Jäger/Jaeger

German surnames often have spelling variants. Jaeger is also spelled Jäger, the umlaut taking the place of the "e". In English, Jaeger means hunter. American records reveal that the name was spelled Yaeger for some family members, which is how it would have been pronounced.

According to the 1819 Census for Mecklenburg, Johann Christian Jaeger was born December 6, 1793 in Leuschentin in the parish of Kummerow (also spelled Cummerow) in Pomerania which is across the Kummerow See from Neukalen, just to the east of Lelkendorf. He emigrated from Pomerania to Lelkendorf in 1814.  

Johann married Friederica Sophia Dorothea Saehloff October 23, 1818 in Schorrentin. Sophia was born November 5, 1796 in Lelkendorf. Saehloff is also spelled Saehlof, Sählof, Sähloff and variations on Sälhof.

Johann and Sophia Jaeger were the parents of ten children. Hanna Regina Sophia was born before they married and her birth record stated she was unehelich, or illegitimate. The death record for son Johann Joachim Christian Friedrich Jaeger, almost 13 years old, stated his cause of death was Nervenfieber or typhoid fever.