Sharing my German surnames: Kottwitz, Kappelman, Watermann, and Pope

Question

So far I have found KOTTWITZ coming from Prussia, Germany; KAPPELMAN from Prueben, Germany; WATERMANN from Langenholzhausen, Germany; and POPE from Munster, Germany -- all of whom are on my mother's side of the family.

I don't have them in my tree yet - have to take the time to see if they are here already or if I need to add them.  (I'm still learning WikiTree.)  Time permitting, I will get this conquered.  :)

Answer 1

Hi Celena,

Welcome to WikiTree!

I would probably guess that your Kappelman is actually from Prussia, Germany. "Prueben" is probably, actually "Preußen". That character is not an English letter "B", but a German letter Eszett. This letter is the English equivalent of "ss". So "Preussen" is the German word for our English "Prussia".

Comments

Ah... I should have taken the time to look that up.  Thank you!

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No worries. It's easy to get things mixed up when going back in time to a different country and language. Double-check me, though. I could be wrong.

Answer 2

Hello, Celena:

This likely isn't helpful, but our genealogist records that we have...

1. Johann Gerhard Wassermann ["Waterman" in German], ~1652-1695, who married Barbara Schmidt in 1676, in Bad Grund (about 100+ miles from Kalletal, though);
2. Ludwig Poppe (two p's in the middle), d. 1606, and his daughter Catharina, d. 1638, who lived in Bad Langensalza (but 170+ miles from Münster); and
3. half a dozen ancestors, 1500s-1700s, named Papst/Pabst ("Pope" in German)... but they're much or all of the way across Germany, even farther away, most nearer to the Czech Republic.

We assume that most folks back then didn't go any further than an oxcart could take them in a day or two, yet in fact whole armies would sweep over a series of (smaller) countries. So... who knows?

Keep hunting!

Warm regards,
Michael Meurer