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Archiver > NJHUNTER > 2004-12 > 1102083342


From: "Richard Welch" <>
Subject: Welch, Welsh or Welsch on early maps
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 07:15:42 -0700
References: <003401c4d881$562a2580$b04e4e40@suscom.net>


Good morning, Betty. If your query is about the "c" and "s" in my family
name, I can give you the history. The name was originally spelled "Welsch".
The family originated in Baumholder in Rheinland Pfalz. I’ve traced them
back to the Visitation of 1609, but they were an old Baumholder family even
then. They were primarily wagon makers and bricklayers. The name still
exists in Baumholder. There were four Welsch cousins who came to New Jersey
from Baumholder in the 1730s and 1740s. Only one, Johannes Wilhelm Welsch
who came in 1741, left known descendants. The name has an interesting
etymology -- it was a name given by invading German tribes to the Celtic
residents of the Rheinland and was a term of derision meaning "foreigner."



Anyway, the name is and was pronounced as if it were spelled "welch" no
matter how it is spelled. The name was anglicized to Welsh around 1800 (but
still pronounced Welch) and the family members who stayed in New Jersey kept
that spelling (Welsh Farms, etc.) and most of those that moved away, in
order to keep the correct pronunciation in their new homes, changed the
spelling to "Welch". I have relatives in Texas who still spell the name
Welsh but clearly pronounce it Welch.



If they are from the Morris-Hunterdon area, they are all related, whether
they spell their name Welsch, Welsh or Welch.



The M. Welsh on the Cornell map is most likely Morris, the brother of my
gr-gr-grandfather, David M. Welch. Another brother, Jacob Welsh, lived on
the family farm, given in 1797 to their father, John Jacob Welsh, as a
wedding gift by his father, when the Cornell map was made in 1851. It is on
the north side of what is now called Hill and Dale Road, ½ mile north and 1
mile west of Oldwick. The problem is that Jacob’s name is on two farms in
that same area and I don’t know which is the 1797 house and which is the
“new” house. Looks like I’ll be making a trip to New Jersey sometime in the
future…. but it’s a long drive from here (about 2,000 miles!), so it might
be a while.



My great-grandfather, Jacob Welch, visited his New Jersey aunts, uncles and
cousins in 1865 as he was returning home from the Civil War. He kept a diary
and mentions his uncle Jacob and others, which is great for making
connections within the family. I still have the diary. He was given several
photographs of relatives while he was in New Jersey, which I also have, but
unfortunately none of the subjects are identified. Isn't that typical of our
ancestors? They seldom identified the people in photographs, but then THEY
knew who they were, so why bother? Jacob also visited some of his Dean
relatives (his parents, David M. Welch and Mary Dean were married in 1824 in
Hunterdon County and moved to Ohio the next year.) Mary's parents were
Stephen and Elizabeth (Bunn) Dean, but I know nothing about them. Maybe
someone can help me with the Deans.



Richard Welch

Farmington, New Mexico


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