I was just wondering, because during my genealogical research, I came across a census record from the 19th century that listed my great-great-great-grandmother's birthplace as being "Wertenberg". I looked for places in Germany with that name, and the closest place names I came to were Wartenberg, which is in Berlin, and Württemberg, which was an independent state before the German Empire was formed in 1871. I'm assuming that my great-great-great-grandmother came to the States before 1871, so what do you think?
2007-08-02 05:31:22 · 4 answers · asked by tangerine 7 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Genealogy
It is likely Württemberg as this is (was) a large community with many folks emigrating.
Remember, census folks back then didn't always know how to spell very well and they often had trouble understanding the accent of our German ancestors.
2007-08-02 05:37:43 · answer #1 · answered by CoachT 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
First, I will say that I have several ancestors from Wurtemberg...
Second, my oldest son was born in Wurtemberg...
Thirdly, I have seen so many variations in the spelling of Wurtemberg, I am fairly certain that it is Wurtemberg. At the time my son was born, the Germans had several variations in the spelling; Americans spell it in several different styles.
It is not just a case of Americans not understanding people of German accent, although that does complicate things. A lot of English words have gone through a transformation during my lifetime. By the time you go back a century, two centuries, there are a whole lot of words that have undergone changes. If you find a copy of an original document from the 1700's, you will find it very difficult to understand even common, everyday words.
At the time of the "Mad King", Wurtemberg was a separate kingdom. The King had Neuschwanstein built (the one Walt Disney used to pattern his Disneyland castle after) and several others...
The best bet is to find what town your 5th generation mother is from...Some towns have disappeared, many others are "new", but many of the medieval towns are still there, called by the same name. Of course, some have changed names.
If you have any place names, check on the internet for where in Germany it is located...there are so many sites that will show maps of these places. After all, the borders of Germany changed several times just in the 1900s.
By the way, Germany called their political subdivisions "states", which is why we have "states" in the U.S.
2007-08-02 08:26:46 · answer #2 · answered by Nothingusefullearnedinschool 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
+Wurttemburg most likely, as they generally didn't give village or city names on the census. Pretty large area, lots of immigrants from there. There is a famous index to immigrants from Wurttenberg you might want to consult.
2007-08-02 06:18:01 · answer #3 · answered by paul s 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Dont know for sure but I think it would be Wartenberg not Wurttemburg. They would be easy to misspell. I would check out in Berlin first anyway.
2007-08-02 05:41:42 · answer #4 · answered by elaeblue 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋