Introduction :                                                      

How many times have we heard our dear father and grandfather respective Jean speaking about his ancestors. Him - even had a coat of arms received from his father, which he did not properly located the exact origin.

He especially knew the history of Koch Champagne . Is not he born in avize, while his father was still operating in Koch champagne ? He spoke of his grandmother Marie La Marle, whose character did not seem easy, and many other things.

       Then Philippe Koch decided in 1971 to establish with maximum accuracy, what was our most distant origin, and then conducted the investigation seriously - devoting all his spare time and on the occasion of the holidays going to the places where it was needed

, as Heidelberg, Bad Kreuznach, Avize, Chaumont, Joinville… as to revive the past, it is essential to revisit the places where the facts took place - among prefectures, mayors, National Libraries, Army Museum , notaries, surveyors, genealogy clubs, everyone in the family that could give an idea or piece of information, using some family papers, which survived the dispersal and to the wars, our family had particularly to suffer.

The story that follows relates only accurate and precise facts, in order to understand their implications, and fourteen generations of Koch can be followed from 1550 until today. Leopold, born on January 18, 1996 is currently the last male descendant known .

    The story of our family replenished mainly by filial love and interest in all these parents which we have originated, includes 3 parts.

      It is necessary to extend our warmest thanks to the Albert Metzler Genealogy club of Heidelberg, especially Oskar Herman Pertsch, Deacon, and  Astrid Metzler, genealogists, who have volunteered on the history of our family, marking the strong bonds of Franco-German friendship few years after the war , and thanks to which the decoding of Gothic archives and valuable finds have been possible.

                                          Astrid Metzler Heidelberg 1978

    The first part consists of our Germanic origin, we can see how traders Koch first in Strasbourg and then to Heidelberg became gradually hoteliers.

This section is entirely new and seemed unknown. We try to learn the reasons that prompted the young Charles Koch to leave the Germany.  

    The second part is the history of Champagne Koch, the family became French with the emigration of Charles Koch.

This is the time of glory for our family which reached in the late 19th century a dominant position in the industry, and French middle-class.

 The third part consists of the period post-Champagne, dedicating the geographical spread and professional descendants Koch, whose only to be named Koch are the descendants of Gustave .

 The guideline choosed is the male offspring Koch, which has perpetuated the name from the 16th century to the present day, across borders. But Many genealogical research have been made also in the progenies of women, which came to branch over time on this male line, and did so gradually evolve : Families Odenwald, Hessert, Gaide, Marle, Thibault, Clouet, ..