Trautmann/Troutman lines in America

Trautmann/Troutman Early Records in America

Trautmann/Troutman lines in America


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Introduction to Lines (Please Read)
The following are the Troutman family lines in America up to 1850. I have classified every Troutman I could find in the Federal Censuses 1790 through 1850 in one of these lines, or as unclassified, or as a recent immigrant (loosely defined as those Troutmans who came to the United States after 1830, and their children). I have also transcibed census records for members of the Trotman family.

There were several Troutman lines in America in 1850. The five largest were the descendants of (in no particular order):

  1. PA.01 - Phillip Trautmann, born 1652, of Schriesheim, Baden-Württemburg, Germany - "Tulpehocken Township, Pennsylvania Troutmans"
  2. PA.02 - Wilhelm Trautmann, born about 1730, arrived in America in 1752 - "Somerset County, Pennsylvania Troutmans"
  3. PA.03 - Peter Trautmann, born about 1738, of Nothumberland Co, PA - "Mahantongo Valley, Pennsylvania Troutmans"
  4. KY.01 - Leonhart Trautmann, born about 1710, arrived in America in 1751 - "Kentucky Troutmans"
  5. NC.01 - Adam Trautmann, born 1690, of Reichelsheim, Hessen, Germany - "North Carolina Troutmans"

Each line is classified by state and number. The state is the one the family is most associated with, not necessarily the one in which the immigrant ancestors initially settled. The numbers were assigned first to the "old" Troutman families that I knew about in chronological order of their arrival in America. Later, I assigned numbers to others I could group together as related families, but not yet link to one of the old families.

Since the five big Troutman families are so large, I further divided them into generations; three generations for PA.01, KY.01, and NC.01; two generations for PA.02 and PA.03. I follow the "root" line designation with a period, and then letters. The letters reprsent the birth order of sons. For example, PA.01.b (John Troutman) was the second son of PA.01 (Philipp Trautmann), and PA.01.bd (Philip Troutman) was the fourth son of PA.01.b (John Troutman).

Each line has the designation code, the name of the male Troutman ancestor, his birth year (preceded by "c" for "circa" if approximate), and the place or places he is most associated with. If a name appears in parentheses, it means the person did not commonly go by that name, although it was part of their full name. It was fairly common for Germans to have two given names, and go by the second. It was also fairly common for German parents to name all their sons with the same first name, most commonly "John" (Johann). Note that I am not terribly concerned with what spelling of the Troutman surname the person used, since many of these people appear in records with multiple spellings. Also, I prefer the English version of given names to the German version (John instead of Johann, Henry instead of Heinrich, etc).

Most of the line assignments I have given Troutmans in the early censuses are commonly accepted among Troutman family researchers. A few lines are described here by me for the first time and are somewhat hypothetical. I have linked some previously unlinked Troutman families to the older lines where I have found proof. In other cases, I am pretty sure certain lines are related. For example, I think all the North Carolina lines are related to NC.01, and all or most of the Kentucky lines are related to KY.01. As I or others find the proof to relate these lines, I will reassign Troutman individuals to their new line.

What follows is just an outline of the Troutman lines. In the upcoming weeks, I hope to add some descriptions to each line. For well-documented lines, I will simply hyperlink to web sites for this line, or refer to printed books on the line. I will also include the names of some prominent researchers of that line. I may augment these well-documented lines with a little data I have found on my own. For lines with little or no previous documentation, I may go into a little more depth.


Pennsylvania lines to 1850


Kentucky lines to 1850


North Carolina lines to 1850


Other lines to 1850


Recent Immigrants to 1850

This is loosely defined as those Troutmans who came to the United States after 1830, and their children. Very few Troutmans came to America between 1776 and 1830, although a few did (see line MD.01). There is not a lot of readily available data on Troutman immigrants before 1850. The series Germans to America notes that a Federal law mandated that from 1819 forward, much better ship records would be kept, listing all arriving immigrants. Unfortunately, the Germans to America series does not cover the years before 1850; it covers 1850 - 1900. The series notes that the number of German immigrants to America did not exceed 10,000 until the year 1832. After that, a huge number of immigrants from Germany came to this nation, over 4 million between 1850 and 1900.

Some of those immigrants were Troutmans. From looking at recent immigrant Troutman familes in the 1850 Census, I can tell by the ages and birthplaces of the children when these Troutmans arrived in America. A few of the immigrant Troutman familes arrived between 1830 and 1840, but most arrived between 1840 and 1850. Of the recent immigrant Troutman families who were in America in 1840, I have been able to locate all but a few in the 1840 Census.

Most of the recent immigrants indicated they were from Germany, or some region of Germany (such as Bavaria or Hesse), or some former German nation-state (such as Prussia). Germany did not unify into the modern nation until 1871. A few of the Troutmans in 1850 indicated they were from France. I am pretty sure these were from the border areas of France and Germany. Most of these French Troutmans were probably from the Alsace-Lorraine region, which France conquered in the Napoleonic Wars (1806), and Germany later took back in the Franco-Prussian War (1871). Some German Trautmanns became French citizens during this era. Some retained the German language, and others became "Franco-nized", learning the French language and giving their children French forms of names,such as Jacques and Marie.

I have a little data on a couple of the Troutman familes I have classified as recent immigrants in the 1850 Census. If you know of immigration data for these people, let me know.


Unclassified

These are people I do not know much about. I would like to link these people to an existing line, or start a new line for them. Let me know if you have information on any of these.


Trotman Family

Most Trotmans are of English orgin. Most of these are from North Carolina, in the region of Gates and Chowan and counties. There were also a few German Trotmans (some spelled Trottman or Trottmann).


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