To my knowledge, there are no Grafs in my family. Someone has attributed the name to one of the Jarvis ancestors. I have found records-census as well as other legal, w/the name Jarvis, going back beyond that person, and they have never been able to give me any reasons to believe the vonGraf family was in the lineage.

The Grafs in my tree are from Switzerland. I'm sorry to say that I don't anything about other Grafs. The furthest back I can trace my line of Grafs is Hans Graf born 1661 in La Sagneule, Switzerland. 

Amy 

Hi Burkely, 

If we each had a male Graf to test, we could find out if they are related. Not sure who I could convince to test :-)

Amy

Hello Burkely.  I'm not sure.  Can you tell me what item(s) you saw that caused you to comment to me?  Once I know that I can respond to your question more thoroughly.  Thanks for reaching out!  Christine

I found that a lot of times, it was due to the fact that many couldn't read/write, so in censuses, the census taker wrote down what it sounded like to him-i.e. my Gossett family were NOT Gossetts at all, but Gostwick/first changed to Goswick in the US, then in 1850 to Gossett. My one clue, was the fact I remembered that my 3rd g.grandfather had married his first cousin. IN the household w/him as a "Gossett", was a 103 yr old "Goswick". I suddenly realized that had to be his father-in-law/uncle. Went back on that and found the whole family, eventually taking me back to 1200's w/a pic of my 8th g.grandfather in a GLASS CASKET & full body armor in the 1400's, in an abby built by his father and brother for his remains!! Same situation w/my Briles family-Breuel when they came to US, then split between Briles and Broyles (the latter being the better pronunciation). But stranger, was the fact it also had numerous spellings IN Germany, where good records were usually kept.Although my dna shows no "western Jewish", WWII records show members of this family by ALL spellings, in the Jewish Concentration camps and trying to get into Palestine as illegal aliens. WHY would that be, if there was no Jewish??? Also shows I DO have ancestry from the Palestine area-which of course wouldn't have been "western" Jewish. COULD have been from some of the mothers/wives, but should still show up! I have done the dna, but haven't checked the name. Will do so, as that is the tree it would be in

Hi Burkely,  You ask about Wenzels.  That is my husband's family and I would be happy to tell you what I know.  My email is linda@laffeygroup.com  Please use that since I haven't been using this site.

Also, I am interested in Augustine Herman in MD and his descendants through his daughter Judith Herman and John Thompson if by chance you have info on that group from Cecil County, MD.  Thanks.

Linda Laffey

That's why I asked.  To the best of my knowledge, our Hermann/Hermance ancestors were of Dutch origin.  Do you know if they might be of interest to your Transylvania family?  Do you have anyone in your family tree whose name was also spelled Hermance? or Heermanns?  I've seen their name spelled all these ways.  -- Christine

The Hermann family in my tree is:

Johann Jakob Hermann m. Susanna Sofia Geiger. I don't have any dates for them. Their three children:
Johann Georg Hermann b. 1785

Sophia Rosina Hermann b. 1792 -- my ancestor; she m. Georg David Blum

Christian Gottlieb Hermann b 1794

Maybe more. All three children were born in Pleidelsheim, Germany, which is near Stuttart. I do not know where the Hermanns came from. I know that there is Balkan ethnicity generally in this line, but I have no idea where it comes from. Most other ancestors on this grandparents' side were in that Baden-Wurttemberg region into the 1500s at least. If you have DNA tested and uploaded to GEDMATCH, we can see if there is any shared DNA. Otherwise, I have no idea about Transylvania.

I don’t think my Wenzels came from that area. However, the village name in my records doesn’t seem to be turning up in Germany as best I can tell..... if I figure it out I’ll let you know!

Hi Burkely, Gary Naden Here! I don't know about Transylvania, BUT I do know that part of my HERMAN(N) family Lived in BERESINA, BESSARABIA  which is now MOLDOVA which at that time was a Part (I Think) of Transylvania! I have my line back to 1558 in Germany. I Do know that under the reign of Catherine the Great in Russia, She contacted her Cousin who was the King of Prussia and suggested that the Steps of the UKRAINE was Fertile farmland and if any Germans wanted to immigrate there they could have free land and maintain their German Citizenship even though they would be living in Russland (Russia) and paying taxes to Catherine, so alot of the HERMANN'S headed that way!!

Hi Burkely,

Thanks for contacting me.  The Wenzels in my tree came to America from Hungary (Zsombalya).  They were relative late comers, arriving in America in 1909.  They are not my direct ancestors; but, are in my tree due to marriage with my father's youngest sister.

Here is a link to their page on my website:  https://tamingthetree.tribalpages.com/tribe/browse?userid=tamingthe...

(There are also some Wensels in the name index on my site.)

Dee

Burkely:

Neither my wife nor I have any ancestors from Hungary, although we both have GRAF ancestors.  Her GRAF ancestors are from Switzerland and mine from Germany with no known prior connections between the two lines.

I do have HERRMANN ancestors who came to America in the mid 1800s from Prussia, mostly from an area in what is now very western Poland.

You can see more of my family tree at my genealogy data web site at http://porterfieldjunction.net.

George

turns out my wenzels are from the Dresden, Germany area. not far from Czechia but not really near Romania.

My grandmother was a Hirst, born in Mirfield, Yorkshire West Riding, in 1901.  I've gone back 6 generation on that branch of Hirsts and have not found any that emigrated to the US.  Note that Hirst is a very common surname in that part of England, i.e. around the Huddersfield area.

My 3rd great grandfather, Conrad Harmon/Herrman, was born in either Bavaria or Baden-Wurttemberg in about 1819 and arrived in America before 1845.  I know of no connection with your Hermanns, but I have not been able to even determine when he arrived in the U.S. or who his parents were.  If I find that there is a connection, I'll let you know.