Chat
|
Daily Search
|
My GenForum
|
Community Standards
|
Terms of Service
|
|
|
The Prottsman family centered in Iowa is
descended from the Protzmann family of
Witgenborn, Germany. Witgenborn is still a
small town located about 45 miles northeast
of Frankfurt am Main.
The closest city is Waechtersbach, the German
version of a county seat. Waechtersbach is
about 3 miles south of Witgenborn.
In the 1740s when family members began to
emigrate to America, Witgenborn was a part of
the Hessian states. I am not sure exactly
which of the Hessian principalites it was. I
have also been able to trace a member of the
family to Russia. This Protzmann was one of
many Germans that took advantage of free land
and benefits offerred to Germans by Catherine
the Great (herself a German princess who had
been married to the Russian heir).
Back to the Iowa Prottsmans....our first
ancester in America was Ludwig Protzmann, who
landed at Philadelphia in 1750. His younger
brother Lorenz Protzmann arrived 7 years
earlier in 1743. They first went to York
county Pennsylvania and then to the Moravian
settlement of Graceham, in Frederick county
Maryland. From there, their descendents
spread out, headed west, lost track of each
other, and began the spelling changes to our
last name: Protzman, Protsman, Prutzman,
Prutsman, Pritzman, Pretzman, Prottsman, and
even a Sproutzman.
The Prottsman spelling was made permanent by
John Wesley Prottsman. He was born Protsman
in Ohio and spelled his name that way up
through the Civil War, having served in the
66th Ohio Vol Infantry. Upon moving to Iowa
in 1866, he began spelling his name Prottsman
as did his descendents. A curious fact is
that his brother, Charles Augustus Protsman,
came to Iowa with him but did not change the
spelling of his name (Protsman). Charles and
John farmed together in Iowa and Nebraska for
nearly 40 years, until John died. Only then did Charles return to Urbana, Ohio, their
chilhood home, where died a few years later,
still spelling his name Protsman.
I will continue this story at a later time.
Leo
Followups:
|
| http://genforum.genealogy.com/prottsman/messages/12.html | ||
 |
Agreement of Use Link to GenForum Add Forum |
|