Is "Shuman" the Jewish spelling of "Schumann"?

Question

I have traced my ancestory back to a John Shuman who lived in Pennsylvania before it was colonized. I am trying to understand if he changed his name from Schumann to Shuman because of concerns about his German heritage or because he may have been Jewish...hence the name Shuman. Perhaps his name was Johann Shumann when he came to our shores??

Answer 1

Shuman is a common spelling among the Pennsylvania Dutch. They were Anabaptists and not a Jew among them. The difference is that many were German-speaking Swiss and they had different ways of spelling than their Palatinate brethren. So spellings changed from one generation to another, or even one year to another, as ministers and teachers changed. Each had his own preference and used it.

Here's a site that you might find helpful in your search: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.shuman/mb.ashx

Answer 2

Simply: spelling wasn't standardized all that much until about during the 20th century. People spelling things in PA (before it was a colony?) were probably English.

Forget about spellings at Ellis Island - they took the names from the ships' passenger lists, and Ellis Island only operated between 1892 to about 1924.

Answer 3

It's not a "Jewish spelling" but an English spelling of "Schumann". The German "sch" is pronounced like the English "sh". If he was originally from Germany his name would have been spelled "Schumann" or "Schuhmann" in German which means "cobbler" and is a quite common German family name. I suppose he just adapted his name to English spelling to fit in in America.

It's not likely that he was Jewish because that was long before Jews in Germany became German citizens and they didn't have German family names at that time. Schumann isn't a typically Jewish name anyway.

Answer 4

Often, when immigrants came to Ellis Island, some of the men that worked there probably were no the best spellers, just like in real life today, and many spoke with heavy accents, so sometimes the names would be spelled phonetically, miss spelled, and sometime spelled correctly depending on the person processing the individuals.

Even with my married name, Gestner (pronounced Ges-ner), there are various spellings, Gesner, Gessner, Gestener are a few that showed up on our genealogy/coat of Arms thingee...my ex still have family in Germany and his grandmother came to the US in the 30's, so we retained the correct spelling of the name but each variation is believed to have the same origins.

Hope this helps.