Brenda Wawok Kinsella Horton Wildfang Family Tree
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Brenda Wawok Kinsella Horton Wildfang Family Tree Ancestors of Mary Elizabeth Wiltfong, my grandmother ―The Chosen‖ We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again. To tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: Tell our story. So, we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors, "You have a wonderful family; you would be proud of us.". How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say. It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who I am, and why I do the things I do. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying - I can't let this happen. The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that the fathers fought and some died to make and keep us a nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled to give us birth, without them we could not exist, and so we love each one, as far back as we can reach. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are they and they are the sum of who we are. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take my place in the long line of family storytellers. That is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and restore the memory or greet those who we had never known before." by Della M. Cummings Wright; Rewritten by her granddaughter Dell Jo Ann McGinnis Johnson; Edited and Reworded by Tom Dunn, 1943." The German family name Wiltfong is classified as being of nickname origin. Surnames which are derived from a nickname are said to constitute one of the widest and most varied class of family names. This particular category encompasses many different types of origin. The most obvious are those names which are based on a physical characteristic or personal attribute of the initial bearer. In this particular instance, the surname Wiltfong denotes a ―person who lived in the undeveloped area‖ or ―someone who comes from a foreign land‖, from the Germanic, ―wild‖, the Old High German ―wildi‖, meaning ―wild, wilderness‖ and ―fang‖, from the Germani ―fangen‖, meaning ―to capture, control‖. In some instances the name may also indicate ―a wild and hot tempered individual‖. The name may also be of habitation origin denoting ―someone who lived near a wildlife preserve‖ or, ―enclosed hunting area‖. Variants of the surname Wiltfong include Wildfanc and Wildfank. One of the earliest references to this name or to a Page 1 of 163 variant is a record of one Chid. Wildfanc, documented in Rosbock, in the year 1300. The christening of one Anna Maria Wildfang, daughter of Johannes Wildfang and of Ursula Steub, was recorded on 1st January 1684 in Freiburg and the marriage of Christian Wildfang and Maria Magdalena Musler was recorded on 19th November 1764 in Baden. Elisaheth Wildfang and Johannes Hardes were married on 23rd July 1872 in Westphalia. Notable bearers of the surname include Richard Wildfang, a preacher who died in 1663. This name was introduced to America as early as 1734 in which year we find a record of the emigration of Johannes Wildfang who settled in Pennsylvania. The name could of course have been first introduced to that country at an earlier date. Name variations: Woolfang, Wilfong, Wildfang, Wildfong, Wiltfong, Willfong. The Wildfang Family of North America* (below are excerpts summarized from the book) Today the name is spelled Wildfang, Wildfong, Wilfong, Willfong, Wiltfong, and Wiltfang. Even Woolgang and Wolfgang(er). We are all one family. Johannes Wildfang arrived in Philadelphia Port September 22, 1734 with his family aboard the ship The St. Andrew, captained by John Stedman. Along with 263 other passengers they departed from Rotterdam, Holland on June 28, 1734, and last from Plymouth. The trip had taken five months, departing Altoona, Denmark, May 14, 1734. The ship, St. Andrew, was chartered by the religious group known as Schwenkfeld'ers. They were followers of Caspar Schwenkfeld who was born in 1740. They had space left over on the ship and offered the remaining space to others. It would appear that the Wildfang family was amongst this group of others who were offered passage. The ship's master, John Stedman, prepared a passenger list, apparently during the voyage. This list of men shows a Johannes Woolfang. The list of women and children shows an Elizabeth Woolfang, Johannes Woolfang, and George Michael Woolfang. It is surmised that John Stedman was English speaking, and prepared this list as he toured the ship. He or his representative probably asked each family for their names and recorded them as they sounded to him. Our family would have spoken German at this time, so I think the name Woolfang more accurately represents the pronunciation of the name to an English ear, rather than the accurate spelling of the name. There exists another list (in German) that I believe is more accurate to the spelling of the name. There are still many questions to be answered but it appears the family consisted of the parents Johannes & Elizabeth Wildfang and their two sons, Johannes Sebastian and the older of the two, George Michael. Upon arrival in Philadelphia, the males over the age of 16 were taken to the Court House. Here they were to swear allegiance to the rules of the country, the King of Great Britain and his successors to the Crown of England. All these males signed an oath, as did our ancestor Johannes Wildfang. It would appear that his name is written in an English hand, and he signs with an "X" between his first and last names. There are many names on this list that appear to be written in the same hand and acknowledged by an "X". The other names all appear to be signatures of various hands. My assumption is that Johannes probably had an identification paper of some sort that contained his name and it is certainly still a very common surname in Germany today. Page 2 of 163 Traveling across the Atlantic Ocean in 1734 was a dangerous enterprise. We are fortunate to have found documentation of this very voyage the Wildfang family took in a diary kept by Christopher Wiegner. In 1978 Dr. Peter Erb translated this diary and produced the book entitled, "The Spiritual Diary of Christopher Wiegner". Christopher Wiegner was born in Ober-Harperskorf, Silesia on Feb 24, 1712 and died in Towamencin, Pennsylvania in 1745. He wrote in his diary of the Jesuit persecution which the Schwenkfelders endured and the hardship that was imposed upon them because of their religious beliefs. It would appear the family was probably from Bohemia, at varying times a part of Germany, and of the Moravian faith. [Note: the full account of the ship's travel across the Atlantic is documented in the referenced book] As in the case of most Germans, if they had two names, the first name was usually dropped, so George Michael Wildfang became Michael Wildfang. I don't believe there is any doubt the original spelling of our name was Wildfang. It is a very common name in Germany today and the only variation we see in the spelling in Germany is Wiltfang. Some of these families emigrated to North America since our family arrived in 1734 and they use either spelling, Wildfang or Wiltfang. Basically, it's simple, the family could neither read nor write, at least the majority couldn't in the first 150 years or so in North America. This accounts for all the spellings. (It is possible that the opposite is also true; someone was well-educated, and English educated, and he didn't want the name to "sound" German, so the spelling was changed to Wilfong to match the pronunciation. -- this isn't an exact science!) When we see a "new" spelling come along we can generally trace it to a geographical area, isolated from others in their family. For example, the Wildfong spelling was created in Waterloo County, Ontario, Canada in 1802. Everybody in North America with the Wildfong spelling can trace their ancestry to Waterloo County. It's not to say that all the families from Waterloo County would take this spelling, though.