Hello there, Im not sure whether this will find any hits but here goes:
I am searching for any information on my GG grandfather whos name was either Ivan Schmidt/schmith or Alwin Schmidt/schmith. What I know is that he was from Germany( not sure where) came to Western Samoa which is now just Samoa and married a samoan woman who I believe began our family line. The dates could be around late 1700s or 1800s. Samoan customs enables a person to change their names if they take on chief status and my GG Grandfathers name changed to Aviga Tusani Alwin Schmidt/schmith Aviga - My Fathers name was Aviga Aviga surname same as first name then when he took on chief title it changed to Tusanilefaiaao Aviga - my name is william Aviga. I can trace the Samoan part back up to my GG grandfather but its before my GG grandfather came to Samoa that I would love to know , any suggestions would be appreciated.
Many thanks
W