We know only little about the first known Engellenner. Johann Friedrich Engellenner is a damask weaver in Schleswig, is married to Friederica Catharina Eckstein and dies before 1793. They have a son (it is currently unknown whether there were more children) who is born in 1770 in Schleswig and he gets the same name as his father:
At the same time, the married couple Peter Guldbrandsen and Metta Christina Marssen live in Rabenkirchen. Peter is “Inste” (an old German word), so he belongs to the large group of people having no own land, living in a small hut that tyically belongs to someone else and working as day labourer. The couple has (as far as we know) two children:
- Johanna Dorothea Guldbrandsen (1770–1854)
- Peter Christjan Guldbrandsen
These two families are the origin of the familiy history described here. The son Johann Friedrich and the daughter Johanna Dorothea will meet each other some years later.