OHLUCAS-L Archives

From: leoandlinda <>
Subject: Re: [OHLUCAS] Charles Bedthija SMITH maybe BEDTHIJA looking for anyinfo on him or parents
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 20:21:40 -0500
References: <1173766803.259747@rootsweb.com>
In-Reply-To: <1173766803.259747@rootsweb.com>

You've got a tough one. I have one possibly useful suggestion, and
then a strangely miscellaneous note that may have absolutely no
relevance......

On Tue, 13 Mar 2007 06:20:03 -0000, you wrote:

>It has been suggested to me that this name could possibly be Latvian
>spelled Bettija. Any info surrounding this name would be appreciated.

Could very well be. This name also appears in Malta. And Bettoja
appears in Italy. I suspect that other phonetically similar names
exist, especially in Eastern Europe. I'm really sorry........

During the last half of the 1800s, I suspect that Germany was drawing
people from many places due to all the industrial growth. Bedthija
certainly does not appear to be German, but he could certainly have
been born there, and his parents have come from elsewhere.

If I were you, I would get on a few of the German genealogy and
history research lists (a lot of them are in English, and many others
are at least English-friendly), post the name there, and ask about
immigration into Germany 1850 to 1890, and see if there are areas from
which people came, and areas from which they didn't. Might at least
help you narrow things down some. Won't be able to pinpoint much of
anything without his location in Germany, but it might help. Couldn't
hurt.

Here's the strangely miscellaneous note:
And just to make things more complicated, Bathija is a name in India.
With many of the accents in that part of the world, the 'th' has a
short brisk start....... I would spell this phonetically something
like Bad-thiya or Bet-thiya. Not at all impossible that there was
immigration into Germany from there in the mid/late industrial
revolution.

>1st Story:
>My sister remembers our grandmother, Zetta Ann SMITH YORK, telling her about a grandfather, she does not remember if she specified which grandfather, that came from Germany married a Native American (this part I question but she swears that is how she remembers the story) had child/children wife died and the grandfather not being able to speak much English returned to Germany.

Can't help but wonder....... I have a couple of conflated family
stories of my own. The seeds eventually always have proved to have
some truth, but the bits get knitted together incorrectly into a story
that "makes sense" to the listener..... Often a child, listening to
bits and pieces from adults. When you finally find all the real
pieces, it's an obvious "Oh, *that's* how this all got confused."

Can't help but wonder if Zetta heard bits about her grandfather re
"Germany" and re "Indian", and this gradually ........ Ah, you know.
Probably not helpful, but I couldn't not say it out loud.

Hope the German history/gen lists can give you some help.

Linda S.

This thread:

• [OHLUCAS] Charles Bedthija SMITH maybe BEDTHIJA looking for anyinfo on him or parents by "" <>

  • Re: [OHLUCAS] Charles Bedthija SMITH maybe BEDTHIJA looking for anyinfo on him or parents by leoandlinda <>