Family Name
From Voth to Forth - a Journey
One of the most interesting things I have learned while researching this family branch has been the evolution of the name change from Voth
to Vauth
to Fodt
to Foth
in Germany and then Foth
and Forth
in Buffalo and Muskoka.
My grandmother and her siblings, as well as the descendants of Henry's eldest brother, Charles, had always been told that their last name wasn't really Forth, but they never knew what it was. According to family lore, the brothers were German but hadn't wanted to be!
When I began researching the family in Buffalo, I searched using wildcards and ultimately came up with Foth as a possible surname. The data seemed to fit with what I knew about Henry Ernest Forth and Charles Forth so I assumed the last name was actually Foth. On one Census record, in 1880, I noted that Henry and his brother, Ernest, had been listed under the name Fort. I checked the original and it appeared to be written Foot rather than Fort. I assumed Foot to be the error of the census taker as, in German, Foth and Foot would sound very similar to the ear. I also located a Census record for brother Fred Foth under the name Voth in 1910. The pronunciation for Foth and Voth would be the same in German, so I assumed it also was the error of the census taker.
In November of 2014, I finally located the emigration records for the Foth family that indicated they had emigrated from Lelkendorf, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. I ordered a microfilm of the Schorrentin parish church records through the Family Search website and began a process of decoding a mixture of hand-written German Kurrent and Roman script records.
I noted one entry for a Christian Bernhard
Vauth in 1829. It was a birth record for his son, Adolph Joachim Friedrich Christian
Vauth. I wondered immediately if it were the record of birth for Henry Ernest Forth's father, Christian Foth, as the time frame was correct AND I realized that in German Vauth and Foth would sound the same. It was, indeed, the birth record for Henry's father! I also found an 1819 Census record for Bernhard Voth, so the spelling Voth actually appeared before Vauth.
I located only one record listing the name Foth in the Lutheran Church records for Schorrentin in this time period. There was a confirmation record for Adolph Joachim Friedrich Christian Foth, dated April 9, 1843. Christian’s birth date was given, which proves that this is the correct person. His father was listed as Christian Foth, the only time I have seen him referred to as anything but Bernhard.
I then forwarded through the film to the timeframe where I believed I would find the birth record for Charles, the eldest son of Christian and Friederica. I had the actual birth date for Charles from records given to me by his great grandson, Bill Forth, so I was able to locate the record easily.
Charles had been born Johann Carl
Friedrich Jaeger, as he was illegitimate. Even more interesting was that his father's name was recorded as Vauth but under it in parentheses it said alias Fodt! This reminded me that I had found a Census record in Buffalo for Henry and Ernest Foot. Perhaps it had been a misspelling of Fodt. In looking at it again, I can see how it could well have been written Fodt in the original! The Latin at the bottom of the parents' names indicated that they had married later that year so Carl, as per German law at the time, had then been legitimized and used the surname Fodt.
I searched for the rest of Henry's siblings and found them all. The next child born, Maria Christina Mina, was recorded as Fodt and the Vauth was in parentheses.
Fred, Wilhelmina, Ernest and Henry were all recorded as Fodt at birth.
The Hamburg Passenger List
I located was in German and almost impossible to read. Thank goodness for transcriptions! The transcription of the passenger list documented the family as Foth. The immigration record at Castle Garden also used the name Foth.
The next records I found for the Foth family were a Buffalo City Directory listing (for a Frederike (sic) Foth, widow), and confirmation records from Trinity Old Lutheran Church for Rica and the children. I then traced the four boys through Friederica's records after she married Frederick Kaiser and also through U.S. Army records.
Charles enlisted in the US Army January 27, 1872, under the name of Charles Forth. Ernest enlisted July 18, 1881 under the name of Ernest F. Foth. Charles emigrated to Canada about 1882 where he continued to use the surname Forth. His brother, Henry, also emigrated to Canada, about 1882-1885, and also used the surname Forth. Census records and Buffalo City Directory records revealed that both Ernest and his brother, Fred, used the surname Foth throughout their lives.
While I cannot explain why Charles and Henry used the surname Forth, I believe that all the other versions of their surname, Voth, Vauth, Fodt and Foth, would sound almost the same in German - beginning with F and rhyming with boat - FOAT. The spelling of the name was reliant, in most cases, on the whim of the Lutheran minister who recorded the name on various church records as he heard it and believed it to be spelled.