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Surname Saturday: Watercutter, Waterkotte, and Sanders?

9/12/2014

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Mary Watercutter Knob (1878-1965) was the maternal grandmother of my husband's paternal grandfather, Walter Schroeder. Mary was the granddaughter of Ferdinand Waterkotte, born 26 December 1809 is Ostbevern, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.  He arrived in America on 27 Oct 1834, and made his way from the Port of New York to McLean Twp, Shelby County in Western Ohio, where he raised a family and farmed the land until his death in 1876.

I have been fortunate in researching the German roots of Watercutter family members, because they are listed in an online collection of family/local history records known as 'ortsfamilienbuches' (OFB). When I visited the Family History Library in Salt Lake City this past spring, I used the information from the online source to dig up microfilms of the original church baptism, marriage, death records for many of the family members, going as far back as the early 1700s. On the images below, click to see the baptism records for Ferdinand Waterkotte (1809), his father, Bernard Heinrich Waterkotte (1775), and his grandfather, Bernard Herman Waterkotte (1734). (On the bottom two records, the parents' names are listed in the first column, the godparents (sponsors) are in the second column, and the child's name is in the third column.)
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Ferdinand Waterkotte Baptism Record (Page 1)
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Ferdinand Waterkotte Baptism Record (Page 2)
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Baptism Record of Bernard Heinrich Waterkotte (1775, Ostbevern, Germany)
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Baptism Record of Bernard Herman Waterkotte (1734, Ostbevern, Germany)
Going back through the paternal line, you can see that the spelling of the surname is consistent, until you see Bernard Herman's record at the bottom. His father is listed as Herman Sanders, which wasn't a huge surprise to me, because I had seen it on the online OFB.  My question was WHY? (Notice that the male sponsor is Bernard Waterkotte, so there must be some connection to a Waterkotte family here.)

I asked my question in the German Genealogy Facebook group to see if anyone more experienced than me had any insight into why the family name may have changed. I posted a photo of Bernard Herman's younger brother's baptism record, where the father is listed as Herman Sanders g. Waterkotte. One knowledgeable gentleman in the group told me that the 'g' stood for gennant, which means 'called.' He also explained that some people had two surnames; one acquired from the father in the traditional sense and another Hausname. The Hausname may have been acquired if a family had inherited from, bought or lived on some land of another family by that name OR perhaps if his mother married another man after his father died.  INDEED, using the online OFB records, I found that Bernard Herman's mother, Margaretha Lange, did remarry in 1741. However, the man she married was named Jobst Heinrich Dalhoff.  Margaretha had children with Mr. Dalhoff and those children's surnames were STILL Waterkotte. This makes me conjecture that the Waterkotte surname came from the land or house they were living on/in.  So, the descendants of both Herman Sanders and Jobst Heinrich Dalhoff took the surname of Waterkotte and carried it forward in subsequent generations. In fact, by clicking on some of the other names on this list, you'll see that quite a few people with the surname Waterkotte did not have a father with that name. (A Kötter, by the way, is a 'cottager' who probably had a small amount of land for gardening/farming and maybe a few livestock.)

Today, Waterkotte is not a common name in Germany, and its occurrence is still concentrated in Nordrhein-Westfalen, shown in the dark blue:
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Approximate Present-Day Distribution of Waterkotte Surname in Germany (Source: worldnames.publicprofiler.org)
When Ferdinand immigrated to the U.S, he, whether intentionally or unintentionally, changed his name almost right away, at least on non-church documents.  His 1837 county marriage record lists his surname as 'Waterkater.' He is listed as Watercutter on his 1834 ship manifest and his 1844 Declaration of Intention also says Watercutter. And since Ferdinand settled in and raised a family in Ohio, it is not surprising that the U.S. occurrence of the surname Watercutter is still highest here, and particularly in the same county in which Ferdinand started farming his land 180 years ago. For fun, click this link, and then click on the small megaphone in the bottom left corner of the German box to hear how Waterkotte is pronounced in German. Then, I think you will understand how it became Watercutter.
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Approximate Present-Day Distribution of Watercutter Surname in Ohio (Source: worldnames.publicprofiler.org)
Just for fun, I typed in 'Waterkotte' and looked at that name's U.S. distribution. I found a relatively high concentration in Adams County in Western Illinois.  And just by using Google, I have found a Waterkotte Harley-Davidson dealership in Mt. Vernon, IL, a St. Louis attorney by the name of Waterkotte, and a University of North Carolina professor named Waterkotte who got his Bachelor's degree at Illinois State University. It's likely that these people are somehow related to each other. With the surname being so unique even in Germany, it really makes me want to trace the ancestors of these Waterkotte individuals to see if I could find an Old Country connection between them and my husband's Waterkotte ancestors. (And that connection may not be blood - it could be due to land ownership and/or tenancy, as I discussed above.)
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Approximate Modern-Day Distribution of the Surname Waterkotte in Illinois (Source: worldnames.publicprofiler.org)
Baptism Record of Ferdinand Waterkotte: FHL microfilm 801427, Kirchenbuch: Katholische Kirche Ostbevern, Taufen 1803-1840

Baptism Record of Bernard Heinrich Waterkotte: FHL microfilm 801427, Kirchenbuch: Katholische Kirche Ostbevern, Taufen 1753-1805

Baptism Record of Bernard Herman Waterkotte: FHL microfilm 801427, Kirchenbuch: Katholische Kirche Ostbevern, Taufen 1718-1752

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder


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Surname Saturday: Golonka, Southern Poland

7/18/2014

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I have recently been working on uploading to my family history website all of the baptism, marriage, and death records that I collected on my recent trip to Salt Lake City (SLC) a few months ago.  One of the families that I spent a lot of time researching was that of Michael Bodziony, who was my paternal grandmother's father.  According to his 1883 baptism record from the town of Świniarsko, Poland, his mother was named Sophia Golonka, son of Joseph Golonka and Anna Bawotek. (Aren't these Polish baptism records wonderful - names of the parents AND grandparents!)

Through FamilySearch.org's online search engine, I was able to find an indexed record from the nearby town of Brzezna, Poland that was likely Sophia's baptism record.  I confirmed that it WAS her baptism record when I was able actually look through the microfilm and found Sophia's marriage record to Michael's dad, Joseph Bodziony (also in Brzezna), in which her parents are also listed. 
Fortunately, the Golonka family had been in Brzezna for a few generations, so I was able to use the same microfilm to trace back that line to Sophia Golonka's grandparents, Thomas Golonka and Petronella Iwanszczonka (or Iwanska), who would be my 4x great-grandparents!  Not bad considering that I started out my genealogy journey not even knowing who Michael's parents were!

Here is the present day distribution of the surname Golonka in Poland today, according to Moikrewni.pl:
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According to that site, there are about 4,400 people in Poland today with the surname Golonka, so it's not terribly common. You can see that there is a heavy concentration of the name in southern Poland, in an area that was called Galicia when my great-grandfather was born.  In fact, Nowy Sącz County, where both Świniarsko and Brzezna are both located, has the second-highest concentration of the name, behind the county of Limanowa, which is just to the west.

'Golonka' literally means 'knuckle' in Polish.  The word is used to refer to the Polish dish of ham hocks, which technically aren't pig knuckles, but instead are the animal's ankles.  In any case, my love of pork products can now be attributed to genetics - it's literally in my bloodlines.  :-)

A native Polish speaker also suggested to me that the name might carry the meaning of shaving or of being shaven.  The Polish verb for 'shave' is golić, so the surname might have the same root.
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Golonka
Family members, the link to the new and updated Golonka ancestor page is here.  The link to Michael Bodziony's paternal Bodziony ancestors is here.  I am still working on acquiring some additional records, so check back and let me know if you have any questions!

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder


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Surname Saturday: Bodziony

4/11/2014

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Bodziony was the maiden name of my paternal grandmother, Veronica Bodziony Kowalski.  She was a child of two Polish immigrants, Michael Bodziony and Sophia Krupa, who settled in Cleveland, Ohio.  In 1883, Michael Bodziony was born in the village of Świniarsko, a few kilometers away from the larger city of Nowy Sącz (see map below).  At the time of his birth, this area, which has been ethnically-Polish for centuries, was part of the Austria-Hungary Empire.
When you first read the name 'Bodziony,' I don't think you immediately think of it as a Polish or even a Slavic surname.  Even today, it's not a terribly common name in Poland, and the highest concentration of the name is still found in and around Nowy Sącz County, Małopolska Voivodeship, which is on Poland's southern border with Slovakia.  The map below was generated by the website Moikrewni.pl, which literally means "my kin" in Polish.  It shows the relative distribution of the surname Bodziony throughout modern-day Poland.  According to Worldnames Public Profiler, which compiles surname data from modern telephone directories and voting registers, the surname Bodziony has a frequency in Poland of 42.8 per million.  For comparison, the surname Kowalski, which is a very common surname, has a frequency of 1847 per million. Not surprisingly the frequency per million in America is only 0.47.
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Distribution of the surname 'Bodziony' in Poland (Image Source: Moikewni.pl)
So, what does the surname Bodziony mean?  According to good old Google Translate, the Polish word bodziec is a noun which means 'stimulus' or 'incentive.'  I asked the native Polish-speakers in a Facebook group, and one person told me that the name has the same root as the word bóść, which is a verb meaning 'to gore.'  I think its relative infrequency tells me that it probably doesn't describe a profession, as a lot of surnames all over the world tend to do.  

The surname could possibly be a reference to a place name.  There is a town by the name of Bodzanów about 70 kilometers to the northwest of Świniarsko. (There are actually several villages with this name around Poland, but this one is the closest.) There is a also a town farther away in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, (north of Małopolska Voivodeship) known as Bodzentyn, which has been around since the 1300s.  So, it's possible that the family name originated as a way to tell other people "this family is from Bodz... village."  

I do have evidence that the name was NOT changed when Michael came to America - the name shows up fairly frequently in the 19th century Roman Catholic Church records of the Diocese of Tarnow.

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder
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Surname Saturday: Tumbusch

1/19/2013

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Theodor Tumbusch, one of my husband's gg-grandfathers on his mom's side, immigrated to America from Germany in 1861.  His ship manifest is below.  He was about 27 years old and his last residence is listed as Koesfeld (proper spelling is Coesfeld). Listed beneath him in the manifest is Anna Rasing, who was either already his wife, or who would soon become his wife upon arrival in America (I still need to figure that out.)  They arrived in Baltimore and eventually made their way to western Ohio, where they settled on a farm in Mercer County.  Unfortunately, Theodor died rather young in 1870; Anna lived until 1918.
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Theodor Tumbusch and Anna Rasing Ship Manifest
I've done some research on the surname 'Tumbusch,' and it's difficult to determine what the name means or indicates.  'Busch' in German simply means 'bush' in English and 'tum' might refer to several meanings.  The English word 'tumble' has roots in German - the German verb 'taumeln' means to fall, drop, or stagger, and the verb 'tummeln' means 'to romp.'  The German noun 'tumben' means 'tomb.'  The German noun 'tumult' has essentially the same meaning as the same English world and the noun 'tumultant' refers to a rioter.  So, maybe my husband had an ancestor who fell in bushes or who was buried in bushes or who caused some sort of commotion or uproar in bushes.  Your guess is as good as mine.

Theodor Tumbush had three sons, Henry, Bernard, and Herman, all of whom lived into adulthood and had sons of their own to carry on the family name.  It appears that most of Henry's children chose to change the spelling of the name to 'Tumbush' - their birth records indicate the original spelling, while military, marriage, residential, and death records are most often without the 'c.'  As far as I can tell from the records, the children and grandchildren of Bernard and Herman kept the original spelling. 

If you're not one of my in-laws and have never heard the name 'Tumbusch' before, you're not alone.  It's not a common name.  The Worldnames Public Profiler maps surnames for 26 countries around the world using recent telephone directories and voter registries.  It is not scientific or completely comprehensive, but it still gives you a good idea of relative popularity of a name in different places.  In the U.S, the frequency per million (FPM) for the name Tumbusch is only 0.41 (The Tumbush spelling is 0.25).  By comparison, my surname, Kowalski, which is basically the Polish equivalent of Smith, has a FPM of 81.56.  And
Tumbusch is actually MORE common in the U.S. than in Germany, where the FPM is only 0.09.
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Relative frequency of surname Tumbusch - World
Zooming into Europe:  It is a little difficult to see, but the only area in which 'Tumbusch' is found is the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which is where Theodor's hometown of Coesfeld is located.
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Relative frequency of surname Tumbusch - Europe
Breaking down the United States: Tumbusch on the left and Tumbush on the right.  Not surprisingly, both spellings are relatively common in Ohio compared with other states.
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Tumbusch
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Tumbush
And, finally, Ohio by county, Tumbusch on the left and Tumbush on the right.  That county in western Ohio in the darkest shade of blue is Mercer County, where Theodor and Anna orginally settled.  Notice the small concentration of Tumbush near Cleveland.  One of my husband's great uncles moved to the Cleveland area to work on the railroads in the early 20th century and I am willing to bet that some of his descendants still live in the area.
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Tumbusch
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Tumbush
Based on the rarity of the name, it is probable that many people with the surname Tumbusch or Tumbush in the United States today are descendants of Theodor Tumbusch.  And if there are any Tumbusch's out there who AREN'T of his lineage, it would be interesting to try to trace back their ancestors to Germany to try to find the common ancestor. That may have to be one of my longer-term goals for the future.  In the meantime, I'm adding Coesfeld, Germany to my list of must-visit places whenever my husband and I get a chance to take our genealogy trip to Germany.

Tumbus(c)h family documents can be viewed and downloaded at this website: http://schroeder-tumbush.weebly.com/tumbush.html
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Surname Saturday: Schroeder (Western Ohio)

10/27/2012

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When I married my husband, I was somewhat looking forward to taking his last name.  I had grown up with a Polish surname, and it was actually one of the easier Polish names to spell and pronounce.  However, I found that once I left my very ethnic hometown where such names were common, I was continually asked to repeat my name and spell it out S-L-O-W-L-Y (and then they'd still get it wrong!).  So, I thought to myself, 'Schroeder' - fairly common and straightforward, right?  Well, not so much, really.  I soon learned that there are many ways to spell what sounds like schro-der or schro-ter, and that it may actually be pronounced schra-der or schra-ter depending on each family's tradition of saying it.  

The name Schroeder (and all of is mix-and-match variants like S(c)hra(t)der and S(c)hro(e)ter) is a common and old family name with origins in medieval Northern Germany.  It comes from the Middle Low German word(s) schroden/schraden which means "to cut," and it was a surname  first given to tailors (people who cut cloth for a living), occasionally shoemakers (people who cut leather for a living), and also to draymen who would drive around large carts and deliver bulk quantities of beer and wine.  Now we're talking!

I have been able to trace my husband's Schroeder family back to Frank Schroeder, who came to America probably sometime around 1850.  I don't know the exact year because I haven't found his immigration ship manifest yet.  In the
1860 Census, his place of birth is listed as Oldenburg, Germany, which is in the northern part of the country.
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Surname information source:  http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?view=3&surname=schroeder
©2012, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder
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    Emily Kowalski Schroeder

    Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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