REEB-ROOTS-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: [REEB-ROOTS-L] Use the correct List Please!
Date: Sun, 4 Jul 1999 13:50:45 EDT

Being the list owner for the REEB-ROOTS and GUS-REEB e-mail lists, I believe
that one of my moral obligations is to encourage the list subscribers to post
to the correct lists. I am sure that it is confusing to many of you that
there are two separate lists to begin with and probably you wonder what
difference it makes as to which list you post to. I will try once again to
explain.

REEB-ROOTS was started for the sur-name of REEB. It was never intended to
become a list for the surnames of REAP, REEP, RAPE, REPH, RAPP, etc. etc.
Yes, it is true that descendants of the earlier REEBS to come to America were
being called by some other spelling of the name within a generation or two
after the arrival of the immgrant ancestors and it is not my desire or
intention to restrict the use of this list entirely to discussion of those
early ancestors. Even some of the later immigrants to America of the REEB
sur-name can be found in some cases with different spellings of the name.
For example in recent months as a few of you know I had much difficulty
locating all the census records on some REEB families who came to New Orleans
after 1840. Finally, I began to find some of them in different years with
completely different spellings such as RIBB, RAAB, and RAAP etc. In Paulding
County, Ohio I also found REEBS whose names were spelled RAAP. In Columbus,
Ohio I found RAAB. However, this does not mean that all RAAPS and RAABS are
misspellings of the name REEB. Further in the older records pre 1800 we
found the REEB ancestors with the spellings of REAP, REAPE, RAPE and
sometimes in some almost hidden documents as REB or REEB. Again, this does
not mean that all REEPS are original REEBS. In fact, when the name is found
spelled REEP in America the most logical original spelling would have been
RUB with umlaut or RIEB, not REEB. Remember, the double e in REEB is
correctly pronounced A. Therefore if your ancestor pronounced his name to
sound like REEP then the German way to spell that would be RIEB, not REEB. I
am now requesting that all posts to the REEB-ROOTS list must contain the
sur-name REEB. This means you can use this list to talk about these other
names or spelling only when conveying something that pertains to the REEB
ancestors. To just simply post information about REEPS, RABEYS, RAPES etc.
without explanation the connection to the REEB name or Reeb ancestors is not
permitted.

For the GUS-REEB e-mail list maybe I selected the wrong name. This list was
started just for the purpose of establishing a place for the descendants of
early REEB ancestors to America, whose descendants have for many generations
associated to the names spelled as RAPE, REAP, REPH etc. And in many cases
the name Rape was intionally changed to other spellings because of the
negative response to that name. Some of the spellings include: RAPP, RAPPE,
RAYE, RAPAE, WRAPE, etc. Also, I understand that when I include the spelling
of REAP above, this may confuse some of the numerous REEPS in America and
they probably wonder how I can exclude them since after all in English both
Reep and Reap are pronounced alike. To explain, actually this list is for
the descendants of Gustavus REEB a man born 1699 in Pisdorf,
Nassau-Saarwerden (now Bischtroff-sur-Sarre, France) who had five sons come
to America. Descendants of his son's Peter and Jacob spell their name RAPE.
Descendants of his son Gustavus spell their name REAP. And descendants of
his son, Michael now spell their name REPH.

However, I am not excluding anyone from membership to this list as long as
they follow the guidelines. Further, I am extending a welcome to those of
you who do not descend from the REEB surname at all but from one of the
various REEP families or other similar spelled surnames to post on the
GUS-REEB e-mail list....not the REEB-ROOTS list unless you have something to
convey about the REEB name itself. If you want to talk about the REEP family
of Lincoln, Tyron, Catawba Counties in NC or the REEP family in Butler
County, Pa. etc. or other similar spelled surnames you are free to do so with
the GUS-REEB list. I feel that it may be helpful if I explain why I am
inviting you to post on the GUS-REEB list. As stated above the descendants
of early REEB ancestors who came to America had their names evolve to RAPE,
REAP, and REPH withing the first few generations. Therefore, it is almost
impossible to search through the early dated records and ignore some of the
names who may have been someone other than a REEB descendant. For example,
it is known that the REEP (not RAPE) family in Butler County, Pa. descended
from a Leonhard RIEB and his name sometimes was found spelled in error as REB
or possibly even REAP. His descendants in Butler County were mostly spelled
REEP, however the descendants of Theobald REEB in Butler County were spelled
RAPE for the most part but even their name has been found in some records as
Reap, Reape, and even at one time as RABE. Therefore, I believe it is good
for the descendants of these early ancestors whose records were written at
various times in ways that would confuse even the most experienced
genealogist to communicate with each other.

I welcome any questions about this post. It is not my hope to make anyone
feel unwelcome to either of the two REEB lists. If you are a member of the
REEP family or other family which is not originally REEB please subscribe to
the GUS-REEB list and post there. If you do post to the REEB-ROOTS list make
sure that your post is appropriate for that list and/or at least, in part,
pertains to the REEB surname.

John V. Reeb

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