My surname started in France as NERWYN. They fled to Germany as Calvinist and became NIERWEIN in 1563, Then changed to NERWEIN in 1728 in the same location. It became NORWINE in USA on arrival in 1805. Why the changes, I don't know. Jack ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: 10,02,2003 5:33 PM Subject: [BAVARIA] Re: BAVARIA-D Digest V03 #161 Does anyone know why a name would be changed in Germany. Early name was Wolher, then in 1700s it was Wollherr. We were told that Wollherr meant free man, but why would the name be changed? The family came from Tirol Litzingen, which I cannot locate but when they ended up in Rheinzabern, Germany the name was different. After the family came to the US it ended up Wolhar, which I can understand as a lot of names were changed here. Thanks for any help! ==== BAVARIA Mailing List ==== Sister or Brother, Can you spare $10 dollars to support Rootsweb? http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html#personal

Hi Jack, name changes back then were very common because normal people couldn't read or write. The people who could were priests. They recorded baptisms, marriages and deaths according to what they heard. There was no correction check by the name owners. As people got older, they lost teeth and therefore their pronounciation changed. That was one source to different spelling. Furthermore when people moved to another country and therefore to another langugue there was lot's of room for change since in different languages people pronounce letters differently. E.g. in English 'e' is pronounced like 'i' in German. Dialects also played a role in different name spellings. So when you look for your ancestors don't only look for the 'same correct' spelling, make sure you also check the phonetically similar names as well. Hope this helps a little, Suzie ----- Original Message ----- From: "JACK NORWINE" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2003 9:25 PM Subject: Re: [BAVARIA] Name changes > My surname started in France as NERWYN. They fled to Germany as Calvinist > and became NIERWEIN in 1563, Then changed to NERWEIN in 1728 in the same > location. It became NORWINE in USA on arrival in 1805. Why the changes, I > don't know. > Jack > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: 10,02,2003 5:33 PM > Subject: [BAVARIA] Re: BAVARIA-D Digest V03 #161 > > > Does anyone know why a name would be changed in Germany. Early name was > Wolher, then in 1700s it was Wollherr. We were told that Wollherr meant > free man, > but why would the name be changed? The family came from Tirol Litzingen, > which I cannot locate but when they ended up in Rheinzabern, Germany the > name was > different. After the family came to the US it ended up Wolhar, which I can > understand as a lot of names were changed here. Thanks for any help! > > > ==== BAVARIA Mailing List ==== > Sister or Brother, > Can you spare $10 dollars to support Rootsweb? > http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html#personal > > > ==== BAVARIA Mailing List ==== > Going on Vacation? Longer than 4 days? Go to > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/DEU/BAVARIA.html > to unsubscribe > >

Hi, My ancestor was George Freyschlag. He was born in 1785 in Sandhoffenfahrt. He was married about 1810 in Grosskarlbach. In 1821 he moved his family to Mannheim "to further their education". I spent three days in Salt Lake City at the family history library searching for Sandhoffenfahrt. I read the records for Sandhoffen and did not find the Freyschlag name. The three German ladies that helped me were stumped as to where George was born. They read the name of the town on several different documents that I own and they used every Atlas that they had. I spent three days reading film. Nothing. I do not know the names of the parents of George or the names of any of his siblings. I would appreciate any help. If anyone can tell me what the heck George was referring to when he repeatedly used the term Sandhoffenfahrt as his place of birth? Thank you, Joan