----- Original Message ----- From: Nick Beathon <rnb@step.es> To: <SWITZERLAND-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, October 21, 1999 11:50 AM Subject: [SWITZ] Prominent Family Names > Hello List, > I have been following with interest, the comments/references to the prominent family names, particularly from the Graubunden area. I am researching a "de Planta" line, which supposedly came from Chur. Have now been waiting almost 5 weeks for the LDS films which still have not arrived, & began to look at derivations of de Planta, particularly von Planta, which seems to me to be logical. I would like to raise a couple of points: > 1) Would there be any logical explanation for a von Planta from Chur to change his name to de Planta. [Mike] Easy explanation, von Planta in German, de Planta in French :-) My de Planta was born in Chur around 1826 & moved to Brittany in France to train as a Priest in the Protestant Church. He subsequently married a French speaking Swiss girl from Geneva and settled in Lucens in the canton de Vaud, after having apparently spent another spell in Brittany as a Priest. Both he & his wife are dead by the mid 1880s, having had about 12 children, of which the first 6/7 died. > 2) Is there any other logical way to trace this de Planta, through Church records ( supposedly being a Priest), apart from the LDS microfilms. [Mike] There is a book by Jakob R. Truog on Evangelical Reformed priests in Graubünden which was published at Chur about 1935 or so. It's on LDS microfilm and I can do a lookup for you, but I don't happen to see his given name listed in your post. Do you have an approximate date of birth for him? Typically Truog will have a biographical entry for a priest at the first location where he served, then entries at the other locations he served noting the dates and any particular details that are relevant (uncommon). The book is indexed :-) > 3) Going through the Ancestral files via Familyseach.org I came across two von Planta females, Judith & Magdalena, both allegedly born 1693 and both allegedly married to the same Eustach Albert von Salis. Can anyone offer any assistance or comments?? [Mike] Do you have a location for these families? I have generally found the Ancestral File to be a reasonable guide to suggest where to look, but it is all too easy for errors to appear in the data. You can't really tell if 10 people have submitted the correct data - you only see the scatter with different spellings, errors, guessed at dates, etc. I'm pretty sure there is a Planta genealogy in the FHL collection which I could check for you. Regards, Mike Hobart > > Many thanks > Nick Beaton. > Las Palmas, Spain. > > > ==== SWITZERLAND Mailing List ==== > Support RootsWeb! Help provide FREE genealogical resources on the > Internet: http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html >