wrenwood

Does anyone know if Wengen was ever spelled "Wengue" hundreds of years ago? I recently found out one of my grandmothers had ancestors from the Alsace region (Bischwiller) and before that, from "Wengue, in the Canton of Berne"

Curious, if anyone knows if there is still a Wengue somewhere else in Switzerland, or if it might actually be Wengen?

ira

If you enter "wengue switzerland" at www.google.com, you will learn about http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Musser-182

wrenwood

Yes, that's the same general family tree, I am just wondering if Wengue is Wengen?

StCirq

Wenge is, and was, the French variant of Wengen, but not Wengue.

wrenwood

Wenge is also a color, taken from a type of wood

"The Wenge is a rich color grayish-brown with copper tones, takes its name from Wenge wood tone in which it appears."

As many names were corrupted/changed in genealogical history, I'm just wondering if Wengue in the genealogical record, is a corruption of Wengen. If not Wengen, what could it be?

PalenQ

it may be like Meiringen and meringue - meringue was born in Meiringen but is spelt differently?

BigAleinstein

It is from the old TV western Wengen Train.

MmePerdu

If the community had Jewish residents it's sometimes useful to use a gazetter that takes into account variations in spelling. I've used a book called Shtetl Finder and I just found this website that gives "Wengi" as a variant of Wengue.
http://www.jewishgen.org/communities/loctown.asp

neckervd

There are tons of places called Wengen, Wengi, Weng, etc. They are usually close to cliffs (Weng in alemanic dialect, Waende in good German).

PalenQ

Samuel Musser I 1687 - 1755 Wengue, Canton Berne, Switzerland
www.wikitree.com › Person Index › M › Musser‎

an obituary from 1755 using the name Wengue -

BigAleinstein

Maybe the Jews of Switzerland had to leave their shtetls because they chocolate was too rich?

The Jewish population in Switzerland in 1941 was about 19,000, today is a shade under 18,000. The list of famous Swiss Jews is as long as the list of Jewish MMA fighters.

wrenwood

I don't think it had anything to do with the Jewish population, my information was through Mussers and Zieglers, western border of Germany and Alsace/Switzerland in the 1600s when the borders were not the same as today. Many eventually went to eastern US in the 1800s Amish/Mennonite population

Thanks neckervd, interesting ~ "Alemannic is a group of dialects of German spoken in the Region (Alsace, northern Switzerland, and southern Baden".

But where are the "tons of places called Wengen, Wengi, Weng" in Switzerland (Canton of Berne) I came up with nothing?

wrenwood

MmePerdu, wow just really read what you wrote, went to your site, there is Wengi, still there 12 miles NNW of Bern!

Closer to Alsace, still in the "Canton of Berne"

wrenwood

Found another one, same "town" name

MOSER, Hans b: Abt 1650 in Wengue, Canton Berne, Switzerland d: 1714

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-...me=Moser,+Hans

MmePerdu

Wrenwood, was not really referring to the Jewish aspect as much as these resources to find communities, the spellings of which frequently have variations. They use the consonants, I believe, and disregard vowels to locate places. It's sometimes necessary to know which country a town or village is in to find particular ones when a name is found in more than one country. But Jewish or not, it can be a very good tool.

MmePerdu

An example of the system in the shtetl finders, I knew my great grandmother was from Hungary and a cousin told me the village was named Mundek, probably written down phonetically. I was unable to find it. A friend recommended the book, I had a look and it pointed to a place called Mandok, the only choice in Hungary. I visited and after consulting documents in the national archives in Budapest found that it was, indeed, the correct place. On an uncle's birth certificate were the parent's names and his birth in Mandok. It was thrilling to find it and to visit their village very much in the provinces.

BigAleinstein

One of the inherent failings of the Internet, just because you have some of the symptoms as read from medcial site, does not mean the diagnosis is correct.

MmePerdu

BigAl, if you refer to my story above, the internet was never involved.

BigAleinstein

BigAl, if you refer to my story above, the internet was never involved.
___________
MMePerdu, you cited JewishGen.

Believe it or not it JewishGen is listed in my favorites as both my grandmothers come from shtetls in what is today Belarus and others come from a small town that once belonged to Germany and is now Poland.

But to make a quantum leap that the name a town in Switzerland is somehow founded as a Jewish shetl needs more inofrmation than a tortured coincience of letters.

MmePerdu

BigAl, I made no such leap, merely suggested the system as a way to help the OP in her search. I believe I said, in fact, the Jewish issue was irrelevant while the system used by shtetle finders, book or online, may be of some use. That's all.

I merely cited JewishGen as it was available to show the OP while the book I used in my search was not.