On this page you will find a summary of the the history of the family v. Halem. Please also take a look at the subjects 'cities' and 'persons'.
In history books we read that the roots of the V.Halem's go back to the Belgium county of Brabant. In 1734 there was a monument of a Van Halen who died in 1375, in the church of Mechelen (Belgium). (Source: 4)
The first roots which could be related to the V. Halem's of today go back to Hilmann van Halen (1560-1620). (Source: 4) We know Hilmann van Halen had some relatives, maybe brothers:
Francoijs van Halem, born +/- 1565 in Delmenhorst (DE) and married with Margaretha Vermeer
Pieter van Halem, born +/- 1575 in Bommel and married with Cathalijntje van Vijnen.
More genealogical information about Hilmann and his descendants can be found at 'genealogical tree'. Until now we are unaware of any decendants of Francoijs and Pieter.
Since 1600 relatives of the family of Hilmann moved to the low countries. Most of them went to North- and South-Holland, but a few relatives also settled in the Dutch county of Limburg and Belgium. At arrival they all belonged to the Lutheran church. Only later, in Dutch cities like Haarlem and Polsbroek, they belonged to other denominations. A few v. Halem's might have called themselves 'Van Haarlem', related to the Dutch city where they settled. Further research on that subject is needed. The same is valid for surnames as Van Halen and Vanhalen.
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In the German county of Ostfriesland the family belonged to the authority class, but in the low countries they were reduced to the labourclass.
According to the German institute of nobility (Institut Deutsche Adelsforschung), the family Von Halem belongs to the nobility. Also in other German historical sources we can read about this noble family Von Halem, who came probably from the German county of Westfalen and moved to Oldenburg in the beginning of the 17th century. One hundred years later they settled in the German county of Ostfriesland, but also in Bremen and Schleswig-Holstein. The main profession was 'lawyer'. (Source: 1)
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The meaning of 'Van Halen', which means 'from Halen' is probably going back to the Belgium city 'Halen', in the county of Limburg. Halen is a small city in Belgium. We do know something about the origin of the name 'Halen'. The name of the city is coming from the Germanic word halhum, which means 'a curve in or from a highland'.
'Halen' is first mentioned in a document of the 8th of April 741. This document shows us that count Robert van Hasbania gives the 'Villa Halon' together with other properties to the abbey of St.-Truiden. Thanks to the abbey Halen became the main capital of a few villages nearby. De duke of Brabant gave cityrights and privileges to Halen in the year 1206. Halen was a part of the Belgium county of Brabant till the French Revolution. Afterwards it belonged to the department of the Nedermaas, which is now called the county of Limburg.
In the 14th century Halen had its own coin and city-walls. From the 13th till the 15th century Halen was flourishing because of the clothing-industry. But because of military quartering, the plague and because the city was besieged several times, Halen lost its wealth. In the 16th century Halen was a poor garrisson-city.
There is also a chance that the name is going back to the Dutch city 'Haelen', near to Roermond in the county of Limburg.
We mention the city of Halen for the first time in 1275. After a long history in Italy, the family de Mirabello settled in the low countries, where they became 'Lords of Halen'.