Monday Meanderings About the Swiss Wife's Surname

Like all good things that fall into my lap this article happened indirectly while searching the Internet for the surname Jenny of Glarus Switzerland with Wisconsin location. I had been inspired by the familiarity of the name of the Swiss ancestors of Laura Ann at Dreaming About Home blog. On reading the surname Jenny from Switzerland. I thought i I had seen the name at the cemetery in Jo Davies county Illinois [Not wanting to go through the cemeteries all over again, since I with two spearate sources went through them twice this last week] Instead I chose to just browse the name hoping it would show up at Galena in Jo Daviess county, Illinois.

I did run into many interesting aricles with the names and other places in Glarus Switzerland, and other surnames from Canton Glarus Switzerland settling in Wisconsin.
There were actually quite a few in Jo Davies county. It is not surprising too how much interactions of settlers in Galena and those of Wsconin that I have read about in this last month.

Now lets get to the surprising information in this article.

"Swiss Census" of Jefferson and Switzerland Counties"

[Click my title for more of the article link]

This article is useful for recognizing a Swiss surname. It told of Swiss surnames and gave examples. . It mentioned that names looked like ordinary German names like Schmidt, Schenck, and Siebbenthal, proven Swiss immigrants, who mixed in with German settlers who were not of Swiss origin.

Certain names are good indicators, such as Camille, Aristides, and Arieste, especially when combined with French-sounding last names. Also notable is the French use of the same first name for several sons in the family so that in the Dufours we have John (Jean) Jacques, John Francis, and John Ami with the Mottiers, John David, J?? The use of Frederick and Francis (often as John Frederick and John Francis, likewise often point toward French or Swiss origin..

I have seen this practice of putting the wife's maiden name in the sons name in my family line and I had not took it for Swiss back ground. I am going to have to look into those I have seen in my family,

Another Swiss naming custom is worthy to note, because it affected how names were reported in records. The Swiss typically add the wife's maiden name to the husband's name, and vice versa. So Vincent Daniel Dufour Blanc was a son of John James (Jean Jacques) Dufour who married a woman surnamed Blanc. Perret Dufour pointed to Zelim Humbert-Droz as another example.

However, this may not have been a good example since Humbert-Droz has been a Swiss name for hundreds of years. The other instance was Louis Gex Oboussier. Since Perret Dufour said Louis was the brother-in-law of Luke Oboussier it means that Louis Gex married Oboussier's sister.
It is apparent that there were German-speakers from France, often from Alsace-Lorraine, who passed through Switzerland on their way to the United States and that many of these were Catholic, while most of the French-speakers were Protestant. But is very difficult to sort out all of these
different streams. I left some doubtful cases in this list.

You might find other interesting tidbits in the article, so go ahead and browse it yourself.

One article refered to Dunn co. Wi where my Jungk family resided. I think sometimes we have to consider the occupation the immigrant wishes to pursue. Or if finally able to afford a farm where did they find the land available for their purchase according to their change in their pocket. Pursuing the message board of the area at rootsweb and at Ancestry i have noted quite a few Swiss who had also settled into Buffalo county. Maybe some day, I can pursue some similarities of origin there too.

Thanks for stopping by for todays meanderings. I made a few notes of other things I saw, which just as easily can flow accross your screen by the same kind of browsing. Happy reading.
just me jo.