Nedd Help breaking through a brick wall Mauger/Major
I have been doing genealogy on my family and allied lines for over 40 years.I am researching the Mauger family in an attempt to break through a brick wall concerning my 4th great grandmother, Anna Maria Major, b. Abt. 1776.She was married to both my 4th great grandfather, John Jacob Roschong(1796) and earlier to his brother, John Heinrich Roschong (1784). Both had been previosly married.Jacob to Anna Barbara Creider and Heinrich to Catherina Trumbauer.
My issue is that there is no conclusive data showing Anna Maria Major's father or other colonial connections to the name Major.There were other Major's in the Berks County area at that time, but they were of Welsh descent.My Anna was of German/French Huguenot heritage and was married both times in the Faulkner Swamp Reformed Church, Philadelphia/Montgomery County.I have found that the name Major may have been a phonetically spelled name and could have been MAUGER.
The spelling of my name in the mid 1700's eventually changed to Roshon andRoshong.As you probably know The Roshon name is popular in Fairfield and Licking Counties and intertwined with names such as Foor, Keller, Moser, Moyer and Nagle.The Roshong line is closely aligned with the names, Texter, Keffer, Kieffer, Zellers, Lorah, Lehr, Snyderand others that are prominent in the Mauger lines.I believe that ther is a strong possibility/probability that My Anna's Name may have originally been spelled Mauger.Can you shed any light on this speculation?
See following notes:
"Anna Maria'sfather is unknown at this time.
There is a strong presence of a family named Major in Limerick Twp since the colonial days.They were descendants of Jacob Major from Wales.Contact with genealogists for that family have been less than fruitful as they claim their English heritage and disclaim any German connection.
The Maier name, if a derivitive or alternate spelling of Mauger, seems plausible as the Mauger migration fromPA to OH by Heinrich Mauger and John Mauger of Pennsylvania parallelsnames in the Roshong family, e.g. Texter, Lorah, Egolf, Neff, Yost, Bechtel Baker, Fisher.Searches of descendants ofHeinrich's children.:
Henry Mauger;
John Mauger;
Fredrick Mauger;
First Regiment, Second Brigade which was stationed at York, Pennsylvania, from August 28,1814, to March 5,1815."The Regiment was commanded by Lt. Col. Jeremiah Shappell, and Capt. John Mauger was in charge of the company made up primarily of men from Douglass Township.Jacob Nagle was on a good team.In the same unit, his brother-in-law Henry Mauger was the 2nd Sergeant, brother-in-law Frederick Mauger was 3rd Corporal, and brother John Nagle was a private."
"The Regiment was commanded by Lt. Col. Jeremiah Shappell, and Capt. John Mauger was in charge of the company made up primarily of men from Douglass Township.Jacob was on a good team.In the same unit, his brother-in-law Henry Mauger was the 2nd Sergeant, brother-in-law Frederick Mauger was 3rd Corporal,
Jacob Mauger;
David Mauger;
William Mauger;
Elizabeth Mauger
should be pursued.
It is also possible that her father was Johann Martin Majer which is of German origins.
According to Michel Rouchon 19 SEP 2010 It is almost a certainty that the spelling "Major" is not French.Anna Maria Major's last name may very well have been originally spelled Mauger
Some Major familiesused the spelling "Majure," indicating a French Huguenot heritage.
The name Major is also shown as Catalan and southern French (Occitan): from major ‘major’ (Latin maior ‘greater’), denoting a prominent or important person or the first-born son of a family, possibly a corruption of the name Moyer or vice versa.Dead ends with Major encourage research on Mauger/Mager and Moyer.