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Research in Other Countries => Europe => Topic started by: -Glen- on Saturday 25 April 20 13:19 BST (UK)
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Hi All,
My 4X great grandfather records his place of birth as Germany on Census records. He was born approx. 1809.
His name is most often recorded as Nicholas Buck. I wondered if this was an anglicised version of his name? Would it have been Bach or something similar?
His signature is on the marriage record, which I've attached to this post. I don't know if this helps to decipher the possible original version of his name or perhaps he's already signing with the anglicised version?
Is anyone familiar with German names from this period?
Thanks very much,
Glen
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Buck is listed as a German surname in Hans Bahlow's 'German Names'.
Here are two entries from Sugarbakers database showing its use ... maybe the second one is your Nicholas Buck ?
BUCK Nicolaus - (Schüm-kocher) (verh. HH-Jacobi) Hamburg 1771 Contributor 55
BUCK Nicholas - (age 49) (13 Hooper Sq) London 1861 1861 census RG9/272/22
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Thanks for the reply.
I don't think that's him, unfortunately.
I know that he was a Sugar Baker in the 1830s and 1840s (as per his childrens' baptisms and the 1841 Census), however in the 1851 and 1861 Census he's recorded as a Labourer. By the 1870s, he's a Tobacconist and Tobacco Cutter (as per his childrens' marriage records and the 1871 Census).
I've not looked into his occupations yet.
Would be great to find out which part of Germany he came from but proving difficult, for now.
Thanks again,
Glen :)
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Thank you, Glen ... interesting that he changed jobs frequently. I can only see him as a sugarbaker for the bpts of Henry James 1835 and James Henry 1841 with other occupations in between. The 1841 census reads Segar Maker (the variant spelling of cigar). I'll add an entry to the db to show those two bpts.
I've checked the 1861 entry on my db. It was transcribed many years ago from microfilm and I can now see it reads John Nicholas, even though he appears to have been Henry on the previous census !!
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His signature is on the marriage record, which I've attached to this post. I don't know if this helps to decipher the possible original version of his name or perhaps he's already signing with the anglicised version?
Hi Glen,
Buck is indeed a surname in Germany.
I'm sitting here trying to see Nicholas in his signature. All I can see is Nochlochus or Nochlocheis. ???
Best regards,
Karen
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Thank you both for your messages.
I'm sure I have other Sugar Bakers in the family tree! I'll have to go back and check.
Karen, I also sat staring, trying to make out Nicholas/Nicoklaus!
On one of the Census records, a place of birth is recorded that doesn't just say Germany, but it's impossible to make out what it says.
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There are a few German spellings for Nicholas:
Nickolaus, Nicolaus, Niklaus, Nickolas, Nikolaus
for surname distribution in Germany , the familysearch has a webpage which includes a couple of websites for Germany - I prefer the Stoepel website.
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Surname_Distribution_Maps
A baby's given name is the one next to its surname and the previous given names are donated by godparents/witnesses.
When a newly arrived German reads that the British census requires the FIRST given name and not the person's actual given name, you can see why it's often a reason for later family historians to scratch their heads and wonder what happened to our ancestors.
I was lucky with my German ancestors in that every branch followed the normal naming pattern that is often found in Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland.
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On one of the Census records, a place of birth is recorded that doesn't just say Germany, but it's impossible to make out what it says.
Can you post a scan? We love "impossible" things here... ;D
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Thank you for the link Rena :)
Hi Karen, it's the 1851 Census that is the only one to not say "Germany". Let me know what you think! ??? :) Thanks for your help!
FYI:
In the 1841 Census, the "Foreign Parts" column is marked
1861 reads "Germany British Subject"
1871 "Germany"
1881 "Germany"
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Hi All,
My 4X great grandfather records his place of birth as Germany on Census records. He was born approx. 1809.
His name is most often recorded as Nicholas Buck. I wondered if this was an anglicised version of his name? Would it have been Bach or something similar?
Glen
I've now had a look at the German GEDBAS website and there's hundreds of "Buck" surnames.
As there was no such country as "Germany" until the 20th century, I found there were some given names popular in different little states. Children given the names of the ruler - so was there a ruler of a princedom called Nicholas for example? additionally, the Kingdom of Hanover had the spelling "Conrad", whereas other states more often than not had the spelling "Konrad".
When I first started researcing my German roots, I was given a hint that quite often our ancestors followed in the footsteps of earlier family members or people from the same village, so if you are able to cast about the area your ancestor lived in to see if any German has written his/her place of origin in the census.
Have you ruled out that maybe your ancestor was part of the British army and served in the Hessian Army/Hanovarian army? I think they were barracked on the south coast of England and when some of them had served their time as soldiers they headed towards London
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Hi Karen, it's the 1851 Census that is the only one to not say "Germany". Let me know what you think! ??? :) Thanks for your help!
Hi Glen,
I'm a bit confused (easily done, sometimes ;D). I'm not sure about the first word, but the second is Staffordshire...
Best regards,
Karen