The people on the Beethoven family tree
Each person on the Beethoven family tree has a row. Choose a span of years to list the people alive in it.
All 14 people on the chart are listed.
| Portrait | Person | Years | Life | On the chart |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Ludwig van Beethoven the ElderGrandfather, Kapellmeister at Bonn | 1712–1773 | A bass from Mechelen who led the court music from 1761. | Find on the chart |
| MJ | Maria Josepha PollGrandmother | c. 1714–1775 | She drank and died in a clinic in 1775. | Find on the chart |
| JB | Johann van BeethovenFather, court tenor | c. 1740–1792 | Tenor at Bonn from 1764, suspended in 1789 for drink. | Find on the chart |
| MM | Maria Magdalena KeverichMother | 1746–1787 | Born at Ehrenbreitstein, she died of consumption in 1787. Sources2 | Find on the chart |
| LM | Ludwig Maria van BeethovenFirst child | 1769–1769 | He lived four days in April 1769. Sources11 | Find on the chart |
 | Ludwig van BeethovenThe composer | 1770–1827 | He left Bonn for Vienna in 1792 and never married. | Find on the chart |
| KK | Kaspar Karl van BeethovenBrother, cashier in Vienna | 1774–1815 | His death in 1815 began the case over his son. Sources4 | Find on the chart |
| JR | Johanna ReissWife of Kaspar Karl | c. 1786–1868 | She lost custody of her son to Ludwig in 1820. | Find on the chart |
 | Nikolaus Johann van BeethovenBrother, pharmacist at Linz | 1776–1848 | He bought a pharmacy at Linz in 1808 and an estate in 1819. | Find on the chart |
| TO | Therese ObermayerWife of Nikolaus Johann | 1787–1828 | His housekeeper, whom he married in 1812. Sources12 | Find on the chart |
| AM | Anna Maria van BeethovenSister | 1779–1779 | She lived four days in February 1779. Sources11 | Find on the chart |
| FG | Franz Georg van BeethovenBrother | 1781–1783 | He died in Bonn at the age of two. Sources11 | Find on the chart |
| MM | Maria Margarete van BeethovenSister | 1786–1787 | She died four months after her mother. Sources2 | Find on the chart |
 | Karl van BeethovenNephew and heir | 1806–1858 | Ludwig was his guardian. He left the army in 1832 and married. | Find on the chart |
Cite, print and download
The article is unsigned, so the site stands as author and the date is its last revision. Cite the numbered sources for the facts and the article for the chart. Each reference gives the address of the article.
- APAGenogram Builder. (2026, November 10). The Beethoven family tree, from Bonn to Vienna. https://genogrambuilder.org/history/beethoven-family-tree
- MLA“The Beethoven Family Tree, from Bonn to Vienna.” Genogram Builder, 10 Nov. 2026, https://genogrambuilder.org/history/beethoven-family-tree.
- ChicagoGenogram Builder. “The Beethoven Family Tree, from Bonn to Vienna.” Last modified November 10, 2026. https://genogrambuilder.org/history/beethoven-family-tree.
- HarvardGenogram Builder (2026) The Beethoven Family Tree, from Bonn to Vienna. Available at: https://genogrambuilder.org/history/beethoven-family-tree (Accessed: 10 November 2026).
The files are drawn in this browser from the chart of the article, with the credit of every portrait under it.
Sources
Every source of this Beethoven family tree was opened on 10 November 2026. The Beethoven-Haus Bonn and its letter edition come first, and Wikipedia is cited only for details that no institutional page that could be read gives.
Beethoven-Haus Bonn
Neue Deutsche Biographie
Portrait credits
Each name leads to the file on Wikimedia Commons. The portraits in the article are in the public domain or under CC0.
- Ludwig van Beethoven the Elder, Leopold Radoux (1754-1781), 1773.
- Ludwig van Beethoven, Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820.
- Nikolaus Johann van Beethoven, Unknown author, 1841.
- Karl van Beethoven, Unknown author, 1825.
- The funeral procession of Beethoven in front of the former monastery of the Schwarzspanier in Vienna, 29 March 1827, Franz Xaver Stöber, 1827.
