Wednesday, February 7, 2018

#5 of 52 The Evolution of a Family Name Through the Census

For week 5, of 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks, the prompt was "In the Census." Census enumerations, depending on the year, can often give the family historian a snippet of not only their own family but a peek at the entire life of the neighborhood. But the one thing that stood out, for my family was the how our family name evolved.
August Schralla, was my 2x great-Grandfather. He was born in Stöckheim, Germany on 9 Oct 1825. His baptismal recorded his name as Johann Christian August Schütte, known as Schrell. He was born out of wedlock. The record, however, stated that his father's name was supposedly, Christian Schrell.
(Mary-Ann Vandaveer, trans., Evangelische Kirche Salzderhelden (Kr. Einbeck) ).

On 23 Nov 1860, August Schrill and his wife and infant (who was listed separately) appeared in a passenger manifest for a ship that arrived in New York from Germany.

"New Orleans, Passenger Lists, 1813-1963," database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 Apr 2018), entry for August Schrill, age 34 years 3 months, arrived New Orleans, Louisiana, 1860, S.S. Ottilie.
In the 1870 U.S. Census, the family name appeared as Schriller:

1870 U.S.census, Adams County, IL population schedule, 3rd Ward Quincy, p 113 (penned), dwelling 793, family 940, August Schriller; NARA microfilm publication M593, roll 187.

 Then in 1880 U.S. census, the name appeared as Schreller:

1880 U.S. census, Quincy, Adams Co., IL, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 29, p. 519 A (stamped) p. 17, (penned), dwelling 152, family 164, August Schreller, NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 175.


It's not until the 1900 U.S. census did the family name appear as Schralla-the name I grew up with:

1900 U.S. census, 25th precinct, Quincy, Adams Co, IL, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 143, sheet 10-B, dwelling 205, family 206, Henry Schralla; NARA publication T62, roll 236.

1 comment:

  1. Surnames can certainly show up with a lot of different spellings! My mother's maiden name was Kaechle, a German name, and to me it is the "right" way. But, I've seen it spelled a lot of different ways, and it was Koechlin in Germany.

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