I have the following ancestor information that I cannot trace back to East Prussia, Germany. I am hoping that somebody can help me identify what the surname could actually be. The surname in the United States was “Jokschies” and the father was called “Yerxa” by his friends. The mother's maiden name was Repalowitz. The Hannover emigration and Ellis Island immigration records for the mother and daughters both show the surname as “Jokschies”. We cannot find emigration/immigration records for the father.

My ancestors emigrated from Germany (Runisren or Rumszen, East Prussia) to the United States (Minnesota) in 1891/1892. Census records show that the father emigrated in 1891 and the mother and daughters in 1892. The son was left behind in East Prussia with a relative that owned an apothecary.

Johann Fredrick Jokschies b: 10 Aug 1859 d: 14 Mar 1938
Louise (nee Repalowitz) Jokschies b: 14 Dec 1857 d: 15 Oct 1902
Anna Laura Jokschies b: 20 May 1886 d: 05 Mar 1947
Auguste F Jokschies b: 26 Jul 1890 d: 02 Nov 1927
Edith Bertha Jokschies b: 06 Nov 1892 d: 11 Oct 1970
Son Jokschies (left in Germany with a relative that owned an apothecary)

Thank you for your help,
Pam

Hallo Pam,
you wrote, that a son of your ancestors was left behind in germany at a relative, whon owned an apothecary. When this apothecary was located in east prussia and you still know this relatives name, then you have an good chance to locate the place,where your ancestors came from.
Take a look on this homepage : www.vffow-buchverkauf.de

It is the homepage from the association for genealogie in West- and Ostpreussen. They sell books and CD with material that could be helpful for people who search for their ancestors.
Click on the word Schriftenverzeichnis. At the following page you see in a row the letters
QMS. Click on them an search on the following page for Order Numbers QMS 5 / I and
QMS 5 / II . You will see Information about two books ( one sold out and only on CD available ). This books are register about all the person who owned an apothecary in west- and eastprussia during the years 1397 to 1945. So your relativ might be mentioned with complet adress and it might be another step forward in your research.

Kind regards

Klaus ( from Germany)

You are wonderful! Thank you so much for this information. I will definitely look at these books.

Thank you again,
Pam

HI !

OMG is this tricky !I thought about one hour about your article. Well I will write sth.
The place is named RUMZEN in former http://www.ortsfamilienbuecher.de/memelland/index.php?lang=e... east prussia ( Memel land),today in lithuania.
It could be that your ancestor came with a brother ? Anton ?
http://castlegarden.org/quick_search_detail.php?p_id=6362705

As you know, can the sile of writing be different. See :
http://www.ortsfamilienbuecher.de/namelist.php?nachname=JOGS...

Other good source : www.stevemorse.org

memeldaten@hotmail.de they search intensiv for this area, ask here for help.

If I have any idea more, i´ll let you know.
For the roots : I gess, Josch (engl.Josh)is the name. It is a shortform of eastern name Janosch = Jan/Ian. Ending -ie/-y = diminutiv . Joschie /Joschy = little Jan. ´s = possesiv = little Jan´s

Thank you very very much for this information!! I am very excited to get more info on where to search about Jokschies. We thought we were stuck and had nowhere to look. Now you have given us more information and we are very excited.

Thank you for taking your time to answer my request.

Best wishes to you,
Pam Mix

Hi !

The book is a good advice. It is availb. in the local universitary library. I can rent it for free. You can give me all info you have. I will pick up the books ( 2 edition) at home.