FEBRUARY 1994 NEWSLETTER
An update (included in this newsletter) has been received from Ingegard PERSSON, a Swedish researcher who has been researching the Amelia Augusta ANDERSON line. She has identified 97 direct ancestors beyond Amelia and has extended this line 6 generations . Her research has advanced EVERY line on Amelia's pedigree. All of Amelia's ancestors were from Sweden and attended local area churches in the Lindesberg, Orebro, Sweden area. I will also enclose Amelia Augusta (Anderson) MOWER's pedigree for family members interested in her line.
Report from Ingegard PERSSON "Dear Jerry, When fall started this year, I knew little or nothing about my teaching schedule. The good news in these recession times, was that I got more students, more interest for the genealogy than anybody could dream of. I now travel around four towns to teach and I have been truly busy. The bad news was, that the school year had but started and I was rushed in for emergency surgery, this took lots of time from my normal schedule. However, I knew that you are all eagerly awaiting some news from me and to this point I am finishing the actual family tree. I am doing it with some help, on a computer and it takes time to fill in the names. I will start with sending the family tree to you, and in the beginning of the next year (1994), I will complete my work with the family story. Please bare with me.
"Your ancestors did attend all three churches on the pictures (that she sent to us), it is all depending on whom we are talking about. The churches are all in an area where different parts of your family lived and therefor I wanted you to see them all. You will be able to understand it better with the family story.
"You may be aware that some of the research is on film and somewhat automatic, but quite a lot of your family tree seemed to be manual work and therefor it took longer to obtain the material. The work gives me great pleasure and some of my investigations can be used as example for my students, who will have to learn the different research techniques. However, it is far more time consuming.
"Dear Jerry, I hope to hear from you when the first parts have arrived and the next one is in process. I would like to take this opportunity to send to you all my warmest Christmas wishes, from a cold, and quite white Sweden. We all much prefer the real snow to rain and gray slosh. Snow brings us light since it is our dark season, with as little as six hours of daylight a day. I send you my best regards from one interested genealogist to another. Ingegard Almquist-Persson" This research has been largely funded by the RASMUSSENs and the MCARTHURs. Thanks to you folks.
Also for the family members who descend from the Elizabeth HALL line: Jack and Mary RASMUSSEN have been able to identify John CANNNON, the father of William CANNON in Goochland County, Virginia. William CANNON was married to Judith WOODSON and their child was Mary CANNON who married William EAST. The RASMUSSEN's have also been able to identify the parents of Judith WOODSON--- who were John and Judith WOODSON. They have also identified all of Judith's brothers and sisters. Large advances are being made on the EAST and CANNON genealogies due to Jack and Mary. Thanks for sharing your material for other family members in the Newsletter. The Goochland, Virginia Historical Society has been written to check local resources for CANNONs, WOODSONs, and EASTs.
I was able to put together 7 days of research and genealogy during the Christmas break and spent considerable time just getting 6 inches of documents off the top of my desk. Nelson EDDY has now sent to me 9 computer disks of information. I have waded through this information and found much of it to be of value. He sent to me part of the research of a Paul GIESINGER who has researched the European origins of the family. Part of that research centered on the GEISSINGER family that lived in Goetzis, Austria (our branch). What I have come across is incredibly interesting and pushes in part our GEISSINGER line to 550 A.D.
Paul GIESINGER Research "The recorded history of a family, if possible, should begin with the initial use of a surname and the origin and derivation of such a name. Prior to the use of a surname it would be virtually impossible to trace the history and genealogy of a family because there would be no positive way to identify and designate ancestors. In Germany, the general use of surnames goes back to about the year 1200. Many surnames, it seems pre-date that year.
"The name Giesinger was derived from the community of Giesing-- an ancient community that dates back to about the year 500 A.D. It is probable that a citizen of Giesing moved on to another community and here in his new home he would be referred to as the 'Giesinger'-- one who comes from Giesing. It would seem that this came about in the period between the years 1100 and 1200. It is known that the name existed in the year 1264 A.D. and probably much earlier. The name is one of the most ancient of German names.
"To discover the meaning and derivation of the name 'Giesinger' we have to look at the history and derivation of the name 'Giesing'. According to a history of the community Giesing (now a part of the city of Munich) is, at least, half of a millennium older than Munich and is one of the oldest settlements in Bavaria. At the latest, in 550 A.D. Kyeso, the head of a Bavarian clan of 50 to 60 in number, immigrating from the north or north-east, tired of the restless moving about, took land under cultivation and built homes. The settlement Kyesinga (clan of Kyeso) on the right bank of the Isar was located on the hillside which made it easy to defend. In documents it was first mentioned in the year 790 A.D. when the priest Icho presented his inherited estate at Giesing (Kyesinga) to Bishop Otto, the Bishop of Freising... Likely Icho was permitted to be pastor at Giesing. The great antiquity of the settlement was also confirmed through the early Bavarian cemetery with 253 graves which were discovered at the building of the new school house in 1899...The deceased from the clan of Kyeso and their descendants to about 700 A.D. were buried in this cemetery which lies between the present Icho and Silberhorn streets.
"In another historical reference to this cemetery, it is recorded that over 300 skeletons, some in caskets and some only covered with a board were found. Under these boards were men in armor and with weapons, women with jewellery of amber and bronze and also numerous children. All were buried facing east...
"Kyeso himself may have been and probably was the ancestor of the man, who sometime before the year 1264 A.D. (probably between 1100 and 1200) for the first time used the name of Giesinger. Among those buried in the cemetery discovered were probably ancestors of the man originally known as 'the Giesinger' (the man who came from Giesing). This original Giesinger, only became known by that name after he left the community of Giesing and moved on to another settlement. We do not know where the man lived at the time that the name Giesinger was applied to him but it can be assumed that it was probably a community not too many kilometers distant from Giesing. As time went on and the family name of Giesinger had perhaps been used for several generations, we find that a man by the name had settled in Frankfurt-am-Main for this information appears in the description of the Giesinger Coat-of-Arms. This family lived in Frankfurt for some time, no doubt, until 1264 A.D. a family by the name of Giesinger emigrated to Switzerland.
"The Giesinger family settled in Switzerland in 1264 A.D. While we have not located the exact community in which this family settled in Switzerland, it is probable that the community was either Werdenberg, Alt St. Johann or Sargans. The whole Rhine valley region from Sargans to Lake Constance, during the period from 1200-1500 belonging to the powerful Montfort family, who descended from the nobility of Bregenz in Austria... In any event, sometime between 1264 and 1348 a Giesinger family took up residence in the beautiful province of Vorarlberg, the most westerly province of Austria. It is situated on Lake Constance (Bodensee) and the Rhine between the Tyrol to the East, Germany to the North and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the West. It comprises an area of about 1000 square miles and today has a population of 285,000 inhabitants. Its blue stretches of water, green meadows and forests, its majestic mountains, white eternal snow and glaciers combine in this small province and make it one of the most beautiful areas of Europe. The charming villages with their quaint streets and alleyways still maintain the old traditions in their costumes and customs. These villages located in the beautiful valleys are at the same time also very modern with trade fairs, industries and most modern transportation facilities and very fine tourist accommodation. The people here, are diligent, imaginative and friendly. Technical advances have not been allowed to interfere with the overall beauty and peace of the landscape. Vorarlberg is a tourist attraction all year round because of its beauty both winter and summer. It is one of the most beautiful ski resorts in the world...
"To this beautiful land of lakes, rivers, woods, mountains, mountain meadows, beautiful fertile valleys, beautiful waterfalls and glaciers came our ancestor from Switzerland. As mentioned earlier, it has not been established at this time where our ancestors lived in Switzerland... There are Giesinger families living today in the communities of Stans, Canton Nidwalden and Engwilen in Thurgau, all in Switzerland. But these Giesinger families have only lived in these areas since 1901 and therefore give no clue as to the community of residence of the family from Frankfurt. In any event, it is possible that this family itself may have moved on to the land of Vorarlberg. While the name Giesinger is not mentioned in the historical records of Vorarlberg prior to 1348, it is quite possible that the family was represented there many years earlier.
"Here in Vorarlberg, the Giesinger (Gisinger) family has been represented continuously since the first family came here. Here, the Giesinger families are numerous and prominent today. Many centuries ago the Giesinger family had already been prominent here and the Director of the Vorarlberger Provincial Archives informs us that the Giesinger (Gisinger) family belongs among the oldest in the land. The name is first mentioned in a document dated the 11th of August, in the year 1348--- document No. 2924 (found in the Vorarlberg Land Archives). At that time the family was living in the community of Gisingen which today is incorporated into the city of Feldkirch. It would appear that the village of Gisingen took its name from the Gisinger family. At that time the name was spelled Gisinger...
"This document would indicate that Clausen von Gisingen was the man in authority (a bailiff or magistrate at that time meant a man in authority or an overlord of an estate) over the community of Nenzing. Since Clausen von Gisingen had died, his feudal superior Graf (Count) Hartmann von Werdenberg-Sargans disposed of the estate of Nenzing to the House of the Johanniters at Feldkirch. In doing so, the Count Hartmann von Werdenberg-Sargans was acting on behalf of the deceased Clausen von Gisingen or on behalf of his estate (fiefdom).
"In another document just a few years later, the Gisinger name again occurs: 'At the sale of the lordship (lordly estate) Neuburg on the Rhine at Goetzis by the Knights Thumb von Neuburg to the Dukes Rudolph Albrecht and Leopold von Oesterreich (of Austria) on the 8th of April, 1363 were cited among the people who had to pay taxes, Rudi and Cunrat Gisinger with 'wip and kint (wife and child) as well as Hainz Gisinger and his children' "
"The quotation above indicates that the three Gisingers mentioned were well established and men of means since otherwise they would not have been cited as taxpayers... In 1412 a Cunrad Gisinger with wife and children attained civic rights in Feldkirch.... About 1436 Peter Gisinger and his son Hans instituted an anniversary at Frastanz and in 1459 Albrecht Gisinger was the autocrat (absolute ruler) in the parish of Frastanz. These Gisingers from Frastanz, it would seem, were descendants of the above mentioned Claus von Gisingen, who probably was the magistrate of Werdenberg in the Walgau..."
Next month I will continue with Paul Giesinger's research on the origins of our GEISSINGER family. He will explain how many of the GIESINGERs became associated with the Lutheran Church while others remained Catholic. It appears from his research that the family was in several areas of Germany, Switzerland and Austria and that our branch got to Goetzis, Vorarlberg, Austria after having been in Switzerland, Frankfurt and Giesing, Germany. I will enclose a map of Paul's showing GEISSINGER locations in Vorarlberg.