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Question...

Question...

Posted: 28 May 2014 12:37PM GMT
Classification: Query
What is the chance that families who came over from Wiltshire or Somerset England in the early 1800's are German descendants?




Answer

Posted: 28 May 2014 3:00PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surprisingly, more likely than you might think.

Americans of German descent may be surprised to learn that thousands of Germans chose to immigrate to England and other British countries, rather than coming to America. Indeed, Germans were settling in Great Britain hundreds of years before there was even an America to colonize.

It was enough so that there is now even a genealogical society for Britains of German descent. The Anglo-German Family History Society was founded in 1987 and has close to 1,000 members, mostly in England, but also in other English-speaking countries.
http://www.agfhs.org/site/index.php

The largest numbers of Germans to come to England occurred during the 1800s, and are due to a wide variety of reasons. There appears to be no single factor, or particularly significant time period, but rather a constant stream of immigrants, with typical ebbs and flows over time. Some key reasons included flight from political and religious persecution, over-population in some German localities, and economic opportunities in London, which was the main industrial center of the word.

And, don't forget that the English royal house was of direct German ancestry from King George I, the Elector of Hanover, in 1714 until Queen Victoria in 1837, and even she married a German, Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
Source: Kory L. Meyerink, MLS, AG, FUGA

Re: Answer

Posted: 28 May 2014 3:45PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 28 May 2014 4:10PM GMT
Surnames: Ryall,Lewis
What interesting information!!

I am a descendant of William and MaryAnn Lewis-Ryall of Wiltshire,England. Could Ryall and Lewis be of German descendant?

I was told that only southern England had the German settlement? Who settled in the north?

If I understand this correct....England was pronounced Englaland???

Thank you very much for this information!

Re: Question...

Posted: 25 Jun 2015 3:50AM GMT
Classification: Query
Pretty possible to me. Europeans always migrate to other nations in that continent.

Re: Question...

Posted: 25 Jun 2015 11:48AM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 25 Jun 2015 11:59AM GMT
Hi-
Ryall & Lewis are 4th generation back and wondering what percentage of German these families were? As I have read it's an Anglo-Irish surname.

Thank you.
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