[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Anybody ever see the surname Ratt? Taron

[Günther Böhm]

Karl Krueger schrieb:

>To qualify a little more on the supposed French origins of the name Taron I have communicated with some related Tarons
>in Germany. One of their grandfathers supposedly did some research into their history, although I don't where he would
>have back tracked much of this since he would almost certainly not have had access to the church records in Lublin which
>are only recently starting to open up.
>
>The story goes that the Tarons who eventually moved to Michelsdorf, Lublin, Poland by the 1830s were derived from French
>Huegenots back in the 1600s who fled France because of the persecution. They ended up near Hannover and mixed with the
>Lutherans. Obviously the male line carried through the generations. Over the next 150-200 years some of these descendants,
>now fully Germanized with a French name were among the Germans migrating east in Europe. I have no solid evidence to back
>up this story but it sounds very plausible to me. As Guenther said, Taron is a very French name and we find other cases
>of French names among our Lutherans in eastern Europe. I find this ossibility easier to swallow than others coming from
>different parts of Europe.
>

Hello Karl,
in respect of a possible French origin of the TARON surname, I would 
rather evaluate a Napoleonic than a Huguenot background. Huguenots came 
to Prussia shortly after 1685 as noblemen and urban citizens. I have 
never heard of a Huguenot who settled in a Polish village and became a 
peasant. Normally you find them as cavalry officers, noble landlords, 
doctors, pharmacists, authors, composers and publishers, goldsmithes, 
jewellers and other privileged urban craftsmen - and soon as capitalist 
entrepreneurs, mercantilists and bankers. Most of them stayed in Potsdam 
and Berlin, some went to other cities of Prussia.

for example, here are the Huguenot male ancestors of the German author 
Theodor FONTANE, * 30.12.1819 Neuruppin, + 20.9.1898 Berlin:

F.: Louis Henri FONTANE, * 24.3.1796 Berlin, pharmacist in Neuruppin, + 
5.10.1867 Schiffsmühle near Freienwalde
GF.: Pierre Barthélemy FONTANE[S], * 3.6.1757 Berlin, painter and music 
teacher in Berlin, castellane and cabinet secretary of queen Luise, + 
5.10.1826 Berlin
GGF.: Pierre Barthélemy FONTANE, * 22.4.1731 Berlin, + 8.5.1773 Berlin
GGGF.: Pierre François FONTANE, * 4.12.1697 Berlin, pewterer in Berlin, 
+ 18.3.1742/3 Berlin
GGGGF.: Pierre Jacques FONTANNE, * 26.2.1661/2 Nimes, pewterer in Nimes 
and Berlin, + 30.4.1707 Berlin
GGGGGF.: Pierre FONTANES, * 16.9.1638 Nimes.

Günther