Re: Wonder were our name came from and family history.
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In reply to:
Re: Wonder were our name came from and family history.
Tutt Lambert 8/22/07
Dear Tutt,
Since you live in Loveland,you would be close to the Cincinnati Public Library.I lived in Cinn. in the 60sand got my M.A.From XU.
I at that time was more interested in family history than I am now,so went to downtown Cincy library and found very interesting information about Swabian tribes,house of Wittlebach,defense of Bavarian area,battle of Lech where I think first time name of Swango was recorded in some document.Name had "von" in front of it in many entries."von Schwangau"It is my understanding that the name was originally spelled as it is today. SwangoThe spelling differed by geography."High" German was spoken in the mountains and "Low" German was spoken in the coastal area.Spellings were different.Schwangau was high,Swango was low.I think there were at least 2 other spellings.Swanego and Swangow.I imagine that those same books in genealogy and history of Bavaria are still in that library.The books were old when I looked at them and took notes.Someone could probably help you there.
As you may already know the castle of the mad King Ludwig, Neuschwanstein,is at Schwangau.He grew up in the Castle Hohenschwangau which is just a short walk away.Wagner lived in Hohenschwangau for some time I believe and I think there is a connection to Martin Luther who took refuge there for some time following his nailing of thesis on the church door.
This is all from memory now,and may contain inaccuracies.I am sure this collection of information came from many different sources and some may be contained in the most recent volume of the Swango history.
The last copy of the history I saw,I thought possibly overly romanticized what arequestionable connections to the ancient Bavarian Swangos other than the name. As I mentioned before,the historian I spoke with in Schwangau when I was there in 1967 did not believe there were any descendents by that name past the one buried in the church floor.He apparently had had no children and had owned an inn in Schwangau and because he was the last one he was buried in the church.Perhaps he had some wealth as well.
My sister Suzanne has two daughters who of course will not carry on the name,and I do not have children.My father was the only child of his father's second marriage,so I will be the end of the line here on a thin thread.
Roger Swango