von Issendorff
Archbishopric of Bremen · Hanover
Arms: Wikipedia (de), nach GHdA-Adelslexikon Bd. 84 (1984), gemeinfrei
Otto von Gerlach served as a lieutenant colonel. Their son Joachim von Gerlach (1895–1979) became a rear admiral.
An ancient Lower Saxon noble family from the Archbishopric of Bremen, documented since 1233. Its ancestral seat, Issendorf, lies near Horneburg in today's district of Stade. Over generations the family provided officers in Hanoverian, Prussian and Saxon service. Melitta's father, Klaus von Issendorff, was a royal Saxon lieutenant general. Otto von Gerlach II belonged to the Rohrbeck branch (the "Ottonians", descendants of the court preacher Otto von Gerlach).
Sources: Degener Verlag, Deutsches Familienarchiv vol. 160 »von Gerlach – Lebensbilder einer Familie« (in German); Wikipedia articles on the families named; Wikimedia Commons (coat-of-arms images). Given to the best of our knowledge. Jürgen von Gerlach: von Gerlach. Lebensbilder einer Familie in sechs Jahrhunderten (Deutsches Familienarchiv 160), Insingen 2015 (in German). All sources. For corrections or additions, please contact the family administration.