Showalter Family History

Ancient History

Myth: The Showalters trace their origins back to Germanic tribespeople who moved into central Europe around the time of Christ.: Busted: DNA testing traces the paternal line of the Showalters back to Celtic origins. And they had been living in central Europe, in the Swiss regions, for many centuries prior to the birth of Christ. Then, coincident with Jesus’ life give or take a century or so, came both the great migrations of the Germanic peoples from the east, and the great expansion of the Roman Empire up from the south. Pressed from multiple sides, the Celtic people were pushed into the northern and western fringes of Europe, as well as into the mountains of the Alpine region. By the sixth century AD, the Helveti and the other Continental Celts were absorbed into the dominant Germanic groups, and their Celtic culture and Celtic language had ceased to exist. Totally giving way to Germanic languages and Germanic culture. Our family is more closely connected genetically to the Welsh, the Irish and the Scots than to the Germans.
Myth: The Showalters originated in Liechtenstein or in the St. Gallen region of eastern Switzerland.: Busted: A name similar to ours “Schawalder” appears in the Canton of St. Gallen. No documented evidence exists to connect the Schawalders of St. Gallen with the Schowalders of Strengelbach. The names apparently developed independently of each other. Similar name, but no connection. But another spelling “Shewalter” has been shown by DNA testing to be related to the descendents of Jakob (1648) of Strengelbach.
Myth: Schowalter is a common name in Switzerland.: Busted: Not so, according to Mr. Rudolf Hool, historian and resident of Zofingen, Switzerland.

Origins

Myth: Schowalter is the third most common name in Germany.: Busted: (This is my favorite myth because I have been able to trace it to its origin.) Mennonite Encyclopedia says, "In 1936 Schowalter, with 98 persons, was the third most common name in the Mennonite congregations of the Palatinate, exceeded only by Krehbiel and Stauffer." Someone substituted the Mennonite congregations in the Palatinate for all of Germany. That's quite a different thing.
Myth: Silvester Schowalder has been identified as a child of Hans Schonwalder.: Busted: This was posted on ancestry .com. But there is no such identification, only speculation. They may have been father/son, uncle/nephew, brothers, cousins, or some other connection.
Myth: The Showalters had a coat of arms.: Busted: Several coats of arms have been invented during the 1900s, but none have any basis historically.

People

Myth: Jacob Showalter, the immigrant, has been identified in some genealogies as Jacob Matthias Showalter.: Busted: I can find no historical evidence for the middle name Matthias. I will consider the name Mathias to be an undocumented innovation until I see evidence otherwise. I refer to him as “Jacob the Immigrant” or “Jacob born c. 1700”.
Myth: Jacob the Immigrant’s wife has been called Maria Saunders.: Busted: The surname Saunders is not found in any historical records that I am aware of. It was probably a result of confusion in later generations between Jacob and his son Daniel who married Margaret Saunders.
Myth: Some have reported that six or seven of Jacob the Immigrant’s sons fought in the American Revolution. That is, Jacob Jr, Christian, Valentine, Joseph, Daniel, Ulrich, and possibly John.: Busted: Such claims are highly questionable because they fail to correctly understand the nature of the evidence. They usually note that their names appear on the muster rolls and jump to the conclusion that a man whose name is on the muster roll actually performed his required military service. But in the case of men who belonged to the Mennonite Church as well as other Historic Peace Churches, most of them chose to follow their religious principles of refusing to kill another human being, which precluded participating in any form of military service. They had to choose between their Mennonite Church membership and their required military service. Those who chose to stay in the Mennonite Church normally refused their military service, and those who chose military service normally left the Mennonite Church. Exceptions were rare. Joseph was a Mennonite minister, and so he would have been considered unfit for the ministry if he had performed military service. Daniel was fined twice by a Chester County muster company, likely because he did not perform the service expected of him. Perhaps some of Jacob’s other sons joined the Revolution rather than the Church. Ulrich Showalter was identified with the Frontiers Rangers, and his descendants were not Mennonite.