What Germanic surnames are you researching (Please list Surname - area and time frame)

Hi,
My German family surname is Bonstein The oldest Bonstein Ancestor of mine recorded in my file is Cuntz Bonnstein and his wife Gela. They were married before 1630 and lived in the town of Ropperhousen, in the Principality of Hesse-Kassel (a principality in northern Hesse) in what was know as the Holy Roman Empire.

Copied verbatim from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire

The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (German: Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation listen ▶ (help·info), Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium Nationis Germanicae, see names and designations of the empire) was a political conglomeration of lands in Central Europe in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. Emerging from the eastern part of the Frankish realm after its division in the Treaty of Verdun (843), it lasted almost a millennium until its dissolution in 1806. By the 18th century, it still consisted of the larger part of modern Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Belgium, and Luxembourg, as well as large parts of modern Poland and small parts of the Netherlands. Previously, it had included all of the Netherlands and Switzerland, and parts of modern France and Italy (see: Maps below). In the 18th century, when the Empire was already in decline, Voltaire ridiculed its nomenclature by saying that the Holy Roman Empire was "neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire".

It was never a nation state. Despite the German ethnicity of most of its rulers and subjects, from the very beginning many ethnicities constituted the Holy Roman Empire. Many of its most important noble families and appointed officials came from outside the German-speaking communities. At the height of the empire it contained most of the territory of today's Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Czech Republic and Slovenia, as well as eastern France, northern Italy and western Poland. Its languages thus comprised not only German and its many dialects and derivatives, but many Slavic languages and the languages which became modern French, Dutch and Italian. Furthermore, its division into territories ruled by numerous secular and ecclesiastical princes, prelates, counts, imperial knights, and free cities made it, in the early modern period at least, far less cohesive than the emerging modern states around it.
However, during most of its time it was more than a mere confederation. The concept of the Reich not only included the government of a specific territory, but had strong Christian religious connotations (hence the holy prefix). Until 1508, German Kings were not considered Emperors of the Reich until the Pope had formally crowned them as such.
The Reich can thus best be described as a cross between a state and a religious confederation
For more information see:
http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bonsteinandgilpin/...

My family moves forward to 1776 and the American Revolutionary War. Laurentius (Lorenz) Bonstein (Johann Paulus (Paul)5, Christian4, Henning3, Cuntz2, First name unknown1) was born February 5, 1716 in Grossropperhausen, Cassel, Germany and his wife Hedwig Lingemann have to give up two son to the standing Army of Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel.

Paulus Bonnstein and his younger brother my ancestor Johann Jacob (I) Bonstein.

Jacob stayed here and Paulus went home to Hesse-Kassell and family after the war.

If your interested we can exchange information

Thank you for reading
Nelda

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mallory Hall on July 31, 2009 at 8:29pm

I have just began my research on my german ancestors. I am researching:
John and Louise WENTZ born 1824 and 1833 hailing from Baden-Wuerttemberg and
Carl Frederick SCHNERINGER, my great-great grandfather who thus far is quite the mystery but is from Germany born about 1860.

Permalink Reply by Mallory Hall on July 31, 2009 at 9:47pm

Lastly, Johan Peter CAUBLE born in Finkenbach, Donnersbergkreis, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany on September 4, 1738

Permalink Reply by Jacob on November 1, 2009 at 5:12pm

I am looking for Johan's info from Germany....do you know who is brothers and sister are, his parents?

Permalink Reply by Shirley Rainbolt Partridge on August 1, 2009 at 5:25am

I am researching Reinbold which became Rainbolt. Mattheus Reinbold came from Bad Durkheim, Germany to USA with the Palatines in 1710. They settled in what is now Oldwick, New Jersey, his stepson built a Lutheran church (Balthsar Buckle). He married Anna Eva Mullier Buckel in 1704. He came over on the James and Elizabeth with wife and two children over 10 years. I have been unable to find the name of the second child and the name of his first wife. Also, he had a son that moved to VA and then NC and I cannot find any record of this son. Any one have any suggestions?

Permalink Reply by louise duncalf on August 1, 2009 at 7:19pm

name i wanted to check was a grams,martin. he had a son named william who was born in germany oct 30,1851. he married a wilnelmina albertina radunz in 1877

Permalink Reply by Max Bancroft on August 2, 2009 at 4:32am

Tecklenberg, Heers, Wolter and Thaler mid 1800s to 1900

Permalink Reply by Kathryn Betts on August 2, 2009 at 6:37am

I am researching the BETZ family from Sennfeld. The earliest information I have is John Matthias BETZ, aka Georg Betz or Baez. He married Elizabeth Catherine HERSCH on 28 January 1827 in Sennfeld, Mosbach, Baden, Germany. They had two sons, Andreas (born c. 1828 in Sennfeld) and Peter Conrad (born c. 1833 in Sennfeld). Andreas was a tailor. He emigrated to America in 1851 and married Anna Mary KONEIG (born c. 1836) on 20 July 1854 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. A number of children were born there including Sophie (1854), Ernest Otto (1858), Udolphe (1858) and John (1860). Between 1860 and 1863 the family returned to Sennfeld, where two further children were born - Carl in 1863 and Emma in 1864. The family emigrated from Germany to Australia in 1865 and both Carl and Emma died on the voyage and were buried at sea. Four further children were born in Australia including, Charles (1867), Sophie (1871) and Anna Mary (1874).

Andreas' brother Peter Conrad emigrated to Australia in 1857. He married Magdalena Bunz c. 1866.

I have more information on some of the above and their descendants and would be interested to hear from anyone with information on this family or on how I can obtain any relevant records on the family from Germany.

Permalink Reply by John Tracy Cunningham on August 3, 2009 at 1:26am

Hi Kathryn

Sennfeld is a town of 1,200 just south of Adelsheim. Mosbach, a larger place of about 25,000, is 20 km to the west. Both are north of Heilbronn; you can find them on Google Maps; for Sennfeld, search for Adelsheim and look to the south. This area became part of Baden in 1806; before that it was in the County Palatine of the Rhine (Kurpfalz) for three centuries.

The LDS Family History Library (FHL) has filmed the Protestant parish registers of Sennfeld from 1717 on four rolls. The parish registers of Mosbach have also been filmed, Protestant from 1565 on seven rolls, Catholic from 1688 on four rolls. The registers include family books (Familienbuecher), a valuable resource. You can search the FHL Catalog on www.familysearch.org. You can order films at your local LDS Family History Center; there is a shipping charge.

The location "Sennfeld, Mosbach" is a little confusing as the towns were 20 km apart. Perhaps the family was Catholic and had to go to Mosbach for baptisms, etc. If they were Protestant, I'd certainly look at Sennfeld first.

John
Stuttgart, Germany

Permalink Reply by Doris Wheeler on August 2, 2009 at 7:21am

I have 33 direct ancestors among the Palatines who came to New York in 1710. They are all well researched by Hank Jones. The Palatine DNA Project, which I manage, is focused on the ~850 families that are the subject of Hank's extensive work. My most recent immigrant ancestors all came from Germany in the mid-1800s: Muller, Jaeger, Stark and Tigges. I know the villages of origin for the first three:

Louis Justus Martin Muller b. 1841, is from Dedesdorf (northwest corner of Germany).

Frederick Jaeger b. 1813, and his wife, Barbara Rapp, are from Oberhausen (near Bad Bergzabern in southwest Germany).

Carl Stark b. 1826, and his wife, Maria Dorothea, are from Stargard (I believe it's the one now in Poland) but I need to order microfilm at my local Family History Center.

Henry Tigges b. 1846 is from Prussia, but where???. He is not part of the Tigges family of Iowa and the midwest. I have two possible sets of parents. There are two men with the same name in the immigration lists arriving about a year apart. European origin could have been Steinheim or Lienen, Westfalen, Prussia, Germany. Immigration lists show Sachsen (bei Ansbach). Either he had moved there from Steinheim (or Lienen nr. Munster) or the immigration list entry is not for this Henry Tigges. Or the reference should have been to Sachsenstrasse in Steinheim? Or, as a distinguished German researcher has suggested, he may have been from the Leipzig area.

All of my data is at www.doriswheeler.org and http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dorisw.

Permalink Reply by Lisa A. (Thamm) Spegal on August 3, 2009 at 1:56pm

www.familysearch.org
I ran the name thru the IGI because I've found my ancestors from Prussia in there:
here's a possibility:

12. HEINRICH WILHELM TIGGES - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Christening: 18 NOV 1846 Roemisch-Katholisch, Steinheim, Westfalen, Preussen

there are alot of that surname in that area, worth checking out if you haven't as yet.

Permalink Reply by Doris Wheeler on August 9, 2009 at 2:48pm

Thank you, Lisa. I've been slowly working my way through the FamilySearch list, which has grown substantially since I last seriously researched this man. I have so few clues and so many Henrys born in the same timeframe. The Lippe section of Germany, southwest of Hannover, seems to have an abundance of them, but that does not synch with either of the two immigration list entries that I have seen. I'll keep plugging away.... I wish he had been as open and informative as his father-in-law, and I wish I could find his marriage record and a birth record for his daughter who was apparently born in New York. He just seems to be one who melted into the crowd....

(Sorry for my delayed response. I didn't see your comment until now.)

Best regards,
Doris

Permalink Reply by Kenneth Rury on August 3, 2009 at 12:27pm

I am tracing Rury's that came from Germany or at the time was called Kingdom of Hannover. I am not sure that the German name was spelled that way as there doesn't seem to be anyone there with that name.

If I had to guess the name was probably Ruräde as the immigrants spoke German, but didn't write. Phonetically the German sound and character ä as in Ruräde, is often changed to ae in English or just a or just e). The d is silent in German, so sounds like Rury when pronounced and written that way or Rurey, Rurah, Rurede.

Frederich Rury (b 22 Jan 1824 Hanover, Preussen immigrated to U.S. from Hanover in 1838. IL Land Patent lists name as Rurede. He was the first and eldest son of Frederick and Mary (Braithaupt) Rury who emigrated in 1839 on ship out of Bremen, Germany (name listed as Rurah). The second oldest son Henry C. Rury (b Oct 1827 Germany) immigrated next in 1841 with youngest son William (b 7 Sep, 1837 Germany) and naturalized at Eastern District, Louisiana on 30 Dec 1841. All the Rury's eventually came up the Mississippi river to Randolph County, IL as early as 1840. Little info is available for the 3 daughters Mary, Henrietta, Doreatha.

1839 Ship out of Bremen, Germany as Rurah
1848 Land Patent as Frederick Jr Rurede
1860 Will Frederick Rury Sr as Rhurede (once), Ruhrede (multiple times) including 1874 probate records.

Found a Joseph Rury born in Baden, Germany abt 1860, but shows up in Maidstone, England on 1881 UK Census.

2 Rurade's immigrated to US in 1865. Ruraede (in German written Ruräde) immigrated to Australia 1868 they also spelled it Rurade and Rurede. There are 7 Rurade's in Florida, 1 in Michigan and 1 in NJ. Rurede is not a common name. Two people with name Rurede immigrated to US in 1874, from Bremen, Germany and Southampton, England.

The Illinois Rury's came from Hannover (German)/Hanover (English) Region. Here is the history of this region.
(1714-1837) Kingdom of Hannover personal union with United Kingdom of Great Britain
(1837-1866) Kingdom of Hannover sovereign state of Germany
(1866-1871) Annexed by Prussia
(1871-1918) Hannover State in Prussian Kingdom of German Empire
(1918-1947) Hannover Precinct in Free State of Prussia
(1947-XXXX) Hannover district in Lower Saxony State of Germany
(1815-1866) Hannover was not part of German Confederation.