germans are annoyingly confusing. one of my families used johann for every boy and johanne for every girl. then used the middle names. they even named the 2 eldest sons the same names, but the 3rd given name is different!
another branch used wilhelmine a lot, even though it was their 3rd of 4th given name.
and another branch became as english as possible, dropping their german heritage when they arrived here in the 1850's. it still caused problems in WWI when an ancestor tried to lead his troops, and they refused because of his german surname! once he explained that every german member of his family had married an english person, and the family was no longer pure german, did they accept him and followed his commands. tragic, isnt it?
i would think your families fled germany because of religious persecution. if they were in england from the early 1840's, then it would be easy to think this. my ancestors left germany in 1842, because the german king tried to unite the various german protestant faiths into one church with himself as the supreme head, ala henry VIII, and the persecution he was using to make the people agree was too much. so they emmigrated. but my families had the benefit of farming land here, i dont think yours would have had the same luxury in london!
another branch used wilhelmine a lot, even though it was their 3rd of 4th given name.
and another branch became as english as possible, dropping their german heritage when they arrived here in the 1850's. it still caused problems in WWI when an ancestor tried to lead his troops, and they refused because of his german surname! once he explained that every german member of his family had married an english person, and the family was no longer pure german, did they accept him and followed his commands. tragic, isnt it?
i would think your families fled germany because of religious persecution. if they were in england from the early 1840's, then it would be easy to think this. my ancestors left germany in 1842, because the german king tried to unite the various german protestant faiths into one church with himself as the supreme head, ala henry VIII, and the persecution he was using to make the people agree was too much. so they emmigrated. but my families had the benefit of farming land here, i dont think yours would have had the same luxury in london!
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