Re: HYER vs. HEYER....ethnicity?????
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HYER vs. HEYER....ethnicity?????
Donna Potter Phillips 1/09/04
The only example I can give you is from my Hyre line which started out as Heyer when Leinert Heyer came to the US from Switzerland; however, his line was orginally from French Huguenots. When his descendants moved in and out of the West Virginia area of Virginia in the late 1700's, the name became spelled in a variety of forms, including Hyre, Hyer, and Hire, predominating. All of these people are descended from the same couple, and may not even know this. Harry Webster has written a fine book on this and I am plugging away at finishing my book on this line (however, have been sidetracked at the moment). The number one rule in genealogy is to "ignore spelling". The number two rule in genealogy is to "ignore spelling"..... One cannot tell for certain if their Hyer's were French, Swiss, Dutch, etc., simply by the spelling. You have to be able to trace the line back to the original immigrant and then even farther than that to know where his European ancestors migrated and for what reason. It is important for this reason to study the migratory patterns of various religious groups.
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Re: HYER vs. HEYER....ethnicity?????
Donna Potter Phillips 3/13/04