User talk:Rains

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German or nay?
Nunh-huh, welcome.

Please- help me with my problem. As i've already informed you, and as some of you may have already read elsewhere, my surname's.. blood, if you will, is in question. (My surname being Minnich.)

I've researched my surname, and it's come back almost every time as such:

"Origin: German"

But recently, for no reason (perhaps my boredom?), I looked up Minnich on yet another surname origin site. Only this time, it came back as "Slavic."

The site that claimed it was of Slavic origin may have equated it with the country's modern day majority, that being Slavic/Magyar. (The country i'm speaking of is Austria.) When surnames originated, though, Germans occupied Austria, mainly. I've also read articles of Germanic tribes inhabiting Austria.

I've found, with some help, other German surnames similar to mine, such as Heinrich and Erich (they both end in a K sound like mine).

What I need to know is (with proof or resources, links, even hints or ideas, or such) that my surname has German blood attached to it, not Slavic.

London 01:48, 20 November 2005 (UTC)


 * Cyndi's list is at http://www.cyndislist.com/ . You'll find lots of resources there (for German and Austria, and Slavs .) It's very important to begin with yourself and work backwards, and not the other way 'round, or else you'll wind up making erroneous connections. You might find some help at Rootsweb's Minnich list, though it doesn't look like it's active. - Nunh-huh 02:29, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

Thank you, I appreciate your help. I know I may have mentioned this, but my grandfather said he had already looked into it, and we were of German blood and origin- I just want to double check. -London 19:42, 20 November 2005 (UTC)


 * I'm very sorry, and I appreciate your patience with me, but I have yet another question for you, mainly asking for your educated opinion. Having heard of other "German blood" names such as Heinrich, Erich, Frederich, and such, do you believe it is very possible that my surname has German blood attached, with German heritage as well?

I've been considering not actually going back all the way, seeing as i've found quite a lot of other names ending in ich, with a k sound, proclaimed as having German heritage. As well as because, like i've said, my grandfather already went back quite a fair bit, and said we were German; I'm definitely not worried about it as much having found this much, and heard that from my grandfather. Sorry for troubling you again, thank you for having so much patience. P.S., If i did eventually decide to, what category (s) under that site should i check into? I'm new at this, actually. -London 19:55, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

Well, yes, I think if your grandfather said your family came from Germany, you very well may be from Germany! But you really do need to work backwards from yourself and not just skip to Germany. You need to start by listing yourself, your parents, your grandparents, with dates and places of birth and death, and add on any other ancestors you can find. Make a pedigree chart like the one below. You should talk to your grandfather or any other older living relatives about their parents and family, and add what you find to your data. (When you find the name of the person who immigrated, you need to find out if anyone knows when that happened, and as specifically as you can, where they immigrated from. (You'd like something more specific than "Germany".... Prussia, Württemberg, etc. would be better... though you have to take what you can get). Eventually you will run out of living persons to talk to (or they will run out of information) and you can then begin to consult documents - death and birth certificates can be used to find out the names of parents; and immigration documents and passenger lists can help you trace down the origins of an immigrant ancestor. Once you nail down a few generations, the Internet sites will start to be of use to you. You can look for a specific ancestor's name, and it you are lucky you will find it, and someone else will have been doing some research and will share it with you. You can also find documents and maps online. In the meantime you can look at some of the beginning sites listed at Cyndi's list. Good luck, and let me know if you get stuck! - Nunh-huh 01:02, 21 November 2005 (UTC)



Hey, I sincerely appreciate your help. I've decided to put it off for now, since I won't be able to speak to my grandfather until this Christmas, even if then. =/ Since we've last spoken, i've found a "ton" of other German-Austrian surnames with the same.. im not sure, syllable (ich, k sound), I guess, as my surname.

Also, yeah, my grandpa did say he found that our Minnich line immigrated from Germany, and i've found on some site a list of German immigrants with the name Minnich (which was reassuring). Thank you very much, i'll definitely get back to you. - London 23:28, 1 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Talking to your grandfather is definitely the right plan. (Remember to write down or tape what he tells you). Let me know if you want to follow-up on any of his information and you think I might be able to point you to where to go next. Good luck! - Nunh-huh 23:54, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

I've looked on Cindy's page, but I just have no idea, still, how to start really. -London 21:50, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

I didn't have your talk page on my watch list, but I'll put it there so I'll know if you update it. But just so you know, the only way to be reasonably sure that someone sees something is to drop them a note on their talk page.

Did you talk to your grandfather and make a pedigree chart (starting with you and working backwards)? It's where that ends that will determine where your other research starts - Nunh-huh 22:18, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

He didn't come to the Christmas dinner, for some reason =/; So no, i've yet to talk to him. Also, I have no idea on how to.. "start with me" and work backwards. I've searched on Cindi's list, in the county in Virginia that I live in (in the States), and inserted my first and last name when it prompted me to, but it still came up with nothing.

P.S. In that image you posted, under those persons names, what does b. (date and place/city here) and d. (another date and place/city here) mean? does b. = Born and d. = Died? -London 02:50, 27 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Hi, Rains, yes, that is born & died. The way to start is filling out a "Family Group Sheet" for thefamily of your parents. (see below). Your father's name would be first, with any other data you can fill in, then your mother's, then all their children. Then you would work backwards by filling out a sheet for the family in which your father was a son (i.e., your grandfather's family), with your grandfather & grandmother's names at the top, and then all their children. Then (once your grandfather tells you his father & mother's name, and hopefully your greatgrandfather and greatgrandmother's!) you work back until there's a name that you can match with dates and places in some online genealogy source. You're much more likely to find information on the deceased than the living, so you have to work a ways back from yourself before you find something useful. - Nunh-huh 03:11, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

Family Group Sheet Name: ————————————————————————————————————————————— Birth:	............................ Place: ................................. Death:	............................ Place: ................................. Burial:	............................ Place: ................................. Occupation:	................................................... Education:	................................................... Religion:	................................................... Father:	................................................... Mother:	................................................... Other spouses:	................................................... Marriage:	............................ Place: ................................. Status:	............................ Place: ................................. ————————————————————————————————————————————— Name: ————————————————————————————————————————————— Birth:	............................ Place: ................................. Death:	............................ Place: ................................. Burial:	............................ Place: ................................. Occupation:	................................................... Education:	................................................... Religion:	................................................... Father:	................................................... Mother:	................................................... Other spouses:	................................................... ————————————————————————————————————————————— Children ————————————————————————————————————————————— 1 M F: Birth:	............................ Place: ................................. Death:	............................ Place: ................................. Spouse:	................................................... ————————————————————————————————————————————— 2 M F: Birth:	............................ Place: ................................. Death:	............................ Place: ................................. Spouse:	................................................... ————————————————————————————————————————————— 3 M F: Birth:	............................ Place: ................................. Death:	............................ Place: ................................. Spouse:	................................................... ————————————————————————————————————————————— 4 M F: Birth:	............................ Place: ................................. Death:	............................ Place: ................................. Spouse:	................................................... ————————————————————————————————————————————— 5 M F: Birth:	............................ Place: ................................. Death:	............................ Place: ................................. Spouse:	................................................... ————————————————————————————————————————————— 6 M F: Birth:	............................ Place: ................................. Death:	............................ Place: ................................. Spouse:	................................................... Notes for ................................................... Notes for ................................................... —————————————————————————————————————————————

Thanks. Due to some.. family affairs, it will be fairly difficult to reach him now, and talk to him about all of this, or even mention him around my father's side of the family (they're all very odd to me, since I was pretty much raised with my mother's side of the family). I was looking at that single site yet again, that even mentioned the word "Slavic," and I noticed it mentioned that Minnich could be traced back to 11th/12th century Austria. I thought during this time Germans inhabited Austria, so i'm going to study that more. And while I will try what you said, it will be more difficult given the current situation. Thank you. I may have to wait till i'm older, and pay someone professional to research my genealogy, since I doubt I could find someone who actually knows what they are doing who would do this research (starting with me then going back) for me :-/ Since I haven't the slightest clue- i tried it on Cyndi's List, but almost all of the links were redirects to pay-sites.

P.S. I've realized ALL surname sites give their own, sometimes different than others' "general history" of the surname.. Am I right? Could this mean Minnich, 'my' Minnich, could be of German origin (and not Slavic/Magyar)? -London 23:33, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

All families have their odd relationship issues. If you know about when your grandfather was born, and where, or approximately when the family immigrated, you could start looking for birth records or immigration records. The idea that a surname has only one origin is usually wrong; and so of course you could be a Minnich from any of the known origins. If you want, I could look for records relating to your grandfather at ancestry.com, but I'd need as many names/places/details as you have. - Nunh-huh 03:26, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I suppose. All I know, is I seem to remember my dad saying that our Minnich family moved from Germany to Illinois, then moved to where we are now. I don't even know his full name, but here goes: Walter Minnich, Married Patsy Hensley, and Walter's mother's last name was Jones- that's all I know about him. I'll try to find out more if possible.London 23:26, 1 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Yes, it's probably a good idea to drop a note on my page when you want to be sure I'll see something here, that way I don't have to put your talk page on my watchlist. I took a (very brief) look for Walter Minnichs in Illinois, but saw no obvious hits. If you have information on the town or dates, which might help find him, feel free to e-mail them to me. (It's probably best not to place too much identifying information on living people here or really on any Internet forum). - Nunh-huh 17:23, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Alright, I will do so from now on. I don't know when i'll be able to find out, as i've severed most ties with my dad and his side of the family, but i'll find out sooner or later, maybe.. Would it help if I found out his full name? (Walter Minnich)

Also, could you see if you could find a Barnette (male) and a Wade (female; who had a daughter together who married a Carter), where both the Wade and Barnette immigrated from to America? (In other words, is it possible to search for a couple who got married and had a daughter that married a certain family, to find out where both those particular Barnettes and Wades came to America from?) London 00:51, 6 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Full names would help, but even better would be names with specific dates or dates and places. It's hard to search just on surnames, but I'll take a look. - Nunh-huh 17:31, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

And, sorry to ask this, but could you also go back as far as possible with a "Harold Junior Rains?" I'm sorry for asking it, but I would really appreciate it. -London 23:56, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Belgae
Were the Belgae (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgae) Germanic/Gaulish or Assyrian? The article confuses me, and any help is appreciated.

I don't know the answear...Even the article is vague...Try asking the question here WP:RD
 * Please respond on my page and tell me if I was helpfull or not thanks.Eagle (talk) (desk) 02:05, 13 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Hello Rains. I would request that you only use the tag for help with wikipedia. I see you have made a talk post on Belgae. I would wait until you get an answer there. I will remove the help me tag. GofG undefinedundefinedundefined  Contribs 02:04, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Normans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normans

In that article it says Normans were Norse and Gallo-Roman.

My questions are:

1. Gallo-Roman... does that mean the Celtic tribes of Gaul were, like Britain, just under Roman governmental rule (just soldiers there, really), and that the Gauls/Franks were still a seperate people from the Roman people? I believe the answer is yes, i'm just making sure.

2. Were the Normans, "blood" wise, that invaded England mostly Norse?

I'm interested in knowing this because the Normans, along with the Anglo-Saxons and Danes, make up the English race, since they all three mixed with each other so thoroughly.

London 03:43, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

The Romans conquered Gaul, administered it, imposed their language, and mixed with the people to the extent that several centuries later, they were "one people, language, and culture", but genetically primarily derived from previous Gallic ancestry. The Normans conquered England, administered it, imposed their language and laws, and mixed with the people to the extent that several centuries later, they were "one people, culture, and language", but genetically primarily derived from previous English ancestry. The Normans, like the Romans, were of mixed ancestry, including Norse and old British Celtic (which is why the region is called Brittany). alteripse 06:19, 13 March 2006 (UTC)


 * The second question is "yes." William of Nor-mandy was William of Norse Man Land.  I.e. the Nor-men were "Vikings" who had conquered a region of present-day France.  His troops were similarly norsemen.  These norse were not actually vikings, in the literal sense, because they were part of an invasion trend rather than raids.  At any rate, some of the Norman troops were Gallo-Roman, but the nobles William brought with him were one generation away from Norway.  Geogre 11:49, 13 March 2006 (UTC)
 * The Normans ("North Men") got a lot farther than England and Normandy, all the way down to the Mediterranean. They repulsed the Saracens from Sicily and Malta. A very interesting and largely unknown story. --Halcatalyst 21:02, 13 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Northmen did not conquer Normandy. There was a sort of bargain between the French and Viking kings : "Do not row up to Paris for pillage, I give you the march of Normandy and you will guard us against Angles, Saxons and Danes (from Britain) pillage." The then duke of Normandy referred (feudalistically spoken) to the French whatshisname king. --DLL 23:02, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

"At any rate, some of the Norman troops were Gallo-Roman, but the nobles William brought with him were one generation away from Norway." - So in other words, those who migrated/conquered England from Normandy ("of Norman origin") were of almost pure Norse blood? Interesting. Also;

Alteripse- Are you saying Gauls were a mix of Celtic and modern day Italians? I thought Gauls were just Celtic. -London 23:42, 13 March 2006 (UTC)


 * This type of question can be asked at the reference desk, they will try and help you find factual information. - cohesion  t 02:13, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Are you aware of this Wikipedia talk:Censorship ?
For myself, I would like to say that the method is not innocent. The subject is truly important : there is one talk page and twoscore people discussing auto censorship for one million (counting non active users). Will you give your advice ? --DLL 20:18, 21 March 2006 (UTC)