Huguenot-L Archives

From: Fritsche< >
Subject: [Huguenot-L] Gerbert
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1999 00:43:37 +0100

Hi, all my Huguenot cousins in the world,

I'm German and very new here to this mailing list. Since many years my mother
and I try to find out where our (said to be French Huguenot) ancestors are from.

The last one of the Gerbert family which appeared in the Electorate of
Brandenburg around the year 1700, was my grandma who died 30 years ago. The
tradition said the Gerbert familiy came from the French region Normandy. But
nowadays as the French Minitel Pages show, there are only few Gerbert living in
France. 50% of them live along the river Isére, south of Lyon and east of the
river Rhône in the French département Rhône-Alps. The rest is scattered all over
the country.

Well, my gg-pa and my grandma told us the tradition the family to come from the
Normandy. But we can't find any papers, any documents proving that. The only one
pointing to that descendance is my personal predilection for the French culture,
especially the music - I love the music of the Acadiens (Cajuns) in southwestern
Louisiana, U.S.A.

So this is what we know for sure about our ancestors:

On November 8, 1685, the reformed sovereign of the Electorate of Brandenburg,
Elector Frederic William I, by his Edict of Potsdam invited those French
refugees (refugiés) to come to his territories to rebuild his country after the
Thirty Years' War's (1618 - 1648) havocs, destructions and depopulations. And
more than 20'000 Huguenots came to build up a new life there: scientists,
merchants, craftsmen, farmers, pastors and soldiers. In 1688, the Reformed
parish of the city of Halle upon river Saale (a town and territory within
western Saxony which belonged to Brandenburg then) was founded.

So at the end of the 16th century my ancestors might have come to Brandenburg.
We don't know which region or town they came from and on which route they
reached nor in which year they arrived and we don't know their first names. All
we know is that they were French Huguenots (maybe they were from the Normandy
and reached via the Evangelic Lutheran - not Reformed - German Electorate of
Saxony, like our family tradition since then tells us). And we know their
surname was Gerbert. This name is not that frequent in France today (most of
them are living in the southeastern departements between Switzerland, the river
Rhône and Italy. We also know there were/are some Gerbert families living in
Canada, too.

So the earliest one we know is ancestor # 768 Hinrich (= fr. Henri (?) Maybe he
- or people around him, the administration or the pastor - translated his French
first name to German) Gerbert, a farmer living in Rohlsdorf near the small town
of Pritzwalk in the northwesternmost part of Brandenburg, which is called
Prignitz. He might have been born between 1630 and 1635 and was mentioned in a
local Brandenburg Contributions' Register of 1686/87. We don't know when, where
and to whom he got married nor when and where he died or when and where he was
buried.

His son was Jürgen (named like me; = fr. Georges (?)) Gerbert [ # 384], born
around 1660. Jürgen was a farmer, too, living in Halenbeck near Pritzwalk. He
got married around the year 1680; his wife was Engel Nömcken (or Numicke /
Neumecken) from Preddöhl. We don't know where they got married. Jürgen died on
November 27, 1712 in Halenbeck.

Jürgen's son was named Jürgen Gerbert, too [# 192]. He was born between 1680 and
1688 (see above), but we don't know where. He was a farmer like his father and
grandfather. On November 17, 1713 he got married to Maria Verijans (or Virjan,
Virian) from Rohlsdorf, where her grandfather Joachimus Virjan, from Salzwedel,
was a pastor. Between 1700 and 1708, Jürgen served the Stift Heiligengrabe (=
Protestant foundation of H.), as mentioned in the Service's Register. Jürgen
died in Halenbeck on March 23, 1726.

...

The last member of this old Gerbert family, my grandma Hildegard Antonie
Henriette Vogelsang, a born Gerbert, died on June 10, 1969 in Aschaffenburg,
Germany.

So if anybody can help us a little to find out step by step where the Gerbert
family was from, I would be very glad. Thanks a lot.

So long, take care,

Jürgen

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• [Huguenot-L] Gerbert by Fritsche< >