ELLER-L Archives

From: Ellchron <>
Subject: [ELLER-L] Follow the Evidence
Date: Sat, 25 Apr 1998 12:29:55 EDT

"Christian, a son of Michael Eller (Ohler), was born in the Algau district of
Bavaria
in 1724." Ramsey, Robert W., Carolina Cradle, University of North Carolina
Press,
Chapel Hill, 1964, p. 90.

Ramsey cites as his source for the above statement: Hook, J.W., George
Michael Eller Descendants of His in America,. 1957, pp. 433-435. Hook's
information came from Aurel Eller of Munich, Germany in 1957, only weeks
before Hook published his book. Incidentally, Ramsey's statement was the first
I have found that links ELLER and OEHLER as if the names were equivalent.
This aroused my interest in researching the origin of the ELLER surname and
its variants and equivalents. One chapter in the new ELLER book described
below is devoted to this subject.

The Ramsey statement has been cited as refering to Christian ELLER of Rowan
Co., NC, althought a close reading of Hook would dispel any notion that Hook
endorsed such a view. When taken our of context, and without further
explanation, the statement provides additonal confusion about the family and
place of origin of Christian ELLER of Rowan Co., NC, and other pre-1800 ELLER
immigrants to America with whom he is thought to be closely linked: George
Michael and Henry ELLER of Frederick Co., MD and Jacob and Melchior ELLER of
Rowan Co., NC.

Hook reports other records provided by Aurel ELLER, such as the account of
two children, both named George Michael ELLER, born in succession to another
Bavarian ELLER family (Bartyl and Barbara Swartz ELLER). The record for the
first child, born Sep 1695, was said to carry the notation, "Emgrated." This
has been accepted by some as the birth and emigration records for George
Michael ELLER of Frederick Co., MD, although Hook specifically rejected any
connection. No documented records, supporting such a connection, have been
found by the Eller Family Association.

The well known professional genealogist, Ernest Thode, was asked his opinion
about Hook's report on the Bavarian Ellers and a possible connection to
early Eller immigrants to America.

(Because one of Hook's reasons for rejecting the Bavarian ELLERS as ancestors
was because they were Catholic. Thode was asked his opinion about the
possibility they might have changed their religion in order to come to
America)

Thode: " I seriously doubt whether the ELLER family of the Allgau or Allgaeu
region is your family. It was not at all common for Catholics to emigrate to
America in the 1700s. (Note: the Bavarian Ellers were Catholic) There were
some, such as at Goshenhoppen, but not many, either relatively or absolutely
speaking. It is true that (in Germany) there was much switching of religions
in the Palatinate and some other areas. This is because the religion of the
people followed that of the ruler according to the principal "Cuius regio,
eius religio: Whoever rules, determines the religion for all his subjects."
When the ruler changed, or the ruler switched religions, then everybody had to
follow suit, or to stay within a certain religion and wait to marry somebody
from a territory where that religon
prevailed until a marriage going in the opposite direction was desired, so two
rulers could switch an equal number of subjects."

Thode continues, "There was virtually no emigration from the Allgaeu to North
America in the 1700s. There may have been considerable emigration to the
southeast, to the Austrain Empire, also Catholic territotry where incentives
were given to settle. I have a list of about 40,000 emigrations of Germans to
America by 1820. Of this number, there may be half a dozen from the Allgaeu
region. Offhand, I cannot think of a single one from the Allgaeu.

About the report of the two children named George Michael Eller:

Thode: "There was a common custom of naming a child born after a previous
child's death the same name. If the baptismal record of Georg Michael ELLER,
born 5 September 1695, actually says he "emigrated," I will eat my hat.
Baptismal records in that time period do not generally give information on the
later life of an individual;, such as marriage date, death date (after
maturity), confirmation date, orf date of emigration. I feel certain that the
word or symbol interpreted as "emigrated" is something like "departed" and
actually means "died." Then the Georg Michael ELLER, born 31 October 1696,
replaces the deceased child who died sometime young. The same probably
happened with the Maria b 1728 and the Marie b 1735, If there were a second
marriage, sometimes I have found given names are repeated in the "second
family," but this is subject to regional custom. Also, actually, the dates
given are probably baptismal dates rather than birth dates, but that is not so
crucial, as baptism generally followed birth by only a matter of days or
weeks, rather than months and years, usually within about 5 days. Whenever a
second child is born after less than 18 months following the previous birth, I
suspect that the first child died, the nursing mother's lactation ended
early, and she was able to become pregnant again earlier than in a normal time
of nursing and weaning.

"It would be very helpful to examine the death/burial records of the Catholic
church parish of Neuhaus (or whichever parish the birth/baptismal records
were found in). I venture to say there will be the death of little Georg
Michael ELLER sometime between 5 September 1695 and 31 October 1606. It
would also be interesting to see if the ELLERs with names similar to those
that show up in America appear in the death records there. If, say, the
presumed emigrant died (or married or had children baptized) in Neuhaus,
Germany, after the date when he was married and having children in America;,
then he is not the ELLER who emigrated to America unless he returned. I have
not seen all the evidence and anything is possible, but I can only say it is
highly unlikely based on the usual patterns."

It is important to understand that a documented connection between any
pre-1800 ELLER immigrant to America and the Bavarian ELLER families (Hook, pp.
433-435) is not known to the Eller Family Association, despite reports now
in circulation that the parents of George Michael Eller and Christian Eller
were of these Bavarian Eller families. For the past eleven years, the Eller
Family Association has sought evidence to prove this connection, but without
success; the search continues. If anyone has such evidence, they are urged to
share it. In the meantime, efforts sponsored by the Eller Family Association
has turned up several other German records which list a George Michael,
Christian, and Jacob Eller, but none appear to connect with pre-1800 Eller
immigrants to America.
..............................................................................
................J. Gerald Eller

NEW ELLER BOOK!! DESCENDANTS OF JOHN JACOB ELLER AND
DESCENDANTS OF HIS IN AMERICA, compiled by J. Gerald Eller, Edward K. Eller,
Janine Eller Porter, and many others. Information on pre-1800 ELLER
immigrants to America, including new information and the present state of
research on six early ELLER lines: George Michael and Henry ELLER of
Frederick Co. MD; Jacob of Botetourt Co., VA; Christian, Jacob and Melchior
of Rowan County, NC. Also chapters on early Eller migrations, kinships,
variant and equivalent surnames; also an extensive database of linked
descendants of immigrant John Jacob ELLER of Rowan County, NC. This is the
most ambitious publication on ELLER family history and genealogy since J.W.
Hook's 1957 book on George Michael Eller Order from Edward K. Eller, 1124
Ridgeleigh Cir., Dalton, GA 30720
(706-278-1516) E-mail: (Ed Eller). Make check for $50.00
payable to the Eller Family Association and send to Edward K. Eller.

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