The Tolkien family can be traced back to the East Prussian town of Kreuzburg, near Königsberg, where the Tolkien surname has been recorded since the 16th century.
J. R. R. Tolkien’s proven paternal line begins with Michel Tolkien, who was born in Kreuzburg in 1620. Christianus Tolkien (1663–1746), Michel’s son, was a prosperous miller at Kreuzburg.
Michael Tolkien
Michael George Reuel Tolkien is a British poet who was born in 1943. He is the eldest son of Michael H. R. Tolkien and is the grandson of J. R. R. Tolkien.
Michael Tolkien went to Oxford’s Oratory School and subsequently Ampleforth College. He earned a B.Phil. from Oxford after studying English and Classics at St Andrew’s University.
Christopher Tolkien
Christopher John Reuel Tolkien, the youngest son of J. R. R. and Edith Tolkien, was born on November 21, 1924, and died on January 16, 2020.
He is best recognized for being his father’s literary executor, editing much of his father’s posthumously published work. On August 30, 2018, The Fall of Gondolin was released.
He was a pilot in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during WWII. From 1964 to 1975, he worked at New College, Oxford, as a professor and tutor in the English Language, following in his father’s footsteps.
John Francis Reuel Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien’s eldest son, John Francis Reuel Tolkien, was born on November 16, 1917, and died on January 3, 2003. Cheltenham is his hometown.
He attended Oxford’s Dragon School and Caversham’s Oratory School, where he opted to become a priest in his final year.
He opted to go to college to study English at the suggestion of the Archbishop and enrolled at Exeter College, Oxford, where he got his B.A. in 1939.
