Johannes Schochenmaier (1719) and his brother

Let me introduce other Schochenmaiers from our past:

Johannes Schochenmaier was born on 4th May 1719 in Heumaden to Johann and Christina Elisabetha Schochenmaier.

Johannes is notorious by spelling of his family name. I mean he's the first whose name was written SCHOCHENMAIER. The majority of actually living Schochenmaiers are bearing that version of the surname.

What about Heumaden? Where is it? 

Today it's a part of Stuttgart:

Heumaden is a district of Stuttgart. It is located southeast of the city center and is the largest neighborhood in the borough Sillenbuch. The name comes from "Heu-" (in English: hay) plus "-mahd" (in English: mow); the coat of arms shows the crossed hayfork and the rake:

Do you remember the second theory of our family name's origin, when I speculated that "schochen+maier" could be an occupational name denoting "chiefs or heads of those who ricked /cocked or stacked/ the hay"? It doesn't prove anything, but as coincidence it's pretty interesting.

Herewith you'll find some nice pictures of that place:

Turn you attention to the year of the house!!!

In 1635 the plague raged in Heumaden. 86 persons died. In 1658 a school was established. In the French war of 1796 Heumaden was attacked and plundered seven times by Austria.

If Johannes Schochenmaier was born in 1719, so his father Johann Schochenmaier could be born between 1680s-90s.

In other archives, we may find out that Johannes got a brother a bit later: Johann Friderich Schochenmeyer who was born on 18th March 1721.

It's already another spelling!!!

However, it sounds strangely ... Father's name is Johann and his children names are Johannes and Johann Friderich. Maybe "Johann" was just an iterative part inherited from the father? And the second boy was Friderich.

Have you noticed that there is no Heumaden for the second son, just Stuttgart, if the archives would have reflected another level of the area...

So far for today...

More pictures from Rohrbach near Odessa

No theories for today!

Just enjoy pictures taken in Rohrbach near Odessa (Ukraine), where our forefarthers had lived for about 50 years (if the American Schochenmaiers are concerned) and about 120 (if you're offspring of the European Schochenmaiers): 

Suitable couples of the Schochs and the Maiers

Today, I'd like just to suppose who could be those two families, which, according to the first theory of the Schochenmaiers' origin, had united their businesses and married their children. 

I searched on FamilySearch for couples married before 1640s because as I demonstrated the very first Schochenmaier had got a child in 1652: Maria Schochenmeyer born on the 2nd March (baptized on the 7th March) 1652 in the family of Leopold Schochenmeyer and Anna Seueber at the Britzingen village. 

And also for those who bore the family names of Schoch and Maier. Below you'll find my results of the most suitable couples. 

Well, among millions of cards on marriage and born children from any parents, I found only three couple who meet our requirements: 

Be aware: Nobody of the below mentioned persons belongs to our forefathers! It's just a sort of probable constructions on the basis of available data. I should point out that nowhere is to be noticed that they gave to their offspring an "alloyed" surname of SCHOCHENMAIER, but I am not even sure that it might be done when a child was born... maybe  they changed their surname later, who knows? 

1st couple: Anna Maria Mayer and Georg Schoch married on 23rd August 1635 in Öhringen:

Name:	Anna Maria Mayer
Gender:	Female
Marital Status:	Single
Marriage Date:	23 Aug 1635
Marriage Place:	Öhringen, Württemberg, Germany
Father:	Georg Mayer
Spouse:	Georg Schoch
FHL Film Number:	1340180
Reference ID:	p345

It's here:

2nd couple: Anna Mayer and Georg Schoch married on 27th April 1624 in Owen:

Name:	Anna Mayer
Gender:	Female
Marriage Date:	27 Apr 1624
Marriage Place:	Owen, Württemberg, Germany
Father:	Michel Mayer
Spouse:	Georg Schoch
FHL Film Number:	1055831

It's here:

3rd couple: Agatha Schoch and Jacob Mayer married before 1622 in Unterensingen:

here is noticed that they got their son Melchior:

Name:	Melchior Mayer
Geschlecht:	Male
Taufdatum:	17 Feb 1622
Taufort:	EVANGELISCH, UNTERENSINGEN, SCHWARZWALDKREIS, WUERTTEMBERG
Name des Vaters:	Jacob Mayer
Name der Mutter:	Agatha Schoch

It's here:

It's pretty suspicious that all three couples are to be found in almost the same area... But, on the other hand, it may indicate that such couples would be plausible in Württemberg, around Stuttgart, where Swabian Germans lived.  It also corresponds with one of the core zones in our mapping of Schoch and Maier together.  

Interestingly, if you ask me what about the possible couples of the SchAch and Maier, I must say "nothing"! There are no couples with such family names married before 1640s... 

It guides me to conclude... I will announce it in the next posting))) G'Day!!! 

Second theory on the origins of Schochenmaiers' family name

On July, 2014 I presented the first theory advocated by some of us. In order to be neutral and objective, I will explain the second possible origin of our surname.

According to the first theory, our family name represents a sort of fusion of Schoch and Maier when two families had united their businesses and married their children)))

The second theory holds that our family name is occupational one. What is an occupational last name. These names were originally descriptive names based on the job a person did. Names like Taylor, Tyler and Paige are so popular these days, we don't even think of them as occupational surnames anymore!

It's clear that we have two words in our last name: SCHOCHenMAIER

Let's begin with MAIER:

This notable surname is of early medieval origin, and is a status name for a mayor, deriving from the Old French "mair(e)", ultimately from the Latin "mair(e)", greater, superior. In France and Scotland, the title denoted an officer who executed summonses and other legal writs, and in a Scottish Act of Parliament, dated 1426, the mair is described as the "King's Sergeant", and entitled to bear a "horn and wand". In England, the term was given to the chief officer of a borough. Thus, we conclude that MAIER might be steward, superintendent, administrator, responible for a group of workers, village or something like that. It's pretty general, that's why there are lots of MAIERs (more than 200.000).

What about SCHOCH?

There are only about 5100 surname bearers in Germany. This word is to be found in such family names as Schoch, Schochmann, Schöchle, Schöchlin, etc. It's an occupational name as well, for a farmer.  In Middle High German schoche means "piled up haystacks" or "hayrick". Its usage is suitable for Swiss and Alemannic German (South Western Germany).

So, as you can see, the first Schochenmaiers could be chiefs or heads of those who ricked /cocked or stacked/ the hay.






Here are the ancient coats of arms of the Schochs:

        

I have no idea why there are two of them))) But the first one seems to correspond to farmers...

Well, I think it's good news that we worked on the soil for lots of time, as well as our forefathers in Russia and first years in North America.

Some of places in the Southern Germany or Northern Austria by their emblems may indicate the relatedness of Scho/ach to hayricking. The problem is that all crests I found correspond to schAch(en)... Maybe it's not relevant? But why do they have haystacks on their blazons? Does it prove anything?

 
for Schachen in Austria



 
for Schachen to the South of Baden (Germany), near Switzerland

and



for Rohrschach in Switzerland.

I suggest that at any period the difference between schoch(en) and schach(en) was not so distinctive or it was written differently.

Well, it was the second theory on our origin. The dialect link guides us to the Southern Germany and it reassures that we on the right way.