Some Hints for Researching German Palatines
Written and contributed by Kathryn Parker
Sources:
(1) The Palatine Families of New York: A study of the German Immigrants Who Arrived in Colonial New York in 1710, by Henry Z. Jones, Jr. Universal City, California 1985.
(2)Retyped from "The Old Times Corner"
1) STUDY THE
NEIGHBORS:
Rarely did Palatines come alone, they emigrated with several neighbors
from Germany and continued association with the same people in the new world.
This is apparent in second generation Palatines whose children often married
only into those families they were familiar with from the same geographic
regions in Germany. Clues to the roots of those who emigrated between 1720-1760
may be found in seeing which families they settled near, sponsored or married
into when they came to America.
2) STUDY THE
SPONSORS:
We who have German or Dutch lines in our ancestry are lucky to have the ‘sponsor’
trail to follow. Being a godparent in a German family was a revered status.
Sponsors were often close relatives and the child was usually named for the
sponsor. If a baby’s name is different, it usually meant the child was named
for a deceased family member. Related sponsors are especially crucial in
determining families with common surnames. If the sponsor wasn’t a relative,
then they were usually an old family friend from Europe.
3) STUDY
NAMING AND SPELLING PATTERNS:
Sound alike consonants contribute to various spellings of the names. D and T are
often interchanged, i.e.. Diel can also mean the same as Thiel. C, G & K
often have a similar sound. e.g. Henrich Glock was known as Henrich Clock and
Klock. The letters B and P often transpose, e.g. Ludwig Batz was known as Ludwig
Potts. The letters V and F do the same, Falck will show as Valk. There are other
variations as well. Women named Margaretha were often called Gretchen, Magdalena
would be Lena, Adolf was often known by Adam, Anthonius might be Teunis/Tonges/Donges
or vice versa, Friederich as Fritz, Georg/George as Yury/Jury, Theobald as
David. Junior did not necessarily mean that Junior was the son of a Senior of
the same name. Jr. was often used to denote that someone was younger in age than
another person of the same name who resided in the same community. There were
two 1709ers named Nicholaus Rau. One was called Jr. the other Sr., but they were
not father and son. In fact, Nicholaus Jr. was an orphan. Many times a name was
chosen for a child and the child died, the next child of the same sex would be
named the same name. Sometimes this even occurred in a family with two same sex
children that survived and carried the same name. Beginning in 1780 and
continuing ca. 1860, the middle initial in a three part name usually meant the
first letter of the Christian name of that individual’s father. (prevalent in
only NY German and Dutch families). (1) In Europe when the German/French border
shifted position according to who the victor was of a particular battle, French
families on the border often were pushed into Germany becoming German citizens
of French origin. This may explain a French spelling of Germany surnames.
4)
PRONOUNCING DUTCH:
Double o is long o, as in Van Loon, which we now often write as Van Loan to
represent the proper sound. Our double o sound, as in moon, is spelled oe in the
Dutch; for example Van Hoesen, pronounced van hoozen or the various hoeks.
Double a is our au as Kaaterskill (Cauterskill) and Plaatje and Taatje (tauchie),
the last name being Sarah. Je at the end of a word is a diminutive; plaatje is a
little plaat or flat. Grietje or Margrietje is Little Margaret; and the sound of
the j is a softened one, almost a y so that an I is sometimes written in its
place as Gertje or Gertie (Gertrude). IE is Thus our long E, for example Pieter
and Saugerties. Uy or ui seems to be a variable sound; we have long I or it in
Schuyler and Spuyten Duyvil, oo in Schuylkill and ow in Kykuit and Uyt den
Bogaert and Ulyen Spiegel (owl’s looking glass). Plain e is almost an a, and
plain u a short oo; and we must remember to distinguish between er (air) and ur
(oor) that are so much alike in English, for example berg (berrick or barrach, a
hill or mountain) and burg (boorick, a city or borough) also written burgh. Thus
we should not sound alike Berger and Burger; note also that the g is hard, never
a j sound as it becomes in English before e, i and y. To indicate the
pronunciation , Marte Gerritse signed his name van Bargan instead of Bergen,
when he dealt with the English. (2)