Tag: Switzerland

February 7, 2012 Dennis No comments exist

Greene County, TN, was the birthplace of the legendary Davy Crockett in 1786. It was also the home of our 17th president, Andrew Johnson, who took over after President Lincoln was assassinated. After the Civil War, the Derryberrys remaining in Greene County, TN, began feeling the need to shorten their surname. Perhaps the first to do so was Thomas Derryberry who by 1870 was using the name Dayberry. Then by 1880 his father William was also using this new spelling. Both William and Thomas and their families moved to Sevier County, TN, sometime before 1880 and lived there until the end of their lives. William died in 1890 and Thomas died in 1908.

Meanwhile, recall from the previous post that James Derryberry had married a second time to Elizabeth Hansel, in 1859. Well, later that year they had a son named Robert, and before James rode off to join the southern campaign in 1862 they had a daughter named Mary. When James didn’t return after the war, his widow and two small children must have had a very difficult time surviving. Finally, in 1870, Elizabeth who sometimes went by her first name Susan, at age 33 remarried an older gentleman named Samuel Easterly who was 64. Together they had a daughter named Cenia. Unfortunately, by 1880 Elizabeth was widowed once again.

By 1880, 21 year old Robert Derryberry, had moved away from home and was called “Ball Dery”. Perhaps Ball was a nickname, but it is obvious that he was also trying on a shorter surname. That same year he married Sarah Jane Clowers who was six years older. He possibly met Sarah when when she was visiting relatives next door to where Robert was living.  However, Robert and Sarah were married using his old Derryberry surname.

Over the next 15 years, Robert and Sarah proceeded to have three daughters and four sons. They lived and farmed near Warrensburg, TN for the rest of their lives. The Nolichucky River runs right through this area. In 1900, the family was still using the Derryberry name, but shortly after began spelling their name differently.  Most of the family members dropped the “berry” syllable and began using just “Derry”. Robert died of pneumonia in 1903 at only 44 years old. Sarah lived for another 20 years and died in 1923.  They are both buried in the Methodist Church cemetery in Warrensburg, TN. Interestingly, as can be clearly seen, the name is spelled Derrie on their headstone. Only one of their offspring adopted that particular spelling variation and that was their oldest son, our ancestor, Thomas Washington Derrie.

Jim Derry who lives in the northwest corner of Georgia, not far from Chattanooga, TN is a great-greatDNA grandson of Robert Derryberry/Derrie.  Jim had a DNA test run in 2010 that matches him with the Durrenbergers of Switzerland, proving that the Derrys/Derries of East Tennessee are in fact descendants of that line. Jim and I are second cousins, but once removed since he is one generation younger than I.

December 26, 2011 Dennis Ayers No comments exist

It has been suggested by a number of researchers that the Derryberry family living in North Carolina by 1778 were descendants of Michael Dürrenberger who may have come by way of Virginia. There is also a possibility that they might have descended from Dürrenbergers who came directly from Alsace or Switzerland to the Carolinas by way of Charleston. There is no direct evidence to support which of these theories is correct.  What is definitely known, however, is that DNA evidence now exists that proves the Derryberry line originated from the Alsatian/Swiss Dürrenbergers regardless of how they arrived in North Carolina.

 

After they first appear in North Carolina, it is difficult at best to determine which of the earliest Derryberrys are descended from whom. Records are scarce and the repetition of so many given names makes it necessary to use as much circumstantial evidence as possible to reconstruct relationships up through about 1850. However, thanks to the diligent work of other researchers like Don Cross and Bob Derryberry, a most likely set of family relationships has evolved and this is what I show on the Ayers-Derrie Family Tree website, and what forms the basis for the early years on the Derrie lineage shown below.

 

As with our Ayers lineage, I have used a timeline chart to show the life spans of each Derrie ancestor over the last three centuries.  In the chart, you can see the New Jersey ancestors in green on the left side, and then the North Carolina and beyond ancestors on the right side in blue.  I show a dotted line between Michael Dürrenberger of New Jersey and John Derryberry of North Carolina to indicate there are no actual records to tie them together, only DNA test results.

 

                                      Derrie Lineage Timeline — Click for a larger view

 

Again to give a better perspective of when they lived across the three centuries, I’ve added major historical events.  As I continue to describe family stories of this lineage, you might find it useful to refer back to this chart to get a feel for the time period in which they lived.

 

December 2, 2011 Dennis No comments exist

As mentioned previously, the DERRIE surname originated as DüRRENBERGER in Europe. Extensive information about the Dürrenberger families in both Europe and later in the United States has been gathered by Brian Anton and other researchers, and Brian maintains an impressive website appropriately called “The Dürrenberger Family“  (freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~fams/durrenberger).  From his website and others, I have assembled a very quick summary of the origins of the Dürrenberger name.

Alsace Flag

 

The earliest Dürrenbergers of record lived in the Basel-Landschaft region near Basel, Switzerland, which is located where the borders of Germany, France and Switzerland come together. People in that part of Switzerland speak German and the name is Germanic in origin referring to someone who comes from a Dürrenberg or dry and barren mountain. The Dürrenbergers were thought to be Calvinists (Protestants) after the Catholic Reformation in the 16th century, and some of them migrated to the Alsace region to the north of Switzerland.

 

Alsace is a region between the Rhine River and the Vosges Mountains, with portions in eastern France and western Germany. During the 17th century, the region’s association with Germany which had lasted for hundreds of years was terminated in 1648. This marked the conclusion of the Thirty Years War, when Alsace became a part of France.

 

The Thirty Years War (1618 – 1648) had its roots in the ongoing religious struggle between the Protestants and Catholics. It was mainly fought in Germany, but spilled over into many other countries as well. A major impact of the war was the extensive destruction of entire regions, ravaged by the foraging armies. Then episodes of famine and disease significantly decreased the population of some regions including Alsace. With many towns nearly empty, the local feudal lords encouraged repopulation of Alsace by the Swiss. As a result, many Swiss people migrated northward to Alsace seeking land and economic opportunity. Several Dürrenbergers were among them, coming from Basel-Landschaft and settling in both northern and southern Alsace.  Mertzwiller was one of the towns in the North to which our ancestors relocated probably sometime after 1650. Their new homeland in France was roughly 100 miles from their previous homeland in Switzerland, not far by today’s standards, but greater back then.

 

Dürrenbergers in Europe
Dürrenbergers in Europe

 

Under their new political masters in Alsace, the Swiss people continued to speak German and follow German customs. But the changes were especially hard on the German and Swiss Protestants, or “Palatines”, as they came to be known.  The hardships were  associated with the persecution of Protestants everywhere at that time in central Europe by the Catholic majority. In addition to the Germans, Swiss and French Protestants (Hugenots) were also subject to harassment and persecution.

 

As Alsace’s population grew, people again sought economic and religious opportunity elsewhere. By the early 1700’s, a mass migration of these people ensued which took thousands from their ancestral lands down the Rhine River to Holland and then to England on their way to a new life in America, with the Pennsylvania and Carolina colonies as primary destinations.  Some Alsatian Dürrenbergers arrived in the American Colonies as early as 1738, and it appears our Dürrenberger ancestors were among this first group.