Dear aroseisarose-ga;
The town you are seeking is called Bergtshofen and it is located in
the Bayern region of Germany. Simply put, that’s the answer and beyond
that there really isn’t much more to say. You can check these links I
have provided for you and see the maps, information, photos and
history (you will need to use a language translator of some kind as it
is written in German - I have provided a link to one of those for you
as well).
I lived in Germany for two years and the minute I saw your question I
knew what town you were speaking of and why no one could identify it.
You see, in previous eras different types of script and in some case
characters were used in the German language. Many, many people before
us have made the same mistake that your reference book did while
translating 14th – 19th century text into modern English. At time, “S”
may look like a “B” and so forth. This leads to misidentifications of
places like Bergtshofen, and in fact, as you probably already know,
immigrants coming into Ellis Island were completely renamed because of
these discrepancies. I speak quite a bit of German so when I tell you
that the name “Bergtshofen” is actually pronounced “berg-tez-hofen”.
As you can see for yourself, when spoken lightly the name is readily
mistaken for “Berdeshofen”. That, combined with the old script of
1700’s Germany (and, most likely, the illiteracy of the time) is
undoubtedly the cause of all this confusion. Additionally, just in
case you aren’t already surprised enough, a citizen of Bergtshofen…is
referred to as a Bergtshofer (berg-tes-hofer).
I’m so glad to have been able to solve this mystery for you.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga
Willkommen in Bergtshofen! (English Translation: Welcome to
Bergtshofen!)
Complete site with maps. Photos and information
http://www.geocities.com/bergtshofen/
1000 Jahre Bergtshofen (English Translation: 1000 Years of
Bergtshofen)
http://www.geocities.com/bergtshofen/geschichte.html
Goiogle Translation Tools
://www.google.com/language_tools
Examples of Old German Handwritten Script
http://www.genealogienetz.de/misc/scripts.html |
