Bossong
Encyclopedia
Bossong is a surname
common to Rhineland-Palatinate
in Germany
and Alsace
in France
.
origin. This is neither Teutonic
nor French, but a separate race, almost extinct today. They were likely Huguenots or Walloons
as records indicate they fled Catholic persecutions during the 16th and 17th centuries.
When William the Conqueror of Normandy
invaded England
in 1066, several of the names (Bosson) were in his invading army. For their services in the conquest of England, they were awarded large estates in County Norfolk
where the family may still be found.
In 1572, after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
, the family suffered the persecutions of many families and refused to accept the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church
. To avoid this persecution, many families left the domains of the French King and fled to County Kent
England and Holland.
Again in the latter part of the 17th century, the Bossons who remained in France suffered persecution and fled.
Genealogical researcher Heinrich Herzog notes that Bossons resided in the Habsburgs Low Countries
. These are likely the ones who fled after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Escaping the Spanish invasion during the Thirty Years' War
, they migrated to a small city that was located in the (at that point in time) neutral principality of Pfalz-Zweibrücken
. In 1635, they escaped again from imperial troops choosing Annweiler and Bischweiler in Alsace that both belonged to Pfalz-Zweibrücken. They also escaped to Hanau
on the river Main and apparently also to Malmedy
.
For the past several hundred years, the Bossong surname has been common in and around the town of Kaiserslautern
in the Rhineland-Palatinate. The earliest known cite
d Bossong in the Kaiserslautern area was Johann Ägidius Bossong, who was born approximately 1642 and died in 1705.
, the Pepins, Dagobert I
, and Charles Martel
. Their capital was at Aix-la-Chappell (Aachen)
in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia
, near the borders of Belgium
and the Netherlands
. The Bossong family seat was in the town of Bussang which lies in present-day Lorraine
.
Although most of the Bossongs found in Schallodenbach
and surrounding farm villages were Catholic, some early church records suggest that Calvinist
Bossongs lived in Heiligenmoschel
. As noted earlier in this article, it appears early Bossongs were Huguenots or Walloons.
In Europe
today, variations of the name can be found in several countries from the western and southern parts of the former Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation
- Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy
, and England.
The oldest cited carrier of the name is Matthieu Bodecon of Odenwald
in the mid-16th century. The spelling of the name changed over the years, and may have started as Bandeson.. Early variations included Bodecon, Boudosson, Baudeson, Baudisson, and Boissian. Current spellings include Bosson, Bossong, Bossung, Bossing, Botzon, Botzong, Botzung, Boesing, Bussang, Boshung, and Bobung. This last spelling is likely a result of translating the eszett
(ß
) as the letter B.
One comes from two Frankish words:
Another meaning comes from a more recent spelling of the name:
, many Bossongs emigrated from Europe in the late 19th century while war ravaged central Europe. The most popular immigration to the United States
for the Germans was New York
.
Today, a significant number of people with various spellings of the name reside in New York, New Jersey
, Pennsylvania
, Ohio
, Kentucky
, Missouri
, Indiana
, and Illinois
.
Bossong Hosiery Mills, Asheboro, North Carolina, USA
Bossong's Commercial Delivery, Inc., Syracuse, New York, USA
Cafe Bossong, Rockenhausen, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Bossong Engineering, Western Australia
Bossong SpA, Grassobbio, Bergamo, Italy
People
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
common to Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Surname history
The Bossong family is of FrankishFranks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
origin. This is neither Teutonic
Teutons
The Teutons or Teutones were mentioned as a Germanic tribe by Greek and Roman authors, notably Strabo and Marcus Velleius Paterculus and normally in close connection with the Cimbri, whose ethnicity is contested between Gauls and Germani...
nor French, but a separate race, almost extinct today. They were likely Huguenots or Walloons
Walloons
Walloons are a French-speaking people who live in Belgium, principally in Wallonia. Walloons are a distinctive community within Belgium, important historical and anthropological criteria bind Walloons to the French people. More generally, the term also refers to the inhabitants of the Walloon...
as records indicate they fled Catholic persecutions during the 16th and 17th centuries.
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
invaded England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1066, several of the names (Bosson) were in his invading army. For their services in the conquest of England, they were awarded large estates in County Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
where the family may still be found.
In 1572, after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
Edict of Fontainebleau
The Edict of Fontainebleau was an edict issued by Louis XIV of France, also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes of 1598, had granted the Huguenots the right to practice their religion without persecution from the state...
, the family suffered the persecutions of many families and refused to accept the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. To avoid this persecution, many families left the domains of the French King and fled to County Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
England and Holland.
Again in the latter part of the 17th century, the Bossons who remained in France suffered persecution and fled.
Genealogical researcher Heinrich Herzog notes that Bossons resided in the Habsburgs Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
. These are likely the ones who fled after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Escaping the Spanish invasion during the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, they migrated to a small city that was located in the (at that point in time) neutral principality of Pfalz-Zweibrücken
Zweibrücken
Zweibrücken is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river.- Name :Zweibrücken appears in Latin texts as Geminus Pons and Bipontum, in French texts as Deux-Ponts. The name derives from Middle High German Zweinbrücken...
. In 1635, they escaped again from imperial troops choosing Annweiler and Bischweiler in Alsace that both belonged to Pfalz-Zweibrücken. They also escaped to Hanau
Hanau
Hanau is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt am Main. Its station is a major railway junction.- Geography :...
on the river Main and apparently also to Malmedy
Malmedy
Malmedy is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region, Province of Liège. It belongs to the French Community of Belgium, within which it is French-speaking with facilities for German-speakers. On January 1, 2006 Malmedy had a total population of 11,829...
.
For the past several hundred years, the Bossong surname has been common in and around the town of Kaiserslautern
Kaiserslautern
Kaiserslautern is a city in southwest Germany, located in the Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate forest . The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, and from Luxembourg.Kaiserslautern is home to 99,469 people...
in the Rhineland-Palatinate. The earliest known cite
CITE
You may be looking for Wikipedia:Citing sources.CITE may refer to:* CITE-FM* Certified Incentive Travel Executive - a type of certification for a Meeting and convention planner...
d Bossong in the Kaiserslautern area was Johann Ägidius Bossong, who was born approximately 1642 and died in 1705.
Cultural origins
The Franks were the race of CharlemagneCharlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
, the Pepins, Dagobert I
Dagobert I
Dagobert I was the king of Austrasia , king of all the Franks , and king of Neustria and Burgundy . He was the last Merovingian dynast to wield any real royal power...
, and Charles Martel
Charles Martel
Charles Martel , also known as Charles the Hammer, was a Frankish military and political leader, who served as Mayor of the Palace under the Merovingian kings and ruled de facto during an interregnum at the end of his life, using the title Duke and Prince of the Franks. In 739 he was offered the...
. Their capital was at Aix-la-Chappell (Aachen)
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
, near the borders of Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. The Bossong family seat was in the town of Bussang which lies in present-day Lorraine
Lorraine (région)
Lorraine is one of the 27 régions of France. The administrative region has two cities of equal importance, Metz and Nancy. Metz is considered to be the official capital since that is where the regional parliament is situated...
.
Although most of the Bossongs found in Schallodenbach
Schallodenbach
Schallodenbach is municipality in the district Kaiserslautern of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:Schallodenbach is situated approximately 13 km north of Kaiserslautern...
and surrounding farm villages were Catholic, some early church records suggest that Calvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
Bossongs lived in Heiligenmoschel
Heiligenmoschel
Heiligenmoschel is a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany....
. As noted earlier in this article, it appears early Bossongs were Huguenots or Walloons.
In Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
today, variations of the name can be found in several countries from the western and southern parts of the former Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
- Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and England.
Various spellings
Odenwald
The Odenwald is a low mountain range in Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in Germany.- Location :The Odenwald lies between the Upper Rhine Rift Valley with the Bergstraße and the Hessisches Ried in the west, the Main and the Bauland in the east, the Hanau-Seligenstadt Basin – a subbasin of...
in the mid-16th century. The spelling of the name changed over the years, and may have started as Bandeson.. Early variations included Bodecon, Boudosson, Baudeson, Baudisson, and Boissian. Current spellings include Bosson, Bossong, Bossung, Bossing, Botzon, Botzong, Botzung, Boesing, Bussang, Boshung, and Bobung. This last spelling is likely a result of translating the eszett
ß
In the German alphabet, ß is a letter that originated as a ligature of ss or sz. Like double "s", it is pronounced as an , but in standard spelling, it is only used after long vowels and diphthongs, while ss is used after short vowels...
(ß
ß
In the German alphabet, ß is a letter that originated as a ligature of ss or sz. Like double "s", it is pronounced as an , but in standard spelling, it is only used after long vowels and diphthongs, while ss is used after short vowels...
) as the letter B.
Meaning of name
Two separate translations appear for the surname.One comes from two Frankish words:
- Bois Woods or forest (More recently French: topographic name for someone living or working in a wood, from Old French bois ‘wood’)
- Songe A dream
- Hence, the name signifies "a forest of dreams" or "a dream woods"
Another meaning comes from a more recent spelling of the name:
- Bossong Variant of French Bosson, found mainly in Alsace.
- Bosson French and Dutch: from Bosson, a patronymicPatronymicA patronym, or patronymic, is a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother or a female ancestor is a matronymic. Each is a means of conveying lineage.In many areas patronyms...
from the Germanic personal name BosoBoso of ProvenceBoso was a Frankish nobleman from the Bosonid-family, who was related to the Carolingian dynasty, who rose to become King of Provence ....
(see Boos).
- Boos Dutch and German: from a Germanic personal name, Boso, most probably from an element meaning 'leader', 'nobleman', or 'arrogant person'.
Immigration to the United States
Along with about 1.2 million other GermansGermans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
, many Bossongs emigrated from Europe in the late 19th century while war ravaged central Europe. The most popular immigration to the United States
Immigration to the United States
Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants,...
for the Germans was New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Today, a significant number of people with various spellings of the name reside in New York, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, and Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
.
Notable people, places, and businesses
BusinessesBossong Hosiery Mills, Asheboro, North Carolina, USA
Bossong's Commercial Delivery, Inc., Syracuse, New York, USA
Cafe Bossong, Rockenhausen, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Bossong Engineering, Western Australia
Bossong SpA, Grassobbio, Bergamo, Italy
People