Will You Spell That For Me?

My sister Margie found a book in my Parent`s belongings that has the Genealogy and history of a branch of my Dad`s family tree. The book was written in 1937 and covers the years 1720 to 1937. My Grandmother`s maiden name was Foucht, but it seems that the name was originally Vogt. The earliest records of this name was that of Jonas Vogt Sr., born in Canton of Basil in Switzerland about 1720. Jonas and his wife (we have no record of her name) emigrated to North American, from Germany in 1750, landing in Pennsylvania.

Our American ancestors were called Pennsylvania Germans, because they spoke a German dialect called Pennsylvania Dutch.  Though they were a Swiss family, they spoke this German dialect common in Southern Germany,  Eastern France and Switzerland. This is also the dialect of the Amish communities in the US. Why call it Dutch, when it is German? The most reasonable explanation I found is that the word "Dutch" to the English of the 18th and 19th centuries referred to anyone from a wide range of Germanic regions, that are now the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland. It`s all Greek to me!

The German spelling of Vogt was the true spelling until 1810 when a number of my Uncles going westward to Ohio, mingled with the English elements of the State, and they departed from the original spelling.  Hence the following ways the name has appeared in print as: Vogt, Voght, Voight, Voigt, Voke, Vote, Fogt, Foght, Focht, Foucht, Fought, Fote, and Foke. Is it no wonder I had so much trouble tracing this branch of the family?

A fortune of over a million dollars was lost because of these variations in the spelling of the name. My early ancestors regretted this very much. Such a financial loss meant a great deal more then than now, because of the great needs in the new country.

I am having similar problems tracing my husbands family that came over from Russia and Lithuania through Ellis Island. When emigrants came into this country through Ellis Island they would chance their names after entering America. There is a myth that the names were changed by the inspectors at Ellis Island. The names on the ship manifests were written by the ship`s Captain, or a representative from the ships port of origin. The inspectors checked the immigrants in using the ships manifests, and would not have changed the documentation. There may have been some small changes do to poor interpretation of all the different languages, but it is more likely, that like my relatives the Vogts, they were just trying to fit in, and changed their name to a more American English version.

Although the "The Vogt Family History" is mostly a book of Genealogy, it does have a few dramatic and interesting stories in it about my family. In other words, future blog material. Stay tuned.