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Wurdemann Family Official Home SiteWurdeman, Wurdemann, WuerdemannGermany - Switzerland - France - Prussia |
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pictures and files! genealogy expedition! phone calls when doing research! |
Welcome to the Wurdemann Official Home Page!
This web site has been made available to help gather in one location as much information on the Wurdemann family tree as possible. One goal will be to determine if all Wurdemanns around the world have a common ancestory, or if like other families, not everyone is related. I would love to claim many of the creative and inventive Wurdemanns around the world that made their mark on the world, but that might not be the case if we aren't all related.
Previously, the wurdeman.org web site contained very little information and a small photo gallery. This new site has been expanded to include the same photo gallery, but we have added a blog to encourage discussion and a family tree program that allows the ability to view and add family tree information in the GEDCOM standard format. Family members will be able to update and correct their own parts of the family tree making it a world wide effort.
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We sadly announce that Lorraine Cahlander (Wurdeman) passed away |
FAMILY TREE SOFTWARE IS INSTALLED NOW
Please sign up for the family tree and help with your branch!
The initial family tree, courtesy of William Ehlers, is based on the portion of the family tree that I am affiliated with, AKA the Nebraska contingent. My Great Grandfather Johann Heinrich Würdemann immigrated to Nebraska via Illinois, a Civil War, and Wisconsin from Germany. He also was the first in my lineage to Americanize his name to John Henry Wurdeman. My quest is to add as much as we can to the tree going back in time, as well as forward to include all the newer family members. At the same time we will be adding other segments of the Würdemann family tree in hopes to connect all the pieces together. We would like representatives from various segments of the family to help us with their part of the tree. In my case I represent Edward Wurdeman from whom my middle name was obtained. Would be great to find all my other distant cousins involved in genealogy and get what we can put together. For those who can help, please stop by the Family Tree part of the web site and signup for access. Thanks!
Wurdemann family crest, Governor, Chateau de Chillon, Switzerland - 1400s
Wurdemann family crest obtained from Dr. Wurdeman, Seattle, WA 1936
In attempting to research the crest we obtained this information:
"The arms is not registered or granted in Germany.
Wuerdemann or Woerdemann is an old Westfalian or Northern German name. Wuerde is the dialect word for hill, the meaning of the name is "the man who is living on the hill". You see the arms is punning the name."
Regarding the hat the people on the crest are wearing, "It is an old type of hat (three-cornered-hat) worn by German farmers until the 19th century. Today it is a part of national costumes in Germany, Black Forest for example. You look frontally at one of the three brims. That is the reason why it looks similar to a Chínese coolie hat."
Source of information:
Michael Waas
Chairman
HGW
http://www.westfalen-heraldik.de/
Ancestory.com gives two potential sources for the name: 1. North German (Wurdemann, also Wurdemann): a topographic name from Middle Low German wurt ‘farm area’, ‘field’, ‘woodland’.
2. German (Wurdemann): from a Germanic personal name formed with Old High German wirdi ‘dignity’ + man ‘man’.
Research done by Dr. Harry Vanderbilt Wurdemann suspected the tree began with Balthasar Manns, 1754-1834 and John Heinrich Manns of Oberzel, Germany with this guess based on the number of Johann Heinrichs in our tree. However, the researching showing our family having the name back to at least 1630 means we couldn't have evolved from the Mann family in the 1800's. The only value this concept has is it justifies the second "n" on the end. The other explanations would lead you to believe the name would have ended in a single "n". I would encourage the discussion of this topic in the blog.
Many years ago I worked with a person recently immigrated to the United States named Gunther. I asked Gunther about the name and he thought the name had a Yiddish meaning. Based on the theory that we began as the Mann family, he thinks the "Wurde” addition to the name in Yiddish means rags, or pieces of paper, but in usage meant a person of dignity, such as a prefect (judge). If the Mann family member came to Germany, the judge title could have been added to Mann to create Wurdemann. This explanation of the Wurde part is similar to the Ancestory.com saying the name came from wirdi meaning dignity which could be dignitary. It would be interesting to find out if we could find the instance where that happened, and then by some miracle, all Wurdemanns were ancestors of that first Wurdemann.
You might have noticed the motto on the Coat of Arms. It says "Sapere Aude” which is attributed to the 1st-century B.C. Roman poet, Horace. "Dare to know” is the usual translation but it is not enough. The Latin "Sapere” is more than "to know”-- Sapere is about wisdom. The road to wisdom is a journey, not a destination. Lets take that as a challenge to use our wisdom to obtain all we can about our worldwide family!
Note: We acknowledge our heritage is German and our forefathers all spoke German. I am unaware of the growth of the family in Germany, but there are many English speaking Wurdemann family members and I don't speak German, so this site will be in English. A very small percentage of American Wurdemanns speak German, but many Germans speak English. My hat off to them. (Mein Hut der hat drei Ecken)