Michel Tolkien (Tolkühn) from c. 1690!

We already know that Michael Tolkien (1708-1795), a furrier master from Gdańsk was born in Prussia, in a small town Kreuzburg. His brother was Christian Tolkien (1706-1791) who in 1740s was to Gdańsk as a craftsman and who married Anna Euphrosina Bergholtz in 1745 and had two sons, our "London Brothers" – Daniel Gottlieb Tolkien (1746-1713) and Johann Benjamin Tolkien (1752-1819) who was J.R.R. Tolkien's great-great-grandfather!

Thanks to the book by Wilhelm Sahm Geschichte der Stadt Creuzburg Ostpr. (Thomas & Oppermann, Königsberg 1901) we know much more about Kreuzburg, the little town of the ancestors of J.R.R. Tolkien (who migrated first to Gdańsk/Danzig and then to London) and about the very early Tolkiens. Let us look at the description of Kreuzburg from 1690. There is there a Michel Tolkien ("Tolkühn") who has a very big house! What a detailed description of his property in the town!

Another early Tolkien is Friedrich Tolkien (Tolckin) who didn't pay homage to his Duke of Prussia in 1614. The list of the Creuzburgers who did not pay homage to the monarch is very big. We do not know why.

And below we can see a mayor of Kreuzburg in the years 1798-1818, Ernst Tolkien (Tolkiehn), a descendant of Michel Tolkien from 1590s and Friedrich Tolkien from 1614. His son, another Ernst Tolkien, migrated to Koenigsberg, the capital of East Prussia.

The J.R.R. Tolkien's list of direct male ancestors looks at the moment as follows:

von Markelingerode family from Harz, Saxony? (12th-14th c.)

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Tolk/Tolkien family from Tolks and Tolksdorf, Prussia? (1370s-1550s)

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? Tewes Tolkien (c. 1540, Legitten, Labiau)
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? Friedrich Tolkien (b. c. 1590, Kreuzburg)

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Michel Tolkien (born c. 1620, Kreuzburg)
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Michael Tolkien (1647–1710, Kreuzburg)

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Christian Tolkien (1677-1746, Kreuzburg) 

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Christian Tolkien (1706-1791, Kreuzburg/Gdańsk)

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Johann Benjamin Tolkien (1752-1819, Gdańsk/London)

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George Tolkien (1784-1840, London)

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John Benjamin Tolkien (1807-1896, London/Birmingham)

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Arthur Tolkien (1857-1896, Birmingham, Bloemfontein)

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J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973, Bloemfontein/Oxford)