The Mohr One-Name Study
Welcome to the web site dedicated
to the genealogy and history of Mohr, Moore, Maurer & Mowrer families
and the Mohr one-name study, including various spelling variations. This
project began with the search for my own Mohr family from Germany and has
grown to include other families with similar spellings. To learn more about
how some of the names might have changed over the generations, read the article
below titled Why Mohr, Moore & Maurer? by Dr.
George Moore.
I'm creating a clearinghouse of resources,
researcher home pages, queries and links to assist researchers of these
families. If you know of any other resources that might be helpful, please
e-mail me. If you have any research to contribute to the project, you will
be credited for your contribution. And if you would like to have your genealogy
page including Mohr, Moore, Maurer or Mowrer, etc. info linked to this page,
just send me your URL and the title of your website.
To navigate the
pages of this website, use The Melting Pot Site Directory at the bottom of each page. I
hope that The Melting
Pot web site helps you find your ancestors and new cousins. Be sure to post a Query
during your visit and add your ancestor's spouse to the Spouse Index. Please bookmark this page
now and visit again to check out new information as it is added.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Why Mohr, Moore & Maurer?
Queries
Spouse Index
Research &
Resources
My Mohr & Allied
Lines
Important &
Interesting Links
Why Mohr, Moore &
Maurer?
by Dr. George Moore
Although my name
is Moore, my immigrant ancestor was listed as Moor on the lists of embarkation
even though he was named Mohr in Germany. My further research led to other
spellings such as Moer, Mawyer, Meurer and Maurer, as well as Mor. At first,
I wondered if differences in accents or illiteracy accounted for the variations
in spelling.
I soon learned that Moor had been written
in the early 18th century passenger lists by "English scribes,"
who simply wrote what the name sounded like to them. It was also clear that
Mohr was the correct name of my immigrant ancestor since it was written
by him as such in the early church records of New Jersey. Nevertheless,
the British government passed a Naturalization Act in 1715 and, in order
for Johann Mohr to own land, he had to comply with the Act. In 1730, Mohr
became Moore in public documents but the family continued to use Mohr in
church records up to1805. Maurer, Moer and Mawyer also appeared in store
account books and among other papers of the same era and locale. Were there
other families with these various names in the area or were these simply
misspellings of the same name?
As I searched for ancestors in Europe, I
found quite by chance a large hand-painted genealogical chart on a staircase
wall of a 14th century castle hotel in Meran Valley of the Sud Tirol. It
was a real find! The artist had traced the family tree of a particular Mohr
family from about 1350 to 1799 and part of the data was pertinent to my
search. As I examined the names closely, 1 found that many of them were
written with two spellings. For example, Johan Mohr oder (or) Maurus was
given as one entry. Maurus was the most common alternate name but other
variations included Maur, von Mohr and Mor. Most of the double spellings
had been entered up to the mid-16th century. It was not until I met a scholarly
genealogist in Wiesbaden that I learned a logical explanation for this pattern.
During the 15th and 16th centuries of western
Europe, a movement of thought broke through the medieval traditions of scholastic
theology and philosophy, and devoted itself to the rediscovery and direct
study of the ancient classics. This movement called Humanism was essentially
a revolt against intellectual and, especially, ecclesiastical authority.
At that time, many educated families translated their names into Latin or
Greek. Mohr became Maurus in Latin and Maur in Greek. Even today, the translation
of Mohr in German implies dark or swarthy people and pertains to the Moors
of northern Africa.
Mauritius was an early Christian martyr commemorated
by the Roman Catholic Church. He was a commander of a Roman legion sent
to nortnern Italy, Switzerland and Germany to persecute Christians. Since
Mauritius and his men were also of this faith, they refused to participate
in the persecution and were exterminated at Geneva. Later, a cult for St.
Maurice was founded at St. Moritz and Valais, Switzerland. In 1621, the
famous congregation of St. Maur was established in France. Most of the Benedictine
monasteries joined the movement in order to purify and elevate the Roman
Church during the 17th and 18th centuries.
In German-speaking lands, the name of Maur
or Maurus became Maurer because er indicates one of or himself. Less
educated persons and those who came after the age of Humanism continued
to use the classical name without knowing its derivation. Variations such
as Meurer, Maurer, Mawyer and Moer came about due to differences in pronunciation
as in the English language. In the German tongue, Mohr and Maurer are nearly
alike. It is unlikely that Maurers or Mohrs who immigrated to America after
the 18th century would change their names. There would be no need to since
the Naturalization Act had expired in 1772. A genealogist, however, would
need to keep the various spellings of Mohr in mind.
In searching for traces of Mohr ancestors
from the 14th to the 18th centuries of the early Austrian Empire, I found
that Mor was the most common name used and may well have served as the precursor
ancestral name. I made a few more observations. The word mor is a term used
in several languages, including ancient Celtic, and implies greatness such
as pride or height. The Celtic civilization of Central Europe is thought
to have originated in the migration of Scythian peoples from the steppes
of the Caucasus mountains. The western advance through the Balkans and up
the Danube corresponded with the retreat of the Ice Age from the Alps about
10,000 years ago. As settlers made their way slowly north, they followed
the tributaries of the Danube, traveled west along the Drava and found the
last branch which led to the headwaters in the high mountains. This last
river some 230 miles long was called the Mur. It is interesting to note
that the headwaters of the Mur is where the Rhaetian Celts thrived 5,000
years ago. Towns along the river are named Murau, Muhr and Mur. Could the
name Mor or Mur have originated there?
Roman legions fought the Celtic tribes throughout
Europe and subjugated their peoples. The Celtic world vanished except in
parts of the British Isles and Ireland where the Romans did not follow.
Today, we tend to regard Moore or More names as Irish, Scotch or English
in origin. The Celtic word mor no doubt survived best in those areas which
had not been Romanized and, perhaps, mor became moor as a place name due
to the great expanses of open rolling and infertile land where people lived.
Perhaps, all of this may help explain why there are so many Moores in America.
Copyright 1996 by Dr. George Moore. All rights reserved. This is a copyrighted
excerpt from Dr. Moore's upcoming book on Mohr genealogy. He is researching
the family of George MOORE, b 2 Dec 1724, d 2 Jan 1815, bur Zion Evangelical
Lutheran Church Cemetery, Spruce Run, Hunterdon Co., New Jersey. His address
can be found on the Research &
Resources Page under Mohr Resources.
Click on the Research & Resources link above to find out about it.
E-mail: Karen Mohr
The Melting Pot Site
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Resources ~
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My Other Genealogy Pages
Donshea Dunshea
Dunshee Genealogy ~ The
Geyer Family : Germans from Russia
A Civil War Letter
This page was created on June 5, 1997. Copyright ©
1997-2007 by Karen Mohr. All rights reserved.
Special thanks to
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