I don't know if this will be of help to any of you, but my Grandfather, Johann Heinrich Schmunk came to this country from a German colony in the Volga region of Russia in 1907. Several of his family members also came from this area both before and after this time. As was the case with many immigrants, my grandfather was reluctant to talk about the "old country". It was only just before he died in 1977 that he felt compelled to tell me (his youngest grandchild) anything about were he came from. I have been able to trace his family back to the Hesse region of Germany. My direct family emigrated from Hesse in 1766. I would assume that most, if not all of the Schmunk family line orginally came from that area. By the way, my grandfather, who was a native german speaker, always pronounced his name as "Shmunk" (munk as in monkey). My grandmother, however, never seemed to be able to get it right in her 104 years. She alway pronounced it "Smunk", as did my father. I hope this gives you some leads.