Genealogy Chat

I have a handed down "true" family story that I am trying to prove or rubbish.

2x great grandfather Charles Moss, was born about 1833 and according to the "story" he came from foreign parts, ie. any northern European country depending who in the family was relating the story.

He came from a well off family that was into shipping and his name at that time was Karl Mosskovitch. On arrival in England he changed his name to Charles Moss. I have obtained the marriage cert. and he names his father as John Moss, a mariner. If his father was from foreigh parts, I would have thought his name would have been Johan Mosskavitch !!!!!

I have found on only one census that he was not born in the UK and that was in Germany, all the rest say were ever his wife was born.

Do I have enumerators who did not listen, could not understand his probable accent, were too lazy to write anything that was different to the rest of the family???

I have info for his wife Elizabeth, but
I am stuck at 1861 which is the marriage cert.

Thoughts please

Wonder if he anglicised his name? I remember looking for a Frederick Vollrath from Prussia (now Germany) for a neighbour and it seemed as though he started out as Friedrich Vollrath or something similar.

I reckon Karl to Charles is a logical move and perhaps he shortened Mosskovitch to Moss both because it was shorter/easier to spell and just sounded more "English"?

I suppose with the later census records, it depends who filled the form out. Maybe it was one of his children and they didn't know he was born abroad? Or maybe he changed it because he didn't want to be seen as "foreign" or "different"?

Yes , I also think that he anglicised his name, but doing the same for his father has thrown a spanner in the works.

I do think he was from "foreign parts" and can see how over the course of years the story has been embroidered.

I can only hope that in time I make contact with another decendent who may be able to confirm/trash the story.

Oh well, back to the paracetamols!!!!!!

Quite likely the name was anglicised, it was a time when immigrants did their level best to 'fit in'.
My grandfather Kazimerus Roska became Charles Rochka, my grandmother Agota Mickevicius became Agnes Mitchell, her cousins Jovassi and Antanus Kiselius became Joanna and Anthony Cassels - and so it goes on.

Your biggest job is going to be finding the origins of your Moskovitch man - the latter part of the name, ovitch, is the usual Slavic suffix for 'son of'.....and spelling variations are ovitz, owitz, owicz, owitch, ovic, ovits etc.
I don't know where to suggest you start, except to say take a look at the links on Cyndis list? You could put up a question on one of the Eastern European/Russian message boards.
The name really doesn't sound northern European to me.

K

People didn't always anglicise their names but just changed them:
Armin Finkelstein became David Fielding.
Jill

I remember reading Anthony Adolph the resident genealogist saying he found a family for a member living in Middlesbrough.

He proved the family were from Ireland not Middlesbrough. His explanation was people were fearful of being sent back so lied about their place of birth

And so it goes on ....
My partners grandfather we know as Solomon London, a Polish Jew born in Posen/Poznan (Poland/Germany depending on years) and married Emilie Mendle (Mendel) born in Hamburg. We cannot trace their marriage be it in UK or Germany/Poland as hubby believes Solomon also anglicised his name when he came to UK in late 1800's.
Children were all UK born.
Anyone out there have any ideas what Solomons original surname could have been?

I agree with Karen in the desert, It sounds more Sovac or Eastern Europe to me. I have Romanian/Hungarian ancestors with the name Lazarovitch. The Romanian form of John is Jova, pronounced Yova.

Can you list them in a census? The only one I can find is born Germany in 1881 and then Middlesboro in 1891. However, his wife was born St George in the East.

Rose

Regardless of the outcome of this story, please include it as part of your family history. Even when I have found these stories to be groundless, they can be fun. I have included all of my Family Whisperings with the proof that it is wrong or right. They are also helpful if another family member questions your research and says this is right as grant aunt Maude told my 2nd cousin 5 times removed that is the story.

Good luck with your search.

Gail

1881
like already said he states Germany,are these hischildren
Charles Moss 48
Elizabeth Moss 40
Charles Moss 18
Henry Moss 15
William Moss 13
Elizabeth Moss 7
John Moss 5
Alice Moss

Thanks for a great tip, Gail,
I shall now have a section in all my folders for "Family Whisperings" - now they won't be left in my memory but left for posterity (whoever they are!)
Love it!
Jill

Oh dear

You should really not start a new thread on the same topic. Now some of these people have duplicated the wsork that was already done.

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards.asp?wci=thread&tk=1185846

I am so sorry for the delay in returning to read the additions to my "story", but this d........ computer went down for 2 days.

Many thanks for your ideas, my onlky regreat is that I did not ask the questons of my grandmother while she was still alive. But who would have thought that delving into the past would be as comfortable as it now is.

I am hoping that oneday I will make contact with a Moss rellie who may be able to shed more light on it.

Thanks again everyone, you are all stars.

kathlyn