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Family history

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Family History

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     We have traced this family line back to a Hans Sonss who most likely lived in southwestern Germany during the turbulent 17th century.  The name of his wife is not known but they did have a known daughter named Eva Sonst (Sonsst).  Eva was born around 1657 at the community of Hoffenheim now located in the German state of Baden-Württemburg.  Around 1672 she married Johann Georg Gobel who was also a native of Hoffenheim.  Our lineage continues through their son Hans George Gobel said to have been born at Hoffenheim in 1693.  Eva Sonst Gobel lived her entire life at Hoffenheim and passed away there around 1700. 

 

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Direct ancestors

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Ancestral Lineage

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Additional information about the persons in our database  as   well  as   a   complete

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listing of individuals with this surname may be reviewed by clicking on this LINK.

DESCENDENT REGISTER

Generation 1

HANS1 SONSS .

Hans Sonss and an unkown spouse had EVA2 SONST was born about 1657 in Hoffenheim, Rhein-Neckar, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.

 

Generation 2

EVA2 SONST (Hans1 Sonss) was born about 1657 in Hoffenheim, Rhein-Neckar, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. She died about 1700 in Hoffenheim, Rhein-Neckar, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. She married Johann Georg Gobel in 1672 in Hoffenheim, Rhein-Neckar, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. He was born in 1655 in Nördlingen, Donau-Ries, Bavaria, Germany. He died in 1713 in Hoffenheim, Rhein-Neckar, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.

 

Johann Georg Gobel and Eva Sonst had the following child:

 

i.        HANS GEORG3 GOBEL was born in 1693 in Hoffenheim, Rhein-Neckar, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. He died on 22 Feb 1765 in Orange, North Carolina, USA. He married Maria Barbara Geisler on 13 May 1716 in Hoffenheim, Rhein-Neckar, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. She was born about 1695 in Hoffenheim, Rhein-Neckar, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. She died after 1734 in York County, Pennsylvania.

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that will likely improve your results. The different searches will give you many different ways of using Google and the Internet to find ancestry information about this or any other Surname. 

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Source documents

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Source
Documents

 

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The documents contained within this “Source Documents Archives” have been located during our research of this family, and used as evidence to prove many of the facts contained within the database of this family’s record.   We have source documents related to the following persons within our database with this surname.

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This Link will take you to our

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archive of source documents.  

You are welcome to download any of the documents contained within this archive that does not cite a copyright.  Should you encounter a problem obtaining a copy you may get in touch with us via the contact information found at the end of this web-page.

     Most of these documents can be considered as primary or secondary evidence.  Primary evidence is usually defined as the best available to prove the fact in question, usually in an original document or record.  Secondary evidence is in essence all that evidence which is inferior in its origin to primary evidence. That does not mean secondary evidence is always in error, but there is a greater chance of error.  Examples of this type of evidence would be a copy of an original record, or oral testimony of a record’s contents.  Published genealogies and family histories are also secondary evidence.

     Classifying evidence as either primary or secondary does not tell anything about its accuracy or ultimate value.  This is especially true of secondary evidence.  Thus it is always a good idea to ask the following questions: (1) How far removed from the original is it, (when it is a copy)?; (2) What was the reason for the creation of the source which contains this evidence?; and (3) Who was responsible for creating this secondary evidence and what interest did they have in its accuracy?

SOURCE: Greenwood, Val D., The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, 2nd edition, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, MD 21202, 1990, pgs. 62-63

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Migration routes

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Migrations of the
American Family

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       Tracing our own family’s paths of migration can prove crucial in identifying previous generations and eventually, figuring out where and how they arrived in the “New World” as well as where they eventually settled.  Knowing the network of trails American pioneers traveled can help you guess where to start looking.  The trail map(s) provided below may assist you in understanding the routes that our direct ancestors of this family may have taken to find new homes and opportunities in the vast area now encompassed by the United States.

      During the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries hundreds of thousands of Europeans made the perilous ocean voyage to America.  For many it was an escape from economic hardship and religious persecution.  For most it was an opportunity to start over, own their own land, and make a better future for their descendents.

Immigration records show a number of people bearing the name of SONST, or one of its variants, as arriving in North America between the 17th and 20th centuries.  Some of these immigrants were: 25 year old William Sonss a 25 year old German who came to New York on board a hip from Antwerp, Belgium in 1853; Matilda Sonst from Germany who became a naturalized U.S. citizen at New York in 1879 and her husband Philipp Sonst who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1881.

Use the following links to find more early immigrants with this surname:

$ Search Ancestry.com Immigration Records; or Free Ship’s Passenger lists at OliveTreeGenealogy.com

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Images gallery

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Family Images
Gallery

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During our research we have collected images and photographs that are of general interest to a particular family.  Some of them are presented on this website because we believe they tend to provide the reader with additional information which may aid in the understanding of our ancestors past lives.

 

If you have any photographs or other images relating to 
this topic, we would greatly appreciate hearing from you.

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Ancestral locations

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Researching the locations where our ancestors lived has provided us with valuable evidence needed to fill in the gaps in our family trees.  It has also led us to many interesting facts that enhance the overall picture of each family group.

Locations of

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Locational Distribution

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Locations of Our Direct Ancestors

 

The names of states and counties on the following list were derived from the known places where the Direct Ancestors in the “Ancestral Lineage” (see above) were born, married, and / or died.

COUNTRY

STATE

COUNTY / SUBDIVISION

Germany

Baden-Württemberg

Rhein-Neckar / Sinsheim-Hoffenheim

 

 

 

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Locational Distribution of This Surname

Knowing the geographical areas where the surname you are researching is clustered and distributed is an indispensable tool in deciding where to focus your research.  We believe that the “Public Profiler” website will open up to you a wide range of solutions which implement current research in spatial analysis.  This site provides an array of local spatial information tools useful to the genealogist. 

The information presented below shows where the SONST surname is distributed.  It appears that this name is only common within Germany, the probable country of origin of this family.      Statistics show that there are approximately 1.5 persons per million of population with this surname, within Germany.  The top regions of Germany where this surname is the most highly clustered is the North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Durmersheim , Baden-Württemberg is the top city where this surname is found.

NORTH AMERICA

GERMANY

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Resources which enhance our knowledge of the places inhabited by our ancestors are almost as important as their names. The LINK to the right will take you to Maps, Gazetteers,   and  other  helpful   resources 

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that will assist in discovering Ancestral Locations.  These web sites comprise only a small portion of what is available for researchers interested in learning more about where their ancestors lived.

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Origins of the surname

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Origins of the Surname

An Introduction

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Source/Meaning

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History of

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More About

Surnames

 

An Introduction to the Surname

     The practice of inherited family surnames began in England and France during the late part of the 11th century.   Surnames were first utilized in the Germanic region of central Europe during the second half of the 12th century.  The custom of taking on surnames began in the southern areas of Germany, and gradually spread northward during the Middle Ages.  It took about three hundred years for this tradition to apply to most families and become a constant part of one’s identity. 

     With the passing of generations and the movement of families from place to place many of the original identifying names were altered into some of the versions that we are familiar with today.  Over the centuries, most of our European ancestors accepted their surname as an unchangeable part of their lives.  Thus people rarely changed their surname.  Variations of most surnames were usually the result of an involuntary act such as when a government official wrote a name phonetically or made an error in transcription. 

Research into the record of this SONST family line indicates that the variations, meanings and history of this surname are most likely linked to that area of Europe where German linguistic traditions are commonly found.

 

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Source(s) & Meaning(s) of the Surname

     Most modern German family names are a means conveying lineage.  For the most part, German surnames were developed from four major sources: (1) Patronymic & Matronymic surnames most common in northern Germany are based on a parent’s first name, such as Niklas Albrecht (Niklas son of Albrecht);  (2) occupational surnames are last names based on the person’s job or trade for example Lukas Fischer (Lukas the Fisherman);  (3) descriptive surnames are based on a unique quality or physical feature of the individual like Karl Braun (Karl with brown hair); (4) geographical surnames are derived from the location of the homestead from which the first bearer and his family lived such as Leon Meer (Leon from by the sea), or derived from the state, region, or village of the first bearer's origin for example Paul Cullen (Paul from Koeln/Cologne).

SONST is a German surname of unknown origin and meaning.  It is speculated that it may be a geographic name possible for someone from a place with that or a variant name. 

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History of the Surname

    Most German names have their roots in the Germanic Middle Ages. The process of forming family names in what is present day Germany began early in the 12th Century and extended through the 16th century.   

There is evidence of a place in Westphalia called Zoust that may be where this surname originated.  This speculation is based upon the fact that the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia is where the Sonst surname is the most highly clustered in the world.   In addition a well known noble family named Zonst or Sonst is known to have come from 's-Hertogenbosch the capital of the province of North Brabant.  As such much of the area known as Westphalia and the Westphalian Lowlands fell into the Duchy of Brabant and the neighboring  Duchy of Cleves between from the 12th century to the end of the 18th century.

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More About Surname Meanings & Origins

German Surnames

 First Names (Rufnamen) identified specific persons. Over time the first name began to be applied to the bearer's whole family.  At first through verbal usage, family names (Familiennamen) were later fixed through writing.  Until the 17th century, first names played a more important role. The earliest family names derived from the first name of the first bearer (Patronym). Later names derived from the place of dwelling and location of the homestead.  If a person of family migrated from one place to another they were identified by the place they came from.  Of more recent origin are names derived from the vocation of profession of the first bearer. These names comprise the largest group and the most easily recognizable, for they tell what the first bearer did for a living.  Another group are names derived from a physical or other characteristic of the first bearer.  Finally, there are names that tell you the state or region a first bearer and his family came from; the age old division in tribes and regions (Low German, Middle German and Upper German) is often reflected in names.

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Variations of the surname

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Variations of
the Surname

 

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Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to unfold and expand often leading to an overwhelming number of variants.  As such one can encounter great variation in the spelling of surnames because in early times, spelling in general and thus the spelling of names was not yet standardized.  Later on spellings would change with the branching and movement of families. 

Spelling variations of this family name include: Sonss, Sonsst, Zonst, Sonst and many more. 

 

The complexity of researching records is compounded by the fact that in many cases an ancestors surname may also have been misspelled.  This is especially true when searching census documents.   The Soundex Indexing System was developed in an effort to assist with identifying spelling variations for a given surname.  Soundex is a method of indexing names in the 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920 US Census, and can aid genealogists in their research. 

The Soundex Code for SONST and SONSST is S236. Other surnames sharing this Soundex Code are:  SANGSTER | SANSTROM | SCHMAKEIT | SHENSTONE | .

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Amorial bearings, symcbols and mottoes

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Armorial Bearings, Mottoes & Symbols

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In the Middle Ages heraldry came into use as a practical matter. The word heraldry is derived from the German word heer, meaning (a host, an army) and held, (champion). Heraldry originated in the devices used to distinguish the armored warriors in tournament and war, and was also placed on seals as marks of identity.  The Germans transmitted the word to the French, and it reached England after the Norman Conquest of 1066.  As far as records show, true heraldry began in the middle of the 12th century, and appeared almost simultaneously in several countries of Western Europe.  Heraldry spread to the German burgher class in the 13th century, and even some peasants used arms in the 14th century.  A German coat of arms is usually referred to by any of the following terms; Wappen, Familienwappen, Blasonierung, Heraldik, or Wappenschablonen.

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Descriptions of the

Armorial Bearings

Motto(es) of

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More About Hearldic Bearings

ARMORIAL BEARINGS

The associated armorial bearings for this surname and close variant spellings are recorded in Burke’s General Armorie and Rietstap’s Armorial General.  The additional information, presented below, is offered with regard to the armorial bearings depicted below:

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Descriptions of the
 Armorial Bearings

Saltire 1

     These arms belonged to a Sonst of 's-Hertogenbosch a municipality in the Netherlands, and also the capital of the province of North Brabant. It is located in the southern Netherlands, some 80 km south of Amsterdam.

     The shield is silver and contains a red saltire flanked by four black lions.

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MOTTO(ES)  

Motto(es) of this Surname

     A motto is a word or sentence usually written upon a scroll and generally placed below the shield, but sometimes, especially in Scotland, above the crest.    Many ancient mottoes were war-cries such as the Douglas motto of “Forward.”    Many mottoes refer to the name of the bearer, for example “cole regem” for Coleridge.   In general most mottoes convey a sentiment, hope, or determination, such as the Cotter motto “Dum spiro spero” where the meaning is “While I have breath I hope“.     Mottoes are often used by several successive generations, but may be changed at any time by the grantee. The languages most in use are Latin, French, and English.  Exceptions are seen in Scotland where they are often in the old Lowland dialect, and in Wales, often in the language of the principality.   

It is unusual to find a motto associated with the coat-of-arms of a noble German family.  As in this case no motto has been located that is associated with the Sonst surname and its close variant spellings.  This does not necessarily mean that the Germanic culture is devoid of mottos.  For example, the national motto of Germany is “Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit”, meaning Unity and Justice and Freedom.  The German word for motto is “Wahlspruch.” 

     Some of the more well known German mottoes are as follows: Alte Wunden bluten leicht Old wounds readily bleed anew;    Blut und Eisen Blood and iron;  Das beste is gut genug The best is good enough;  Einfeste Burg is unser Gott Our God is a strong tower of defense;  Ewigkeit Eternity;  Für Gott und Iht All for God and her;  Gott is überall God is over all;  Gott mit uns God is with us;  Ich dien I serve;  Krieg War;  Mehr Licht! More light!;  Nichts zoviel Nothing in excess;  Prosit! Good luck!;    Vaterland Fatherland;  Vertrau’ auf Gott Put your trust in God;  Vorwärts! Forward!;   Zu dienen At your service.

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Heraldic bearings

More about Heraldic Bearings

The art of designing, displaying, describing, and recording arms is called heraldry. The use of coats of arms by countries, states, provinces, towns and villages is called civic heraldry.   A Coat of Arms is defined as a group of emblems and figures (heraldic bearings) usually arranged on and around a shield and serving as the special insignia of some person, family, or institution.  Except for a few cases, there is really no such thing as a standard "coat of arms" for a surname.  A coat of arms, more properly called an armorial achievement, armorial bearings or often just arms for short, is a design usually granted only to a single person not to an entire family or to a particular surname.  Coats of arms are inheritable property, and they generally descend to male lineal descendents of the original arms grantee.  The rules and traditions regarding Coats of Arms vary from country to country. Therefore a Coat of Arms for an English family would differ from that of a German family even when the surname is the same. 

Some of the more prominent elements incorporated into a  coat of arms are :

Crest - The word crest is often mistakenly applied to a coat of arms.  The crest was a later development arising from the love of pageantry.  Initially the crest consisted of charges painted onto a ridge on top of the helmet.

Wreath or Torse The torse is a twist of cloth or wreath underneath and part of a crest. Always shown as six twists, the first tincture being the tincture of the field, the second the tincture of the metal, and so on.

Mantling – The mantling is a drapery tied to the helmet above the shield. It forms a backdrop for the shield.

Helm or Helmet - The helmet or helm is situated above the shield and bears the torse and crest. The style of helmet displayed varies according to rank and social status, and these styles developed over time, in step with the development of actual military helmets.

Shield or Arms - The basis of all coats of arms.  At their simplest, arms consist of a shield with a plain field on which appears a geometrical shape or object.  The items appearing on the shield are known as charges.

Motto - The motto was originally a war cry, but later mottoes often expressed some worthy sentiment. It may appear at the top or bottom of a family coat of arms.

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Searching for more information about heraldry? Click on the button at the  right to look at our webpage featuring links   to   websites   having  

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images of a wide variety of arms, crests, and badges.  They may also feature additional heraldry resources as noted in the accompanying descriptions.

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General Surname Resources

·             Our Surname Locator And Resources web page contains the following: (1) links that will take you to an updated listing of all surnames as posted in our three databases at the Rootsweb WorldConnect Project; (2) the Surname List Finder a tool that finds sound-alike matches for a given surname from among RootsWeb's thousands of surname lists; (3) the Soundex Converter that can be used to find the soundex code for a surname, plus other surnames/spellings sharing the same soundex code;  (4) Surname Message Boards the world's largest online genealogy community with over 17 Million posts on more than 161,000 boards; (5) Surname Mailing Lists of all surnames having mailing lists at RootsWeb, as well as topics that include (6) Surname Heraldy, and  (7) Mapping a Surname. 

·              Your genealogy research of this surname can be facilitated by use of Surname Web. This website links to the majority of the surname data on the web, as well as to individual family trees, origin and surname meaning if known, and many other related genealogy resources. 

·              Surname Finder provides easy access to free and commercial resources for 1,731,359 surnames. On each surname specific "finder" page, you can search a variety of online databases all pre-programmed with your surname.

·             Use All Surnames Genealogy to get access to find your surname resources .  There are almost 1300 links in this directory.

·             SurnameDB Free database of surname meanings - This site SurnameDB.Com contains a large FREE to access database (almost 50,000 surnames) on the history and meaning of family last names.

·             Public Profiler / World Names - Search for a Surname to view its Map and Statistics.

·             Linkpendium Surnames - Web sites, obituaries, biographies, and other material specific to a surname.

·              Cyndi's List - Surnames, Family Associations & Family Newsletters Index - Sites or resources dedicated to specific, individual family surnames.  

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