My surname is mosher from alsace. I was wondering if people from alsace are prussian, french, german or switz?

Question

I am a mosher, originally moser i think. from alsace and want to know if im prussian or french or what? Please help. we have no idea of our family lineage for it has been lost. please help. thank you.

Answer 1

My grandmother's ancestors migrated from Alsace; all were German-speaking. I was amused to find them listed on the 1851 census of Canada as "German" and on the 1871 census as from France, of "French" origin. The categories on the census listings had changed slightly in the intervening period, but I suspect this change of origin had more to do with the fact that a large chunk of Alsace was changing hands between France and Germany around that time.

Answer 2

Alsace is a Provence in France. However, it was a battle ground between France and Germany. As earlier Germans were called Prussians, Alsacians would be French, German and Prussian (and whatever else came along). Charlemagne had headquarters in Alsace; it had a long, involved history.

Try:

You should start by asking all your living relatives about family history.  Then, armed with that information, you can go to your public library and check to see if it has a genealogy department.  Most do nowadays; also, don't forget to check at community colleges, universities, etc.  Our public library has both www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com free for anyone to use (no library card required).

Another place to check out is any of the Mormon's Family History Centers.  They allow people to search for their family history (and, NO, they don't try to convert you).

A third option is one of the following websites:

http://www.searchforancestors.com/...

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739...

http://www.usgenweb.com/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.ukgenweb.com/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/...

http://www.cyndislist.com/

http://www.geni.com/

Cyndi's has the most links to genealogy websites, whether ship's passenger lists, ancestors from Africa, ancestors from the Philippines, where ever and whatever.

Of course, you may be successful by googling: "john doe, born 1620, plimouth, massachusetts" as an example.

Good luck and have fun!

Check out this article on five great free genealogy websites:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

Then there is the DNA test; if you decide you want to REALLY know where your ancestors came from opt for the DNA test. Besides all the mistakes that officials commonly make, from 10% to 20% of birth certificates list the father wrong; that is, mama was doing the hanky-panky and someone else was the REAL father. That won't show up on the internet or in books; it WILL show up in DNA.

I used www.familytreedna.com which works with the National Geographics Genotype Program.

Answer 3

Moser    

Last name origins & meanings:

South German: topographic name for someone who lived near a peat bog, Middle High German mos, or a habitational name from a place named with this word.

North German (Möser): metonymic occupational name for a vegetable grower or seller, from an agent noun based on Middle Low German mōs ‘vegetable’.

Mosher    

Last name origins & meanings:

English: unexplained.

South German and Swiss German: unexplained.

This name is said to be a variant of English Moger (the origin of which is likewise unexplained), and to have been brought from Somerset, England, to RI and ME in the mid 17th century.

Surname: Moger

This interesting and unusual name is of medieval French/German origin and is derived from the Old French "Maugier", the Old German "Malger", meaning council-spear. Moger and the variant spellings, Mauger, Mager, Mayger and Major, was probably introduced into England with the Norman Conquest of 1066 but is also found in the 17th Century at Moge in Flanders. The name did not appear as a surname until the mid 13th Century (see below), but was used as a personal name, for example, Hugo Filias (son) Malgeri 1086 Domesday Book. Recordings of the surname from the London church registers include; William Moger, who married Agnes Junckyns on June 27th 1553, at St. Margaret's, Westminster; Roger Moger was christened on July 20th 1555, at the same place; the marriage of Thomas Moger and Frances Read took place on September 23rd 1599, at St. Mary Magdalene's, Bermondsey; and Alice, daughter of William and Ann Moger, was christened on November 24th 1622, at St. Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Mauger, which was dated 1250, The Fees of Somerset, during the reign of King Henry 111, "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272.

German (Alsace Lorraine)

Deutsch-Elsass

OVERVIEW OF THE LANGUAGE

Alsatian, Elsässerditsch or "les dialectes Alémaniques" is a dialectal variant of German which is spoken in Alsace. In the eastern half of Moselle, a part of the région of Lorraine, another Germanic variety is used called Franconian, Lothringer Platt or "le francique". This dialect closely resembles Luxemburgisch. The standard written form of these dialects is "hochdeutsch", standard German.

According to recent surveys, the number of speakers of these dialects is rapidly decreasing. Some 60% of the 1.6m inhabitants of Alsace speak the Alsatian dialect while only 36% of primary school pupils can speak it. Again, in Lorraine, some 50% of the 300,000-400,000 population of Lorraine is said to know and use the Franconian dialect, compared to only 20% of those under 15 years of age.

The area where the dialects are spoken has been transferred several times over the centuries from France to Germany and back with varying degrees of political autonomy for the region and linguistic rights for the dialects, German and French.

http://www.aber.ac.uk/cgi-bin/user/merww...

Alsace-Lorraine

An area of northeast France, lying west of the River Rhine. It forms the French regions of Alsace and Lorraine, and corresponds to the three French départements of Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, and Moselle. As a political entity, Alsace-Lorraine was created by the Treaty of Frankfurt, which ended the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.  Although the official language is French and most place names have been gallicized, much of Alsace's population and part of Lorraine's are still German-speaking. The German dialect spoken there is not considered on a par with French, and there is autonomist sentiment.

Alsace-Lorraine formed part of Celtic Gaul in Julius Caesar's time, was invaded by the Alemanni and other Germanic tribes in the 5th century, and remained part of the German Empire until the 17th century. In 1648 part of the territory was ceded to France; in 1681 Louis XIV seized Strasbourg. The few remaining districts were seized by France after the French Revolution. The region was conquered by Germany 1870-71,  Alsace-Lorraine was regained by France in 1919, then again annexed by Germany from 1940 to 1944, when it was liberated by the Allies.

Answer 4

Alsace was one of the German states before Germany became a unified nation that became part of France.  Today, I understand most people of Alsace are of German ancestry but they are French nationals and are fiercely loyal to France.

I had ancestors from Alsace in the mid 1700s  that left as they did not want to be under French rule.

Prussia took Alsace from France as a result of a war in 1870.  The Alsatians realized they would prefer being under the rule of Republican France than the Prussian monarchy and later Imperial Germany.  When the allies reached Alsace in WW I they were surprised when they were greeted by a German speaking populace as liberators.  I know a cousin of mine and one of my mother's aunts got into a heated argument one time about whether Alsace should be returned to Germany.  My cousin just said, "Aunt Fannie doesn't realize a lot of water has passed under the bridge since her people left Alsace in the 1700s."

The Treaty of Vesailles returned Alsace to France.  Then Hitler took it back. The n***s were especially cruel to the Alsatians and the Lorrainers as they considered them Germans loyal to France.  

There have been people who have stated Germany will try to take Alsace and Lorraine back.  However, one German official stated there was no way they would want to upset the stability of Europe to bring back into their country a people who didn't want to be part of Germany.

Answer 5

Alsatians consider themselves Alsatian. Some speak French and some speak German. Originally, they were just Alsatian. But the land has passed back and forth more times than I can count. If your family name is originally Moser, they were from the German lands. They wouldn't have been Prussian but were probably from Baden, Wuerttemberg or Pfalz. It's not an uncommon name in any of those areas.

Here's a website that you might find very helpful: http://genforum.genealogy.com/moser/