urged to write to Jim Bridges.