----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard A. Pence" <richardpence@pipeline.com> To: "Gary Smith" <garymarian@comcast.net> Sent: Monday, August 27, 2007 5:01 PM Subject: German Names >> Guthmann is a good basic German name, and was often anglicized to >> 'Goodman'. The name Gulhmann looks more like a clerk's error, reading a >> 't' >> as an 'l'. Many foreign names were transcribed by a clerk, who was often >> not >> looking at the name on paper, not by the way they were written, but how >> they >> sounded to the ear of someone who knew only English (sort of). >> Another example: American dialect played a part in the >> transmogrification >> of my 1750s 'Stanborough' family name to the contemporary southern >> 'Stansberry'. > > You recently wrote the above in the Rowan Roots mailing list and I wanted > to tell you it is a fine explanation of how German names often became > "Americanized." > > The spoken word, as opposed to the written word, is, I am sure, how Bentz > usually became Pence. (B and P sound the same in German, I am told.) > > I picked up late in this thread, but the Goodman woman to whom you were > replying quoted a list of German names (and I missed what they > represented) and I recognized a couple of them: Jacob Benz (who was known > as Jacob Pence and whose ancestry I have) and his father-in-law George > Heinrich Berger (usually Barger in N.C.). Jacob Pence was from Augusta > (now Rockingham) County, Virginia, and I think George Henry Barger was > also. I have a copy of a letter Jacob Pence's sister wrote from North > Carolina to her brother John in Rockingham County telling him of the death > of their brother Jacob in 1802. I think Jacob lived in Cabarrus County > then but not sure. In later years he had a number of descendants who were > in Rowan County. > > I thought you might get a kick out of the following: > > Klaus Wust, the German-born historian who wrote a great deal about German > immigrants to the U.S., particularly Virginia, often included a list of > variant spellings for German surnames in his books. In one (Klaus Wust, > The Record of Hawksbill Church, 1788-1850, Page County, Va. [Edinburg, > Va.: Shenandoah History, 1979], 33), he included this item: > > "Sauer, Saur, Sower, Sour or Benz, Bentz, Pents, Pens, Brentz, Brintz, > Printz, Prenntz, Prince-we could make endless lists of variations. A > long time ago James Kirke Paulding told the story of Kierst von > Guelph, the imaginary poor relation of King George I who, after > failing to make all people in Virginia talk High-German, contented > himself with turning English upside down: Thus P became B, and B > became P, and D T until the stoutest abecedarian could hardly tell > which was which." > > I once attended a lecture on German records given by Wust. After his > presentation, he said he would take questions in alphabetical order. There > being no questions from those whose names started with A, I rose. He asked > my name and when I said "Pence," he said, "Ah, as in Mercedes-Benz." > > I am not a participant in the Rowan list, but if you care to you can share > whatever parts you would like with the list. I have a long way to go to > sort out the North Carolina Pences but I do have some records - and would > welcome information from anyone on the Rowan list. > > Richard A. Pence > 3211 Adams Ct, Fairfax, VA 22030-1900 > Voice 703-591-4243 / Fax 703-352-3560 > Pence Family History <www.pipeline.com/~richardpence/> > >