Truth
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About Our Site
Who is a "Schmitt of Hatten"?
​This site is about the descendants of Johann "Hans" Michael Schmidt (1666-1750) a master tailor from Buhl, Alsace. Throughout the site, the name "Schmitt" is meant to mean a descendant of Hans Michael whose surname or maiden name is Schmitt, Schmidt, Smith, or a less common spelling such as "Schmith." Broadly speaking, it can also mean any descendant of Hans the Master Tailor regardless of surname. Although the current focus is on the surname, we hope to eventually include historical and cultural materials relating to matrilineal families as well (see below "Reconciling the Numbers").
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Although this site focuses on a particular family, we've tried to provide historical information, cultural material, and research aids of interest to all genealogists and family historians whose study takes them to Alsace. All researchers are welcome and we hope you'll find something here that helps you write your own history!
How was the surname
originally spelled?
Today we think of the "correct" spelling of a person's name as however that person himself spells it. While the majority of people in early 18th century Bas-Rhin signed only by mark, many of our ancestors signed their own names. We're fortunate to have a single signature of our earliest known ancestor, Hans the Master Tailor. Written in the German Kurrent script used at the time, it shows clearly that he spelled his name "Schmidt".
To learn how and when the name came to be spelled "Schmitt", see the article titled History of the spelling of the Schmitt name in our Family History Scrapbook.
In the Family Tree area of this site, we try to include alternative names and spellings in AKA form when they are known. For the preferred form we use what in our best judgment is the name or spelling preferred by the bearer of the name. Because they're more likely to be accurate, birth, marriage, and death records are preferred over census records or immigration lists. The death record, particularly what was used on a grave marker, is preferred if different from the birth name. A good example of this is Georg of Ship Sully's son Philip Smith (1802-1887, born Schmitt).
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A somewhat harder question arises when the bearer of the name has a different name on his headstone than the one he actually used in life. This is true of Philip's brother Friederich (1800-1880), who used "Smith" on a regular basis in his adoptive country, but has "Schmitt" on his headstone. The assumption that the gravestone represents the preferred name is supported in both brothers' cases by the fact that Friederich's descendants reverted to "Schmitt" while Philip's remained "Smith."
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Alternative names and spellings
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Jacob "Yah-cub"
Georg "Gay-org"
Friederich "Freed-rik"
Philip "Fil-ip"
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Pronunciation
To get a good idea of how our German-speaking ancestors pronounced names, enter the name into Google Translate and press the "Listen" button. Here's a rough approximation for English speakers:
Hatten "Hotten"
Johann "Yo-hahn"
Eva "Ay-fa"
Michael "Micka-el"
Those unfamiliar with the German language may not be aware that in its written form all nouns are capitalized, not just proper nouns. Knowing this can help prevent confusion when, for instance, referring to Hans Michael's occupation as a Schneider, meaning "tailor," or the family occupation as Nagelschmidts, literally "nailsmiths." The fact that these are capitalized does not imply that the terms were used as names.
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A note about German nouns
Reconciling the numbers
This site currently emphasizes male lines - bearers of the Schmitt, Schmidt, or Smith name. Because of historical naming patterns in western culture, it's generally easier to research male lines. And while people are naturally curious about where their name came from, many tend to lose interest in ancestors and cousins whose names they can't relate to.
But there are good reasons not to neglect female lines, such as helping other researchers find maiden names, and bringing to light family mementos passed down from daughter to daughter through so many name changes that descendants forgot who they belonged to. Excitingly, the advent of DNA testing for genealogy may change the research landscape, as m-DNA makes it easier to trace long lost female lines.
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To the extent that we emphasize the surname on this site, the reason is practical - the need to reconcile storytelling with the reality of a literal "cast of thousands." As shown in the accompanying chart, a reasonable estimate of Hans Michael's present-day descendants is somewhere between 2,000 and 200,000! If genealogy is to be more than a massive list of people about whom you can hardly know anything, it's necessary to maintain a focus.
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That said, we welcome participation by all descendants of Hans the Master Tailor and his wife Ursula, and hope the information we provide here is helpful to all.
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Big Bin & Little Bin
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c. 1914
Columbus, Ohio
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Nicknames
In Philip Schmitt's family (1840-1915, Columbus, Ohio) everyone had a nickname. Weirdest of all were the nicknames of his grandsons Erwin and Vernon. For reasons lost to history, Erwin was "Big Bin" and Vernon was "Little Bin". So to the ends of their lives , they both called the other "Bin."
Studying genealogy, it's hard not to conclude that nicknames were popular at one time because they were necessary to tell people apart. For religious or cultural reasons, babies in the 18th and early 19th centuries were given one of only a few "good Christian names." This was true for both males and females.
In addition, it's clear from naming patterns that in some families or communities, the middle name was the one actually used, and the first was just a formality. In the Schmitt family the formal name was Johann. Almost every male in the first four generations was named Johann! This obviously confuses our study. But even going to middle names only helps a little, since there are so many Johann Michaels, Johann Jacobs, and Johann Georgs.
This is why we've added our own nicknames like "Hans the Master Tailor" for males in the first four generations who are known or believed to have living descendants. It helps us keep the characters straight, and perhaps you'll find it helpful as well. Note: While our family's matriarchs are no less "deserving" of nicknames, they're easily identified by their combined maiden and married names, e.g. Anna Marie Schmidt Gerstbacher.
From the site creator
Whether a German trait, family trait, or just something peculiar to my father, one thing that could be said of him was that he was a proud man. Everything he was associated with was a likely source of pride - from obvious things like his company and his church, to inconsequential things like his live balsam Christmas tree. So we grew up hearing about our German heritage, despite the fact that Pop was only about half German and didn't speak a word of the language.
He told an oral history of his family that began with his great grandfather, Friederich. At the time, few tools were readily available to prove or disprove the family lore. But even as a teenager I was curious enough to pore over old record books in a church founded by Friederich's son Philip, looking for references to Schmitts (with two t's of course - that was REALLY a source of pride).
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My first serious foray into genealogic research was as preparation for writing the biography of artist Rolf Armstrong, published in 2001 as Pin Up Dreams: The Glamour Art of Rolf Armstrong. When we began the project in the mid 90's, my coauthor had material on Armstrong's later life, but hardly anything from 1889 to 1930. My sister wisely suggested using genealogic methods to ferret out information on the artist's early life. This was before the internet was very useful, and I learned to visit Family History Centers and run a microfilm reader.
In the late nineties, the rapidly evolving internet spurred me to use both old and new research methods to learn more about our Schmitt heritage. As with the Armstrong study, my goal was to weave together a family history - what these days is called a narrative. This began with taking my father's oral history and trying to verify or refute it (see Friederich Schmitt and how he came to Ohio in our Family History Scrapbook). I then tried to identify as many of Friederich's descendants as possible, learn about their occupations and geographical distribution, and maybe find others whose research overlapped my own.
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This effort paid off in a big way in 2005 when I had the good fortune to be contacted by Harold Habein, whose g-g-grandfather was Friederich's brother Christian. I'd tried in vain to find this brother, who in my tree had simply disappeared. As revealed by Harold's extensive research, Christian turned out to have so many accomplished descendants, that if I gave him a nickname it would be "Christian, Father of Luminaries."
My research today - as well as this website - is still inspired by the goals of telling a family story and connecting with others of common heritage and interest. A man who lived over 250 years ago must have many descendants by now; so it's to all of you, whoever and wherever you are, that this site is dedicated.
- Janet Schmitt Dobson
