Surname - Fartherson (of German extract)

[carinthiangirl]

the ending of name sounds scandinavian. similar would be swedish Forderson.
example: http://www.ellisisland.org/search/matchMore.asp?LNM=FORDERSON&PLNM=FORDERSON&first_kind=1&kind=exact&offset=0&dwpdone=1

[floppyslater]

I want to thank everyone for their help and suggestions.  This is what I know so far.  According to the 1900 U.S. Census Rudolph Benz and Louisa (Fartherson) had a total of 10 children of which only three lived.  They include the following:

Jacob Benz          
DOB - March, 1878         DOD – October, 1939         Age – 62   Mt. Peace Cem.
Catherine (Katie) Benz
DOB – November, 1883      DOD – October, 1953         Age – 69   Mt. Peace Cem.
William Benz
DOB - June, 1887         DOD – May, 1954         Age - 66   Mt. Peace Cem.


Most of the other children I have been unable to identify with the exception of the following:

John Benz ?
DOB – January, 1875
Emma Benz
DOB – April, 1883         DOD – January, 1884         Age – 5 mo.    Mt. Peace Cem.

Rudolph Benz served roughly ten years in both the Union Army (1862-65) and the US Navy (1866 to 72).  Based upon his recorded age and the listed length of marriage contained in the 1910 U.S. Census it would appear that the couple was married around 1885.  This seems like a rather late marriage for Benz considering the number of child he sired (unless Louisa had been previously married).

I wonder if the name Fartherson could, in fact, be Scandinavian in origin as has been suggested.  Most of the variations I have tried - Featherson, Fatherson, Featherstone, etc. seem to be more common English surnames rather than German.

Another possibility is that although Rudolph Benz lists Philadelphia as his place of birth it may not be the place that he met Louisa.  In Reading, PA in 1844 a male child by the name of Rudolph Bence was born; his father's name is listed as John (1860 U.S. Census).  Both the birth date and the name of the father match although the surname is slightly different.  In addition, when John Benz enlisted in the Union Army in 1862 he did so in Reading, PA - not Philadelphia which seems rather odd since Reading would be a substantial distance from Philadelphia.

I wonder if Louisa Fartherson could have been originally from Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania.  Berks County, as well as much of central Pennsylvania, contains large populations of Amish, Mennonite, and Moravian dissenters.  Today they are collectively referred to as Pennsylvania "Dutch" but not all of these groups were from Germany.  I wonder is Louisa Fartherson could be a common name is some other region of central Europe that I have not yet considered?

[Rena]

The spelling is going to be a nightmare if he was from Germany because the surname would begin with a "V" which sounds like an "F". and also I've only ever seen "sohn" and never "son".  As it seems to be an English surname, the only thing I can think of as to how "Fatherson" got to Germany is when the British had a kingdom on the European mainland and possibly British soldiers would be stationed with the Hannovarian army.

I tried to search through passenger arrivals on the "Castle Garden" website but my local broadband service couldn't cope. 

I've looked at the German "white Pages" telephone book and entered a few possible spellings of the surname and for Fatherson I got four residential telephone "hits" - these being:

"Waterson": one hit in Osnabruck and one hit in Walsrode
"Watterson": one hit in Laufenselden and the other hit only had a phone number but no address.





 

[jamcat95]

Hi all
I had a look in the Swedish databases and I found some Fadersson names. "Fader" in Swedish is "father" in English.
Here are some names I found....

Fadersson, Bengta   1868
Fadersson, Elna   1862
Fadersson, Nils   1814
Fadersson, Per   1798
Fadersson, Tue   1860

Ian

[carinthiangirl]

who says she MUST have been from Germany? see not anywhere such a note......
the name in this form is clear english and has nothing to do with a german lastname.
so she maybe was american and not from anothere country.

Rena
no idea which phonebook you checked, but http://www2.dastelefonbuch.de/ shows NOTHING by searching Fartherson. this similarity-results anywhere only nonsens.

[Rena]

who says she MUST have been from Germany? see not anywhere such a note......
the name in this form is clear english and has nothing to do with a german lastname.
so she maybe was american and not from anothere country.

Rena
no idea which phonebook you checked, but http://www2.dastelefonbuch.de/ shows NOTHING by searching Fartherson. this similarity-results anywhere only nonsens.

Thank you for your extremely curt response which I have noted.

Would you care to point out where I wrote I had searched using the spelling "FaRtherson"?

[Rena]

The first thing immigrants did in those days was organise a church/kirk/etc., and I see that Philadelphia has several German Ev. Lutheran churches with records that go back to the mid 18th century.   German bmd church records are the best old record keeping of any that I've seen.  With a bit of luck Peter and his wife might have had their daughter baptised in one of them and this should give her parents full names, occupation and their village/town of origin, plus witnesses details.  Quite often the witnesses are related in some way or are important in the community and they most often donate their given name to the child which are usually tacked onto the front of the child's names & makes it extremely difficult when searching (on familysearch.org) for the name their parents gave them    Once her parents names are known, with even more luck Peter and his wife will have married in the same church and that record will give both of their parents names and towns of origin. 

It came to me that, for some unknown reason, Peter might have taken his wife's surname when they married.  It's not unusual if the wife's family has (had) property, or the surname would die out once a daughter married.

If you've got a nearby Church of Latter Day Saints (the Morman church) then you might find they have a film/microfiche of what you need.    I have looked at the catalogue on the familysearch website - here:  https://familysearch.org/catalog-search   and using the keywords "Philadelphia Lutheran" I got 381 hits, some of which are the filmed pages of church baptisms, weddings and burials.

Here's some examples:

 "Church records, 1762-1834, of St. Michaels and Zions Lutheran Church, Philadelphia
Author:   Leiby, Amandus S"

"Church records, 1741-1922 [St. Michael's Lutheran]
Author:   St. Michael's Lutheran Church (Germantown, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania)"

"Church records, 1733-1748 [St. Michael's Lutheran]
Author:   St. Michael's Lutheran Church (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : 5th and Arch)"

Best wishes, Rena

[Peonie]

The original German version could have been Fedderson or Vattersen. With different Dialects  names can sound completely different. I still remember when my name was called out the first time  by an English speaker, took me quite a while to realize that it was my name.

Regards Peonie

[carinthiangirl]

Peonie
correct   
i always must laugh when english-lingual people call names of outside their countries and then also write  "in their own way". example Ellisisland immigrants lists, which shows many funny variants of european names written down by hearing.  no wonder HOW they often end up.