Recently addopted several orphaned profiles.

Question

German Swiss Mennonite immigrants, 1700's, Hartman Hunsaker, 27 Jan 1690, [Bern, Switzerland-1733 Pennsylvania].and his wife Anna Stirtz,  Firstly I researched the family name origin, for Stirtz then Swirtz, found no Known origin. Referred to Ancestry records found Anna Schultz (Stirtz),  [1694 Zatzbach, Bern, Switzerland 1738 Manheim, Lancaster, Pennsylvania]. Their marriage year is 1712, and ended in 1733, 21 years the number of children vary from 8 to 12. In that time?:  in 1734 Anna married Jacob Gochnour 1693 Germany, 11 November 1758. Manheim, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Anna is credited with having a further 15 children? She died in 1738.  (To many children not enough wives)

Checked surname Schultz,  Meaning: One who was a Magistrate, a Sherriff, a Steward an overseer.

 Also checked Hunsaker, Meaning: one who came from or lived nearby Hunziker. Their children 8 in number, born between  1712 and 1733,

Could Stirtz be a phonetic spelling by an English or Scottish seaman, That is where the cargo ships originated from.

Answer 1

Maybe the following book has some clues to the names and origin:

Gratz, Delbert L. (1997). Was Isch Dini Nahme? What is Your Name? – A Collection of Swiss Family Names. Morgantown, PA: Masthof Press (catalog No. 1574)

(from the web page of the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta http://mennonitehistory.org/surnames/ )

Answer 2

Hi Doug,

Just came across this posting after adopting a few 'family' orphaned profiles...  As to Anna Stirtz, I don't believe her maiden name is known.  There are some researchers that believed it to be Stirtz, but I'm unaware of their sources for such.  I see no sources (other than ancestry trees) on her profile.  As such, her LNAB should either be changed to Unknown or else a statement as to the uncertainty of her maiden name should be placed in bold at the top of her biography.

My descent is through Anna and her first husband, Hartman Hunsaker.  They're my 8th great-grandparents.  I've done a lot of research on the Hunsaker family, so have gone in and made some corrections and done cleanup on some of the children's profiles...

Comments

Darleen, I concur I tried searching for the Swiss surname Stirtz, The nearest I found was Swartz.