|
Willkommen
Welcome to the Zacharias Schömbs Worldsite
The WORLDSITE introduces those people of the world descended from Zacharias Schömbs -- the Schambs, Schembs, Schemes, Schoembs, Schombs and Schömbs, as well as the descendants of Schömbs daughters whose surnames changed through marriage.
RECOMMENDED BROWSERS: While all popular browsers should work well with the Worldsite, sometimes there are problems. This is particularly true when clicking on Links in the Worldsite. Therefore it is suggested that Google Chrome or Firefox be used, as they seem to have fewer problems. There are many thousand Links!
"CELEBRATE 200 YEARS SINCE THE FIRST SCHÖMBS EMIGRANT !!"
In 1825 THOMAS SCHEMBS and his FAMILY EMIGRATED from DITTELSHEIM, GERMANY, TO RIO GRANDE do SUL, the southernmost state of BRAZIL.
Click HERE to go to the Story of Thomas Schembs (*1770, +1856) and his family.
|
|
"New to the Worldsite?"
If you are new to the Worldsite, please scroll down just a little past the "From Where Did Zacharias Schömbs Come?" to the section "New to the Worldsite?". This section is a primer on how to navigate the Worldsite and all it has to offer. It is a very big website!
"2023 - Our biggest Familientreffen (family reunion) was a huge success. Cousins came from Brazil, Australia, Israel, Belgium, France, Austria, the USA,
and of course Germany!"
To see the Fotos from Schömbs 2023 and the prior Familientreffen put your cursor on the Reunions pulldown in the Navigation Bar at the top of the page and click on the Year.
"Weihnachtsfotos (Christmas Pictures) from 2022"
Click Here to see the many pictures of Cousins' Families from the 2022 Holidays.
|
Party Time - 2023!
There was a long period of time during which the descendants of Zacharias Schömbs failed to get together, perhaps as many as 300 years! In 1999 we began a new tradition and came together for the first time. Then again in 2005. And for a third time in 2008. And a fourth in 2015!
In 2023 there were about 170 Cousins from all the continents except Antarctica and Africa!
For those of you who have not yet joined us at a Familientreffen, we hope you will consider our next. The sixth Familientreffen will be held in June/July 2028 in Herrnsheim.
|
 |
Group foto of many of the Schömbs 2023 cousins,
Herrnsheim Schloß
Click image to enlarge
|
To view pictures from the Fifth Familientreffen, use the pulldown menu at "Reunions" in the navigation bar above.
|
"From Where Did Zacharias Schömbs Come?" NEW INFORMATION
About two years ago (2020) an American cousin claimed that Zacharias Schömbs (*1645, +1707) had been born in The Netherlands and emigrated to Germany later in his life. That he had conclusive evidence of this but refused to give the evidence to us or say specifically what it was, other than that his birthname had been Schombergs. This sounds quite unusual that he would not show us his findings. And it was.
However, since we did not know with certainty from where Zacharias Schömbs, our forefather and the Hofmann of St. Albans-Hofguts in Undenheim, had come it was clear we needed to research the possibility. It would have been wonderful, if it allowed us to know the family history before Undenheim. And it has done that.
ZACHARIAS SCHÖMBS CAME FROM THE TOWN OF STETTEN, about 18 Km (12 miles) to the south of Undenheim. To read more, click on this LINK.
To read the evidence that Zacharias did not come from The Netherlands, click HERE.
|
|
"New to the Worldsite?"
If this is your first or second time visiting the Zacharias Schömbs Worldsite, this might be helpful in getting you started. The Worldsite has many parts and sometimes can be confusing. It is a large website with a great deal of information. Listed below are the major areas.
At any time you can return to this, the Home Page. If the Navigation Bar is on the top, click on Worldsite Home. If the Navigation Bar is in the left column, click on Zacharias Schömbs Worldsite.
Books about the Family:
There are two books written about the Schömbs family. The first is a book by Reinhold Schembs (Mainz/Laubenheim, Germany) entitled "The Family of Zacharias Schömbs". It is the story of the family in Germany going back to 1645 when Zacharias, our forefather, was born. Reinhold's book is presented in both German and English.
The second book is by Jim Schembs (Phoenix, Arizona USA) entitled "Die Auswanderer Schömbs". While the title is in German, the book is in English. The title means "The Schömbs Emigrants" and is the stories of all those family members who left Germany (up until World War II) and settled in other parts of the world. At present there are about fifty chapters, one for each emigrant.
To access the books use the pull-down menu at "Booksite" in the Navigation Bar at the top of the Home Page.
Find Yourself on the Worldsite:
There is an Index of all family members born between 1900 and 1940. You can find yourself, or perhaps your parent or grand parent in the Index. To access the Index click on "FIND ME" in the Navigation bar at the top of the Home Page. Then read the instruction on how to use it most effectively. There are over 1000 family members in the Index. Clicking on a Link in one of the first three columns will take you to the location in the selected book.
Family Reunions (Familientreffen):
The most fun parts of this family history project have been the family reunions. In 1999 we had the first, in fact the first in over 300 years! We have had three since in 2005, 2008 and 2015. All the reunions have been in Herrnsheim, Germany because of its central location to the history of the family. To access the pages on the Familientreffen, use the pull-down menu at "Reunions" in the Navigation Bar at the top of this Home Page.
Family Tree (Stammbaum):
The Worldsiite also includes a family tree of Zacharias and his 9000+ descendants. To access the "Family Tree" click on it in the Navigation Bar at the top of the Home Page. Then read the instructions on how to use it.
Other:
You can use the pull-down at "More Stuff" in the Navigation Bar to find more information about the family. Also on this, the Home Page, are numerous interesting articles about the Schömbs family.
The Worldsite can be browsed on mobile devices using all the popular browsers. Many of the pages, however, are more easily viewed on a device with a larger screen, e.g. laptop, tablet, or desktop.
If you have any troubles using the Worldsite, please use the pull-down "Contact" in the Navigation Bar and send us an email.
|
"The Mystery of Georg Schoembs, emigrant to Buffalo NY, solved AGAIN!"
Due to the great research done by cousin Amanda Marx, we have discovered that Georg Schömbs (*1859, +1940 Buffalo NY) was connected to the family tree incorrectly in 2011. And made the necessary corrections. Click Here to see the true story.
|
"Anna Elisabetha Schömbs (*1789) and Valentin Benz (*1787)"
On 14 January 1810 Anna Elisabetha married Valentin Benz in Undenheim. They, together with their six surviving children, emigrated in 1843. They settled in Jo Daviess County in the northwest corner of Illinois, USA. The story of Elisabeth and Valentin was written by Monika Schoembs in 2018, adding 595 more cousins to the Zacharias family tree. Cousins with the family names Bentz, Willy, Reagan, Courtade and many more.
|
"New York City -- A 1911 Video -- Very interesting!"
 |
See the trolleys, horse-drawn carts, automobiles and pedestrians all creating the traffic challenge of the day. And the people coming to work on the ferries. And even some of the landmarks we know today.
Click on the image to the left, then again on the video start arrowhead. Finally click on the Full Screen icon and enjoy the seven minute trip back in time.
|
|
"2017 -- The Year of the JACOBS!"
Much attention was paid to Jacob Schembs, 1850 emigrant who settled in Peoria, Illinois. No documents had ever been discovered which clearly identified from where in Deutschland Jacob had come. As can be read in the more detailed explanation, Jacob was originally thought to have come from the village of Laubenheim (near Mainz). Through the use of DNA testing, we learned that he had, in fact, come from Hahnheim (next to Undenheim). This resulted in moving Jacob to a different branch of the Zacharias Family Tree.
But as we spent time searching for information about Jacob of Peoria IL, we began to discover records of other "Jacob Schömbs" and "Jacob Schembs" who had emigrated, yet were not in our stories.
Summary of the Jacobs:
- Jacob Schembs, an 1850 immigrant who settled in Peoria, Illinois, was born Jacob Schömbs (*1827 Hahnheim), as mentioned above. His story has been updated to reflect these new facts. We will be led on a walking tour of the village of Hahnheim by the local town leaders during the 2023 Familientreffen.
- Jacob Schembs (*1830 Laubenheim), originally thought to have settled in Peoria IL, now has been found in Amerika. He also immigrated in 1850 but settled in Albany, New York. He initially lived with his cousin (his mother's nephew). Jacob had changed his name to Jacob "James" in the first few years of living in his new country. For the remainder of his life he was a James.
- We previously had very limited information about a Jacob Schembs who settled in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Now we know much more and have created a new chapter for this Jacob. Unfortunately he died in 1875 at age 33, leaving a wife and young son. This Jacob was born Jacob Schömbs (*1842 Dielkirchen), the son of Heinrich and Margaretha Conrad Schömbs.
- In 1901 a Jacob Schombs, an able-bodied sailor by profession, was washed overboard in a storm off the coast from San Francisco. We discovered an article about this years ago. But in 2017 Carolyn Stewart located another document, a register of sailors lost at sea. From this register we now know that this Jacob was born Jacob Schömbs (*1872 Oppenheim) in Oppenheim, Germany. Because it is not known where he fits in the family tree, this Jacob remains in the "Mysteries" section.
- And finally there is a census record from 1900 in the township of Lafayette, Michigan of a Jacob Schemb (*1837 Germany) and his family. Lafayette Township is located west of Saginaw. The original census sheet is difficult to read. The family name, when it was digitized, was entered as "Schemb". Yet no later records for the family have been discovered. There is a high probability that this Jacob is not a descendant of Zacharias Schömbs and therefore not a part of our story. If future information is uncovered which confirms he is our cousin, a chapter will be written to include him.
Several of our rules were broken with these discoveries
- Previously we had thought that the "Schembs" who settled in the U.S.A. were descendants of the Laubenheim and Herrnsheim branches. For it was in these two German towns where this spelling of the family name was prevalent. And the emigrants who were "Schömbs" or "Schoembs" in Germany, if they had changed their names in Amerika, had chosen "Schombs", or "James" or something different still. This is no longer the case.
- Until 2017 it appeared that those family members who had changed their name to "James" were from what we call the Wahlheimer Hof branch. With Jacob Schembs James (*1830 Laubenheim, +Albany NY) above, we now see that some German "Schembs" also became "James" in Amerika.
- The practice of several of the immigrants of changing their surname to "James" began earlier than earlier thought. Jacob Schembs (*1830 Laubenheim, +Albany NY) adopted his new surname prior to the 1855 Census.
|
"Family"
Think of "family". Seldom does a child die. Our children grow up, marry (perhaps) and have children. We travel on many holidays to get together with our families. They are always a phone call (or text or FaceTime) away. Now travel back in time to the middle 19th Century, when most of the Schömbs emigrants left Deutschland and migrated to other countries in Europe or to North or South America or Australia, never to see their families again. I will use three families as examples. But there were others.
Anton (*1805) and Sophia Schembs (*1803) Binger, Laubenheim LINK
Six Children:
1 Peter (*1833) - emigrated to Australia in 1863
2 Barbara (*1834) - died at age 10 days
3 Anna Maria (*1836) - married, had children and died in Deutschland
4 Magdalena (*1838) - emigrated to Australia in 1863
5 Sebastian (*1842) - emigrated to Amerika in 1865
6 Casper (*1843) - died at age 7 days
Joh. Baptist (*1826) and Maria Anna Finger (*1825) Schömbs, Bretzenheim LINK
Seven Children:
1 Johannes (*1853) - emigrated to Amerika in 1870
2 Anna Maria (*1855) - emigrated to Amerika in 1878
3 Barbara (*1857, +1857) - died in her first year
4 Jacob (*1859, +1859) - died at age 8 months
5 Jacob "George" (*1861) - emigrated to Amerika in 1883
6 Catharina (*1864, +1916) - married and lived in Germany
7 Elisabeth (*1865) - ?
Carl Anton (*1759) and Ludorica Schafer (*1761) Schembs, Herrnsheim LINK
Seven Children:
1 Peter (*1790) - died at age 10 years
2 George (*1792) - died at age 6 weeks
3 Francisca (*1793) - died at age 4 years
4 Anna Maria (*1795) - died at age 22 months
5 Francisca (*1797) - died at age 6 months
6 Johannes (*1799) - emigrated to Amerika in 1852
7 Mathias (*1801) - emigrated to Amerika in 1849
In all about 7 million Germans emigrated, a very substantial portion of the population
|
Who was Zacharias Schömbs?
Zacharias Schömbs (1645-1707) is our forefather. We all (the Schembs, Schombs, Schömbs, Schemes, etc.) descend from Zacharias and his wife Anna Magdalena (1646-1716). Zacharias is the farthest back Reinhold Schembs (Mainz/Laubenheim) has been able to trace the origin of the family through his extensive research.
Zacharias was born in 1645 but we are not sure of his birthplace. We do know that Zacharias and his family moved from the willage of Stetten, about 20 Km to the south, to Undenheim in the late 1690s. Zacharias and a partner assumed the responsibility of managing a large farm in the village of Undenheim in the Rhineland Pfalz, 50 Km (30 miles) to the southwest of Frankfurt. The farm was one of three farms supplying the vast organization of the Archbishopric of Mainz (Holy Roman Empire) located in the city of Mainz, 15 Km (10 miles) to the north of Undenheim.
To read more about Zacharias prior to Undenheim scroll up to the section "From Where Did Zacharias Schömbs Come?"
Click on Map to see the location of Undenheim.
|
From Where did the Emigrants Come?
As of 2016 we know of about fifty Schömbs emigrants. Most emigrated to "Amerika", or the United States as we would call it. The group was about equally split between "Schembs" and "Schömbs" or "Schoembs". Read below about the spelling of the family name and how it changed.
The emigrants left Germany starting in 1825. Most of them departed Germany between 1840 and 1860, which coincides with the migration of millions of Germans out of the homeland. This website considers those who left prior to World War II to be the emigrants and presents a chapter on each in the book "The Auswanderer Schömbs" by Jim Schembs.
By the time emigration began the Schömbs had moved away from Undenheim but not far.
Click on MAP to see the towns from which the emigrants came. To make it simple, almost all the emigrants came from the Rhineland Pfalz area of Germany, west of the Rhine River (and southwest of Frankfurt) and from between the cities of Mainz and Worms. The Schembs emigrants came from (1) Heßloch, (8) Herrnsheim and (9) Laubenheim. The Schömbs/Schoembs emigrants came from the other towns shown.
|
BROWSER PROBLEM? Click Here. |
HELP?
Would you like to have help finding information on the Worldsite? If so, click on "Contact" in the navigation bar at the top and say what you would like to do. Or if the navigation bar is not working, just click Here. |
The First Emigrant
It is reasonably certain that the first Schömbs emigrant went to Brazil. In August, 2004, we received an email from Adriana Schemes Gusmão. She and her husband Fernando were researching the Schemes family history. In their search they discovered this Website. From Brazilian records they were able to trace Adriana's ancestry back to Thomas Schembs (*1770 Gundheim), emigrant to Brazil in 1825.
But it is possible that Thomas was preceded by a Johann Schömbs. Brazilian documentation exists of a João (Johann in German) Schöms arriving aboard the ship "Galera Hamburgueza Georg Friedrich" in Rio de Janeiro on 11 October 1824. He then took passage on the vessel "Delfina" to Porto Alegre, the principal port in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state in Brazil. He arrived in Porto Alegre in late October, 1824. The final segment of his journey took him in late November to Missões ("Missions" in English), a new settlement being colonized by German immigrants at the time. In the documentation, another spelling of the family name is Schaems.
To read about the Brazilian Schemes family, go to Thomas Schembs.
Identified in research by Klaus Becker as a participant in the War of Paraguay (the War of the Triple Alliance) from 1864-1870 is a Henrique Schemess. It is not yet clear that this is a Schömbs, but he is likely a descendant of Thomas Schembs (or Johann Schömbs). He was a resident of Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul.
The first Schömbs emigrated to the United States in the late 1830's, fifteen years later.
St. Albans Hof
Click image to enlarge
St. Albans Hof is where it all began. Or rather it was the Undenheim home of Zacharias and Anna Magdalena Schömbs when we first became aware of them in the late 1600's, the home of the manager of the Cathedral's farm.
The home is still standing today at Tränkgasse #4 in Undenheim. This picture was taken in 1999 by Robert Schömbs of Bensheim, looking at the front side of the house across the courtyard.
The house today is owned by Otto Peter Schwamb and his wife, who had a small restaurant in the wing seen on the left. They had also added six rooms for overnight guests. The Schwambs are an old Undenheim family, also living in Undenheim in the early 18th Century. Unfortunately they no longer operate the restaurant nor have overnight guests.
Every Schömbs Familientreffen (family reunion) has visited St. Albans Hof on our Friday Day Trip. We will again in 2023.
But a very interesting bit of history. Next door at Tränkgasse #2 is where General Dwight D. Eisenhower made the final plans for the Allied armies to cross the Rhein River on 23 March 1945.
|
Anton Schoembs, Policeman
Click on the Article
This was the headline of the November 17, 1919 San Francisco Chronicle reporting the death of Anton Schoembs (1877-1919), the son of emigrant Anton Schoembs (1842-1930). The article in the left-most column was the first of several on the tragedy. Click on the image to read more about the San Francisco Schoembs. The story has a fascinating twist. Read about the murderer.
|
WHERE AM I IN THE STORY?.....It is easy to find yourself or others in the story of Zacharias. Click on the "Find Me" link in the navigation bar at the top. Read the instructions at the top of the page. |
FAMILY TREE.....To view a Family Tree click on the "Family Tree" link in the navigation bar at the top. We have implemented a new Family Tree program which should provide a good experience. And please Email us with corrections or additions. |
DNA?.....Have you submitted your dna to a databank? Some cousins have. If you would like to know more click on the "Contact" link in the navigation bar. We will try to connect you with those who have and what they have learned. |
Spelling of the Family Name
You already know the original spelling of the family name was "Schömbs". This was the spelling used in the Catholic Church books in Undenheim. But how did the other spellings come to be?
It is not at all clear why. When descendants of Zacharias migrated from Undenheim to Laubenheim (now a part of Mainz) and to Herrnsheim (now a part of Worms) in the mid-1700s, the local scribes in the Churchs recorded family events (baptisms, marriages and deaths) as "Schembs". Only in these two villages. When Schömbs migrated to other villages in the area those Churchs continued to record as Schömbs.
The spelling "Schoembs" is also a German spelling. When you take the umlaut (the two dots) off a vowel, you add an "e". Thus ü becomes ue, ö becomes "oe", etc. Schömbs, Schoembs and Schembs are about equally common (or uncommon) in Germany today.
The other spellings are accidents of immigration into their new countries. In two cases Schömbs immigrants into the United States became "Schombs". Two Schembs became "Schambs". And the Schembs in Brazil became "Schemes".
These are all understandable. Less so is the case of the "James". Five Schömbs immigrants into the United States in the mid-19th Century changed their name to James. It is most likely they were trying to become more American. But then one, Johann Georg Schömbs James of Brooklyn NY, reverted back. His descendants became one of the two Schombs branches previously mentioned.
|
Généalogie
 |
 |
Click Here for English or deutsch translations |
The French magazine facile Généalogie - Retrouvez l'histoire de vos ancêtres has included a very nice article on Zacharias Schömbs, the emigration of Adam Schömbs to Paris in the 1840s, the research of Reinhold Schembs, and the family parties of 1999, 2005 and 2008. The author is Jacqueline Missoffe, with contributions from Alain Schömbs and Jim Schembs. Click on the thumbnails on the left to see the article. If necessary, zoom in for readability. |
| Page 1 |
Page 2 |
|
|
|
MYSTERIES.....There are many mysteries about the history of the family. Click Here to read about just a few.
TRACING YOUR ANCESTRY.....Click here to see how.
-
|
