Shawers / Sohures anglicised Swiss immigrant
Henry Shawers. Narrow or lace weaver of Switzerland.
I'm looking for any help with my 3 x great grandfather who was born somewhere in Switzerland circa 1827. He recorded in English records that his father was a coppersmith named John Shawers.
I believe that he arrived in England on a ship from Boulogne to Folkestone in 1852, where a Henry Shawers is a passenger recorded as French and as a gentleman.
In marriage and his children's birth certificates he is called Henry Shawers, and as a narrow weaver. Later he ended up in prison a few times for begging and drunkedness. More than once, he records Swizerland as his origin.
I am looking for any suggestions on the Swiss spelling of his surname. He was illiterate. All that I have in English records is Shawers and Sohures. That, and his occupation, and that of his father. Rosina is a family girls name that I suspect he may have brought.
If it helps, I have a full timeline of his known life here:
Any help with family, original names, or canton? Thank you. He has been a dead end for too long.
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The obvious original spelling (if Swiss-German) would be Schauer(s) - but this is not listed in the Register of Swiss Surnames. https://ggs.spdns.eu/ finds a fair number of Schauer in Germany, Netherlands and Eastern Europe (amongst other regions) - didn't see any entry pointing to Switzerland.
Let's assume Switzerland: I have checked the Register for "Sch*ers" - no entry. There are quite a few entries for "Scha*er" / "Schä*er" / "Sche*er" / "Scho*er" / "Schu*er" - but no obvious spelling leading to Shawers. If he lived & worked in a French speaking region before coming to the UK - could he have adopted a Francized pronunciation - assuming he didn't have a passport or similar document?
I'm sorry - at the moment I'm at a loss.
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I'm seeing Schures, Schuers, Scherz, Schaerz and similar listed in Swiss baptisms 1491 - 1940. They are late 1700s-first half 1800s. Bern and Thurgau come up.
Another clue. He may have brought a family forename with him - Rosina.
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Two words of caution:
1) As we all know, spellings often changed a lot when German speaking immigrants came to an English speaking region.
2) Did you get these spellings by looking at original records - or from the index? If from the index, this would be an additional source of error - useful to start with, but too many reading mistakes to be reliable. Always check the original records (Bern and Thurgau have been filmed by familysearch).
Checking the Register of Swiss Surnames you have to be aware that this is state of 1962: old spellings are not included - and families having become extinct in the meantime are not mentioned either. Keeping that in mind: Scherz and Schaerz exist in canton Bern - how that would be changed to Shawers / Sohures is beyond my imagination - but others may have been more imaginative than me 😉. Schures / Schuers do at least today not exist as spellings for Swiss surnames.
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