2003 Update
Not much news to report for Germany in this Issue. I was hoping to buzz around northwestern Germany last summer, call and perhaps meet some of those Debou folks, but illness of my travel companion cancelled out this plan. We know they are there. We just have not made good contact yet. Thus, we'll keep our "All Quiet…" story from 2001 posted for now. I plan to dig around some more in the weeks ahead, and if we find something worthwhile, we'll post it here asap. So, please keep an eye on our Germany Section - we might have a surprise in the near future! - RFD
All Quiet in Germany In previous issues, our German correspondents have advised that our name is known there, usually spelled ‘in the German way’ – Debou. I suspect the name migrated there from the Netherlands, perhaps with Protestant refugees fleeing the harsh Spanish or Hapsburg dicta of the 16th or 17th Centuries. A Canadian colleague, writing on his own family history (Riegert 1995), has shown that some Dutch families moved eastward in Europe periodically up to the end of the 18th C. Naturally, this is a bit of a surprise to me (an amateur historian) since most of the movement I know about has been east to west (for political reasons) in recent times. In the case of the Lutheran Riegert (originally Ruuger) ancestors, they kept going through Germany to Poland. According to my friend “these restless people” were part of mass migrations to points east and south of Holland. He states: “The migrating path led across the top of Germany and ever eastward towards Russia. Many stopped or ‘fell-out’ along the way and remained in various locations in…Germany…” The limited information at hand suggests that our ‘Debou cousins’ may have been part of this eastward streaming. At present, it seems that the name is clustered mostly in northwestern Germany – at places like Bremen, Hanover, Hamburg, and Braunchweig. There is purportedly evidence to confirm this eastern migration, but I have yet to see it, nor have I discussed details with our German contacts. There is a good story here no doubt. So we’ll keep this Germany Section open for new information. Interestingly, the name Boos occurs on the German map. It is a small community near Bad Kreuzsnach. There is a Boos Hotel at Worms. Likewise, there is a Boos village not far from Rouen in France. Boos, in Dutch, means ‘angry’ or ‘cross.’ I wonder what the linguistic connections might be…! Reference Cited. Riegert, P.W. 1995. The Riegert Heritage – The life and genealogy of the Riegert lineage from the European roots to the New World. Rampeck Publishers, 103 Mayfair Cresc., Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, S4S 5T9, ISBN 1-55056-368-8, 299 pp. - RFD |
