Germany and German Ancestry

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Comment by Susan Well on April 21, 2010 at 12:58pm

I am new to this group and wouold like to tell you of my interests. My family emigrated from the area northeast of Berlin known as the Uckermark. A large town in the area is Prenslau. The names are Wagner, Buehring, Hofert, Maas, Roggow, Buller, Lindow and Giertz. They came to Niagara County New York and went west to WI, In and MI. Any help appreciated.

Comment by Catherine Davis on April 18, 2010 at 1:54pm

Even more interesting--Stauffers were Dukes of Swabia and some of them were Holy Roman Emperors, including Frederic Barbarossa. I don't really know anything about the Stauffers except that the city of Schwabisch Gmund, where I visited with my husband on a business trip, claims to be the oldest city of the Stauffers. It has a very beautiful old city center!

I played around on the web trying to find out if the Germans have some kind of official peerage book, and I found several mentions of a series of books nicknamed, "The Gotha," apparently highly respected for accuracy of the info it contains, although it does not necessarily contain all nobles. Genwiki gives the complete title of the Gotha; I don't know if you can find the book outside of Germany. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_nobility

Comment by Shonda "Keeley" Laughman on April 18, 2010 at 11:40am

I have traced my Hoff's back to Anthonius Hoff b: 1616 not sure where in Germany he was born but I found death 4 March 1677 Heddesdorf, Germany. I have not been able to trace back any further than that. As for the packet that I found I believe that it was typed up by this Ruby Ellis at the bottom it states Note: and then list as Grandma Stauffer, born, died and grandpa Stauffer born and died and a uncle Bert. There is actually names given the first paragraph states The ancestor of the family was the Swiss Knight, Ludolff Von Hoff who flourished about the year of 1130 and that he was the commander (Stadt Hauptmann or Mauptamann hard to tell if it is a H or a M) of the city of Bern and the possessor of numerous rich estates.

The Next paragraph gives a Walter Von Hoff on of Ludolff's descendants accomplished vbyer important services for the Emperor Rudolf I for which in the year of 1268 he was invested by the latter with the Austrian honor of free baron of the empire.

I actually laughed when I found this b/c I find it very hard to believe that my Hoff's would have any nobility, but then I could be wrong.

Comment by Catherine Davis on April 18, 2010 at 9:31am

Shonda, Since there is no information in your packet on your specific family between 1130 and 1704,I'm going to guess that the first page of the packet came from a generic book on family origins rather than proof of relationship, so you are right to want to look further! You need to know the town where Johann Adam Hoff was born, then you can check for church records (many Germany records are available on microfilm via your local Family History Center). Most church records only go back as far as the 1500s. Before that time, records for commoners were pretty much non-existent, but if, as you work backwards, you find a connection to nobility, you may be able to find the nobles mentioned in ancient governmental documents, which may be available at the various staat (state) or stadt (city) archives in Germany. (Switzerland is a more difficult place to trace ancestors due to the country's privacy laws, but some records are available at the FHC and other places--see http://genealogy.about.com/od/switzerland/Swiss_Genealogy_Family_Hi....)

Note, also that "von" merely means "of" and was used in front of a city or town's name by both nobility and commoners who came from the same place. As one genealogist explained to me, a German noble will always have "von" in his name but a name with "von" is not always "noble."

Comment by Shonda "Keeley" Laughman on April 18, 2010 at 6:19am

I am researching the Hoff family from North Codorus, my great x 7 grandfather Johann Adam Hoff b: 1704 came to america in 1730. While researching at the Historical Society in York Co., I came acrossed a packet of papers that some one had written stating that the Hoff family are descendants of the Vanderhoff's of Holland and also have been called Von Hoff. This is to be one of the most ancient names in Switzerland and possed from the beginning the honors of Nobility. The front page of this documents gives three individuals going back to 1130. The next page starts with Johann Adam Hoff my Great x 7 grandfather pages after that has his son Heinrich and his family which would be my Great x 6 grandfathers brother. Any idea where to start looking to see if the above information could be right?

Comment by Karyn Cunningham on April 16, 2010 at 10:57pm

I am searching for my great grandfathers family. His name was Herman Samuel Neumann (father name Gottfried) born 1871. All I know of him is that he was a sailor on the ship Bertha which arrived in South Australia in 1893 from Amsterdam (Holland). His naturalisation papers state his birthplace as Clein Lukto. Has anyone heard of this place? Any suggestions?

Comment by Chuck Rhinesmith on April 15, 2010 at 12:30pm

I have been researching my paternal Rhinesmith surname for a number of years. So far, I have a direct, unbroken lineage to Johannes Reinschmit (Reinschmidt) b. 1728 in Germany, d. 03/01/1787 Northampton Co., PA. Trying to find origin and ancestry in Germany. Evidence suggests Siegerland Rhineland - Pfaltz area, possibly Plittershagen, Neunkirchen-Altenselbach, Eisern. Agreeable to exchange data with other researchers of this line.

Comment by Cheryl on April 15, 2010 at 12:09pm

Oh my! LOL, thank you again Michael, My sister is Dian, she's also searching in areas I can't pay for. Did you message her? We've been doing this for a long time and seem to end up going in circles. I haven't seen that info on Esther, that's a great find.

Thank you too Catherine, I didn't know about the Hungary/Austria connection.

You all have been so wonderful here and I'm very grateful for all the help you've given.

Comment by Marcy Sprott on April 15, 2010 at 10:47am

Wow, Michael! You did some amazing and very helpful research for Cheryl! Good for you!! Nice to see people on here so willing to help each other. =)

Comment by Catherine Davis on April 15, 2010 at 8:03am

Cheryl, don't forget that before WWI, Austria and Hungary were parts of a dual kingdom--Austria-Hungary--and before 1867, Hungary was part of the Hapsburg (Austrian) empire. Possibly, your ancestors came from the Hungarian side of Austria. See http://www.answers.com/topic/austria-hungary for multiple encyclopedia entries about Austria-Hungary.

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