This list was very helpful a short while ago and I'm hoping you can come to the rescue again. My family name is Schott. My Aunt says that my grandmother told her the name was originally Von Schott but that the Von was a title and it was sold in order for the family to come to America. I've never heard of anything like this. Perhaps the family owned land which was sold and dropped the Von? Perhaps my grandmother told stories to my Aunt. My greatgrandfather (Schott) was known by the first name Frederick, and the papers I have for him list it as his first name. However, I'm having trouble finding him on ships lists which may indicate trouble finding him in Germany. I did find one individual coming over on the same ship, about 2 weeks before the date indicated on Frederick's petition for naturalization, but the first name was Valtin, not Frederick. I believe it's the same person. On the same date and ship there were 2 additional families whose family name has been mentioned as being related to the Schott family. I guess my question is, is there a relationship betweent the 2 names? Is there any signifance to the name Valtin? Thanks very much. Jackie

No significance, Jackie, I'm sorry. "Valtin" is a dialect form of "Valentin" and still used in some areas. "Frederick" is most likely an Americanized form of "Friedrich". And, btw, a "von" could not be sold for any money in the world. Most likely one of these nice family stories. Heinz