Bossong
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Bossong (German: Boßong) is a surname common to Rhineland-Palatinate (Ger: Rheinland-Pfalz; Fr: Le Rhénanie-Palatinat ) in Germany (Ger: Deutschland; Fr: l'Allemagne) and Alsace (Ger: Elsaß; Fr: l'Alsace) in France.
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[edit] Surname history
The Bossong family is of Frankish origin [1]. This is neither Teutonic nor French, but a separate race, almost extinct today [1]. They were likely Huguenots or Walloons as records indicate they fled Catholic persecutions during the 16th and 17th centuries [1].
When William the Conqueror of Normandy invaded England in 1066, several of the names were in his invading army [1]. For their services in the conquest of England, they were awarded large estates in County Norfolk where the family may still be found [1].
Again in 1572, after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the family suffered the persecutions of many families and refused to accept the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. To avoid this persecution, many families left the domains of the French King and fled to County Kent England and Holland [1].
Again in the latter part of the 17th century, the Bossongs who remained in France suffered persecution and fled [1].
Genealogical researcher Heinrich Herzog notes that Bossongs resided in the Habsburgs Low Countries (likely the duchy of Luxembourg of the Seventeen Provinces) [2]. These are likely the ones who fled after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Escaping the Spanish invasion during the Thirty Years' War, they migrated to a small city that was located in the (at that point in time) neutral principality of Pfalz-Zweibrücken [2]. In 1635, they escaped again from imperial troops choosing Annweiler and Bischweiler in Alsace that both belonged to Pfalz-Zweibrücken [2]. They also escaped to Hanau on the river Main and apparently also to Malmedy [2].
For the past several hundred years, Bossongs have been common in and around the town of Kaiserslautern in the Rhineland-Palatinate including Bruchmühlbach-Miesau, Gorweiler, Lambrecht, Landstuhl, Otterbach, Otterberg, Ramstein, Schallodenbach, Schneckenhausen (formerly Schneckenhoff), and Steidelbach. The earliest known cited Bossong in the Kaiserslautern area was Aegidius Bossong, who was born approximately 1642 and died in 1705[3].
[edit] Cultural origins
The Franks were the race of Charlemagne, the Pepins, Dagobert I, and Charles Martel. Their capital was at Axis-la-Chappell (Aachen) [4], near the Alsace-Lorraine border in present-day Germany [1]. The Bossong family seat was in the town of Bussang which lies in present-day Lorraine [1].
Although most of the Bossongs found in Schallodenbach and surrounding farm villages were Catholic, some early church records suggest that Calvinist Bossongs lived in Heiligenmoschel.[3] As noted earlier in this article, it appears early Bossongs were Huguenots or Walloons.
In Europe today, the name can be found in several countries from the western and southern parts of the former Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation - Germany, France, Netherlands, and Italy.
[edit] Various spellings
The oldest cited carrier of the name is Matthieu Bodecon of Odenwald in the mid-16th century [2]. The spelling of the name changed over the years including: Bodecon, Boudosson, Baudeson, Baudisson, and Boissian. Current spellings include Bosson, Bossong, Bossung, Bossing, Botzon, Bussang, Boshung, and Bobung. This last spelling is likely a result of translating the eszett (ß) as the letter B.
[edit] Meaning of name
Two separate translations appear for the surname.
One comes from two Frankish words:
- Bois Woods or forest [1] [5] (More recently French: topographic name for someone living or working in a wood, from Old French bois ‘wood’ [6])
- Songe A dream [1]
- Hence, the name signifies "a forest of dreams" or "a dream woods" [1]
Another meaning comes from a more recent spelling of the name:
- Bossong Variant of French Bosson, found mainly in Alsace. [6]
- Bosson French and Dutch: from Bosson, a patronymic from the Germanic personal name Boso (see Boos). [6]
- Boos Dutch and German: from a Germanic personal name, Boso, most probably from an element meaning 'leader', 'nobleman', or 'arrogant person'. [6]
[edit] Immigration to the United States
Along with about 1.2 million other Germans, many Bossongs emigrated from Europe in the late 19th century while war ravaged central Europe. The most popular immigration to the United States for the Germans was New York.
Today, a significant number of people with various spellings of the name reside in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois.
[edit] Notable Bossongs
Franz_Bossong(1872 - 1914) - Author, poet, and publisher
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Sketch of the Bossong Family and it's Arms by W.E. Hennessee
- ^ a b c d e A Contribution to the History of the Lambrecht Line of the Botzon Family by Heinrich Herzog
- ^ a b Kirchenbuch, 1683-1961, Katholische Kirche Schallodenbach (BA. Kaiserslautern), Tote 1705-1778, 1801-1918 Konfirmation 1856-1917 Tote 1919-1961, FHL INTL Film 500158
- ^ First Europe Tutorial / The Applied History Research Group / The University of Calgary / August 1996
- ^ Old Frankish
- ^ a b c d Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
