Compiled by Pat Woodruff
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| I'm beginning to like my name of Schwegel, now that I am finding out more about its origins. In childhood I found my last name simply annoying. We'd explain wearily that "it's Schwegel, rhymes with bagel." The best fun we could salvage out of the mangled spelling of our last name was to have a contest between my sisters and I on who got the worst misspelled Valentine card; Schwegal, Schwegle, Swegal, Shwegel, Shwegal, Swegel, Swegle, Schwaegel... The worst I ever got was a telemarketer who asked for "Pat Sewage"... lets just say he didn't make a sale! After getting into genealogy, I'm learning all the nice things about the last name. A "schwegel" or "schwiegel" is a flute which is blown crosswise (as opposed to a recorder.) In more recent times it is usually seen with six holes, although an ancient version was a three holed pipe more like a whistle that was played with one hand. That way the performer could beat a drum with the other hand. I've been told that the middle high German spelling is "suegala." The oldest versions of the schwegel were made of bone from the tibia. According to one expert on ancient musical instruments, the first written reference to the schwegel appeared at the end of the 12th century. For a long time it was mainly a military instrument, since most musical performers preferred the recorder. However, family lore was that members of the Schwegel family would range from the Pfalz area of Germany as far as Italy to play their music. That wandering spirit brought many of the Schwegel family to the United States, generally in the 1800's. At that point the occupations ranged from a musician in the Civil War to moonshiners, cabinet makers, saddle makers, glassblowers and bar owners. At the last count there were about 150 families in the United States and about 60 in Germany carrying the name. I found this all out in the course of researching my direct line. I would stumble across other Schwegels and in an attempt to sort them out, I thought I'd just start cataloging them all. I mean, how many can there be, right? A thousand Schwegels later, I'm still going. If you have information on any Schwegels or descendent that aren't in here, send it to me at [email protected] A big "Thank You" to all those who shared their information, so that we could put this all together for the generations to come. So langsam gefällt mir der Name Schwegel, da ich mehr and mehr ausfindig mache woher der Name stammt. Wir sagte Schwegel- bagel weil sich das reimte. Den größten Spaß hatte ich mit meinen Schwestern, wir woollten immer sehen, bei welchen von uns der Name am meisten falsch buchstabiert wurde, so wie Schwegal,Schwegle Swegal,Shwegel,Shwagel,Swegle,Swegal usw. Jetzt wo ich Ahnenforschung mache, lerne ich wie Interesant der Name Schwegel ist. Ein Schwegel ist eine sehr alte Flöte mit sechs Löchern. Diese Flöten sind im Museum in Berchtesgaden Germany zu sehen. [ Richard Schwegel sah sie in 1970 ]. Ende des 12. Jahrhundert sollen die Pfeiffen zum erstenmal erwähnt worden sein. Für eine lange Zeit wurden die Flöten beim Militär gespielt. Man erzählt, das in alten Zeiten die Schwegel's bis nach Spanien wanderten and dabei die Flöten spielten. Die Wanderlust brachte viele Schwegel's nach Amerika, hauptsächlich im 19. Jahrhundert. Die Schwegel's hatten Berufe, wie Musiker, Schreiner. Sattler, Glassbläßer usw. Es leben ungefähr 180 Schwegel Familien in USA.,etwa 51 in Deutschland, 6 in Östereich,3 in Canada and 2 in der Schweitz. Wenn Sie Photos oder irgendwelche Informationen über Schwegel's haben, bitte schicken Sie es durch e-mail zu [email protected]. Ein großes Danke Schön zu Denen die schon geholfen haben, auch zu Denen die in der Zukunft helfen werden. Schaut Euch die Bilder an, vielleicht kennt Ihr jemanden. |
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[email protected] |
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PO Box 190 Emporium, PA 15834 |
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814-486-9465 |
