Hi all!
I am Matthias, 50 yrs old, from Germany, so my English is far from being perfect. As probably all the people here, I am doing some research on my ancestors.
Many of them were landowners and farmers in the south-eastern part of Lower Saxony, so they and their families used to live in the same area for centuries. So it requires no witchcraft for an amateur genealogist to retrace that kind of forebears.
Another major group consists of parish ministers. In the past, it was custom for a young minister to marry the daughter of his predecessor in office. As the German clergy is quite well-documented, finding ancestors in this group offers no difficulties as well.
Furthermore I have many (hanseatic) merchant amongst my ancestors, and that leads straightly to my question: my ggggggggggggrandfather (eleven times 'great'!) was William Rowan, who was born in Scotland abt 1550 and came over to Anklam (Western Pomerania), where he worked as a merchant (such as a significant number of his fellow countrymen did!) and became councillor in his new hometown. First known mention in Anklam was in 1580. With his wife Ilsabe Mehl, the scion of a long-established family of merchants and councillors, William had a daughter, Anna, who married Lorenz Dinnies, who himself was member of an ancient family of merchants.
I recently read a book on Scotsmen who, for whatever reasons, immigrated to Pomeranian towns in the 16th century. It says, that William's father was James Rowan, referred to as an Esquire, who married Alice Murray, daughter of Lord (sic!) Murray. Unfortunately, no source is mentioned.
Does anybody ever came across a William Rowan who went to Germany in order to stay here? William Rowan existed without doubt and is my ancestor. I would like to find out more about him and his Scottish progenitors. I do not know the circumstances of Scottish emigration that well, but I suspect that religious reasons may have played a role. Further on, I suspect that William Rowan has already been a merchant when he came to Anklam.
Any help is highly appreciated!
So long!
