Benitz Family Roots

Subjects on this page include: Origins of the Benitz surname, and brief details about the families from: Endingen (Baden), Freiburg (Baden), and Zemmin (Prussia).

Origin of the Benitz name

Of German origin, the name is used both as a family surname and by two villages in today's Germany.

Benitz Emigrants

In the early to mid-1800's persons with the family surname of Benitz emigrated to the Americas from two sovereign German states that were later incorporated into the German Empire, the Grand Duchy of Baden and the Kingdom of Prussia.  Those from Baden were likely the first to go, leaving during the 1830's and 1840's from the area around Freiburg-im-Breisgau, particularly from the village of Endingen. 

During the 1870's and 1880's a second wave of Benitz emigrants left from the Freiburg area and from the Zemmin area in Prussia.   We don't know if the emigrants from Baden and Prussia were related but it seems highly unlikely.  Before the 20th century common people simply did not move around that much  and to do so required the permission of the powers that be.  It is more likely a coincidence of spelling.

Endingen Benitz: Evolution of the family surname

Jochen Bonitz, in his comprehensive Bonitz Forum website, provides some possible clues to the meaning or root of the Bönitz surname.  In Endingen (the ancestral home village of greatest interest to this website), Benitz evolved from Böniz / Bönitz.

Böniz / Bönitz to Benitz:   Prior to about 1840 the spelling of the family surname in Endingen varied according to its pronunciation and the whims of the church record keepers.  German is a phonetic language and its spelling was not standardized until the early 19th century when many adopted Goethe's spelling.  It is also very likely our ancestors at that time were illiterate and, therefore, had no standard spelling.  Most records in Endingen of the 1700's spell the surname as Böniz.   During the early 1800's the spelling was more varied, including:  Böniz, Bönitz, Boeniz, Boenitz, and Beniz - the German ö sounds similar to a deep English e, almost like u, somewhere between Beun-it's and Burn-it's.  During the period 1830-1840 the surname of our ancestors coalesced into Benitz.   For those who emigrated to Spanish-speaking America, of the possible spellings the best fit are Benitz or Bennitz when these are pronounced in Spanish.  They are softer on the e and so come closest to the German pronunciation of Böniz.   During the 1830's Wilhelm and his cousin Alexander were spelling their surname Benitz, as did their siblings when emigrating to the Americas.

Note on common misspellings:  In the US, early census takers wrote the name down as they heard it pronounced and very seldom got it right - whether in California, Ohio, or Pennsylvania.  To research any set of records where the spelling of Benitz is dependent on how others heard it pronounced, try using Soundex and look for these attempts:

Bönitz, Böniz

Used by Frank in 1840's shortly after he arrived in the US.

Bentz, Bents

Hurried census takers dropped the I.

Benits, Benitz, Bennits, Bennitz, Benets, Benetz, Bennets, Bennetz

They did try to get it right.

Bennett, Bennetts, Bennitt, Bennitts

Variants of the name Bennett, it is the most common misspelling by English speakers.

Benitez

Easily the most common misspelling by Spanish speakers, especially so in Miami.

Family Religion

The Benitz families were Christian, but their faith varied according to their region of origin.  Those from the north, Prussia, were of Protestant faith.  Those from the south, including Baden, were of Roman Catholic faith.  (Which leads to an intriguing question: Could it be that the southern Benitz's are displaced Roman Catholics from the north, forced south during the religious upheavals of the 16th and 17th centuries?  Or was it vice versa?)  Both churches in Endingen are Roman Catholic; originally of different orders today they form a single parish.

Arriving in the Americas immigrants on occasion changed faiths.  Wilhelm Benitz was born in Endingen and was baptized as a Roman Catholic.  His children were most likely confirmed Roman Catholic yet also attended an Independent Presbyterian church in Oakland, California (see his son Alfred's diary, July & August 1873).  The Benitz in (and from) Argentina have not been overly religious, most have adopted their spouse's faith.  The early generations married into the Anglo-Argentine community and became Anglican (a.k.a. Episcopalian) or Presbyterean.  After WW-II, many emigrated to Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US where a wide variety of faiths are practiced.  In Argentina, a predominantly Roman Catholic country, most of the more recent family members are now of that faith.

Benitz Villages

The two villages named Benitz are both located in the Great Northern Plain of Germany in what was Pomerania, absorbed by the Kingdom of Prussia during the 19th  century.   The most northern of the two lies inland about 20 kilometers directly south of the Baltic port of Rostock.   The other is located in north-central Germany about 75 kilometers north-east of Hanover (see maps).

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Endingen area Benitz Families

Endingen is a town 25 kilometers north-west of Freiburg-im-Breisgau, at the northern foot of the Kaiserstuhl.  The Böniz / Benitz family of Endingen was likely begun by Lorenz (Laurentius) Boenitz in the early 1700's.  He came from St. Peter im Schwarzwald, a village east of Freiburg.  They spoke Badischen, the German dialect of Baden.

The Kaiserstuhl (Kaizer's Stool) is a picturesque protrusion of rolling green hills rising at the southern end of the flat farm lands between the Rhine River and the Black Forest (Schwarzwald).  Endingen is today one of the larger villages which circle the Kaiserstuhl, an area which has produced wine since Roman times.   With flat-lands facing it to the north, Endingen is surrounded by neatly tended hilly vineyards to its east, south, and west.

In old letters, Endingen was addressed as: Endingen-im-Breisgau, Grand Duchy of Baden.  Today its correct reference is: Endingen-am-Kaiserstuhl, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.  On this site, we most often refer to it as simply: Endingen.

Endingen Benitz: Their social standing in a Baden village

During the early 1800's, the Benitz's in Endingen were tradesmen: Wilhelm's father and grandfather were coopers (barrel-makers), while Alexander's father was a master dyer.   In the following paragraphs, Dieter Joos of Ueberlingen, Germany, describes the typical social organization of an early 19th. century Baden village (per e-mail received 14 Aug'99):

 The society of an common village in the area what is now called Baden - Wuerttemberg has rather sharply been separated into three classes: The first class were the wealthy farmers (ca 2-5 %) which possessed the big farms partly by their own but mostly by fief (?) (German = Lehen; Schupflehen, Erblehen) from a landlord or the church or a monastery. They also occupied the important village positions like prefect (German = Vogt), village judges etc. The second class were the common farmers ( ca 60-80 %). They possessed land also got by lief. This farmers worked hard but were usually able to earn so much as to guarantee a modest life for their families. The third class consisted of the day laborers (?) (German= Tageloehner) (ca 20-40 %). They worked for the other farmers for day wages. They possessed almost nothing and were very, very poor and had many many kids which died nearly all immediately after their birth.

 To each of the three classes typical occupations were usually associated : The occupation of the upper class was that which brought most money: innkeeper. The occupations of the middle class were: smith, cartwright, cooper, tailor, shoemaker etc. The occupation of the lower class were weaver, ropemaker etc.

 There was one profession which has to be considered separately: the millers. Generally they were rich often even very rich, but also they had a very bad moral image: first as it was said that they were all trickster (what surely comes near to truth) secondly as they were considered to be highly immoral. The last statement is based on the fact that the mills were generally located outside the village   (towns: outside of the fortification walls). So this was the very place for events which no society loves to tolerates within its own walls. - (And alas, a considerable number of my ancestors were millers!)

 What is important for family researchers is the fact, that penetrating the barriers of the social classes e.g. by marriage was nearly impossible. At the best a mixing only took place after disasters like war or plague. A consequence: all families within each class of a village and its neighbor villages (as long as they belonged to the same sovereign authority) are somewhat related. Good for finding relations, bad for separating the individuals. In a catholic village two third of all sons were named Johann or Jakob and two third of all daughters were named Maria or Anna. The rest was named after Saints especially the local ones.  Sometimes kids are called after the landlord when this was a beloved one. But this did not occur very often.

 Emigrants recruited mainly from the middle and lower class of the farmers. Upper class emigrants only show up when a farm has been handed over completely to one son (not too rare the youngest one!) and this heir gave to his brothers a stock for founding an new existence outside the village.

 Remark: What I described is to some extent typical for the areas in southern Germany. Other places especially in Northern Germany have had in some details divergent rules.

In the following paragraphs, Rick & Sandy Schultz (e-mail received 1999) describe the trade of the barrel-maker, böttcher in German, cooper in English, and tonelero in Spanish:

 Coopers were very common in the middle ages through the beginning of the 20th century. Food and beverages were normally stored in barrels. Since water was unsafe or questionable at best, people throughout Europe relied on beer and wine as the regular drink at meals. Of course, fresh milk was available on the farm or at the market. Since cooperage was so vital and so common, kegs were used for some dry goods and hardware instead of boxes.

“Der Böttger”
from A Concise History of Germany
by Mary Fulbrook, Cambridge Univ. Press

 There are two parts to coopering. The staves are wooden, usually oak. They must be curved inward. Steam was used to soften the wood, then it cooled while curved. But curving boards then trying to arrange them side by side does not work. They need to be beveled. Both ends must be narrower than the middle. The taper is not straight. It is curved. The amount of taper depends upon the length of the stave and the diameter of the barrel. Further, the edge at the middle of the board was nearly square while the ends were angled more. This was a skilled trade. Coopers developed the ability to trim staves with a hatchet free-hand. I do not think welting was used between the staves. The staves swell when damp and becomes naturally water-tight. The second aspect of the trade was hoop making. Hoops were copper or iron. You see where the name is from. The stave had a notch on the inside at both narrow ends. This was to seat the top and bottom. The coopers in a shop worked together to assemble the staves, ends and hoops into a barrel. The hoop was nailed in place or it might work itself loose over time. Some used heated hoops which were placed on the barrel and cooled with water. As they contracted, the keg became very secure.

Endingen Benitz: Emigration to the Americas

A glance at German history of the 19th century reveals why many of its citizens emigrated.  The economy of the Grand Duchy of Baden had suffered badly from Napoleon's invasion and resulting War of Liberation (1813-1814); a severe rise in prices led to widespread famine, eventually culminating in an uprising in Freiburg in 1848/49.  The Benitz from Endingen were just a few of the many who during the mid-1800's emigrated to the Americas in search of a better life.

The Benitz who left during the mid 19th century are known to have settled in Argentina, Mexico, U.S.A., and Venezuela.  In the US descendants of the Benitz settlers in the Pennsylvania Dutch colony have spread westward.  In Mexico they settled in Alta California in what is today California and Nevada in the US.  In Venezuela they were leaders and founding members of the Colonia Tovar — where the family surname no longer exists.  In Argentina (emigrated by way of California) they became prosperous land owners with descendants spread about the globe.

Wilhelm left to become a seaman in 1830-1831;  his future in-laws, also from Endingen, emigrated in 1833 (to North Carolina).  Then in 1838 his brother Anton emigrated to Pennsylvania — about the same time so did Anna and Franz (to Ohio).  Times were tough for those who remained in Endingen.  Thaddeus, who continued in the family trade, was not doing well during the 1860's and Wilhelm sent him money from California.

In 1842 Alexander, a second cousin to Wilhelm, led a group of nearly 400 emigrés from Endingen and the surrounding villages to found the Colonia Tovar in Venezuela.  Alexander was accompanied by two brothers (Karl and Theodor) and two sisters (Karolina and Lugarda), other relatives followed later.  In the 1850's and 1860's his brothers Louis and Adolphus were miners in the California Gold Rush.

Today there are Benitz's living in the Freiburg-im-Breisgau area, but in Endingen itself there remain no persons with that family name.  None are listed on the village's memorial to its dead in WW-I and WW-II.   There is a Benitz Strasse named after Alexander and his portrait hangs in the village's museum to the emigrants to Colonia Tovar.

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Freiburg area Benitz Families

During the 1870's and 1880's several persons with the surname of Benitz emigrated to the Americas from villages and towns of the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) east of Freiburg-im-Breisgau in the Grand Duchy of Baden.  It is very likely they were related to the Benitz of Endingen.  Lorenz (Laurentius) Boenitz, who was born in St.Peter im Schwarswald (a village east of Freiburg), appears to have established the Endingen branch of the family in the early 1700's.

To dispel any notion that the Benitz surname is special and unique to Endingen, we have been reliably informed of several Benitz living today in villages east of Freiburg.  To protect their privacy we will not list them here, however, we include below a list compiled by Jürgen Sterks of Benitz who were born, married, or died in the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) area during the 1600's and 1700's.  For more details (in German) you can visit Jürgen's website.  He lists two early Benitz who emigrated to the US:

Andreas Benitz

Born 12 April, 1806, Ibental.  Emigrated in 1827 to Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), then Freeberg (in Illinois, east of St. Louis, Missouri).

Josef Benitz

Born 21 July, 1824, Ibental.  Died in Chicago (Illinois), c. 1899.

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In the following table, under Date, the abbreviations are:

• g. - Geburt / geboren (birth)
• h. - Heirat (marriage)
• t. - Tod (death)

 

Person	Date	Village
Benitz, Agatha
Benitz, Agatha	g.1754	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Agnes	g.1630	Schildwende
Benitz, Andreas	g.1702	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Andreas	g.1759	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Andreas	g.1684	Breitnau
Benitz, Anna	g.1763	St. Peter
Benitz, Anna	g.1669	St. Peter
Benitz, Anna	g.1700	Neustadt
Benitz, Anna	g.1711	St. Peter
Benitz, Anna	g.1633	Schildwende
Benitz, Anna
Benitz, Anna	g.1748	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Anna	g.1713	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Anna	g.1726	Breitnau
Benitz, Anna (Agatha)	g.1717	St. Peter
Benitz, Anna Maria	g.1714	St. Peter
Benitz, Antonius	g.1766	St. Peter
Benitz, Antonius	g.1750
Benitz, Antonius	g.1734	Breitnau
Benitz, Bartholomaeus	g.1669	Breitnau
Benitz, Bartholomaeus	g.1718	Breitnau
Benitz, Bartle	g.1705	St. Peter
Benitz, Bartle	g.1714	Neustadt
Benitz, Bartle	g.1660	St. Peter
Benitz, Bartle
Benitz, Casparus	g.1728	Breitnau
Benitz, Catharina	g.1745	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Catharina	g.1709	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Catharina
Benitz, Catharina	g.1668	Breitnau
Benitz, Catharina	g.1722	Breitnau
Benitz, Christen	t.1693	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Christian	g.1699	St. Peter
Benitz, Christian	h.1710	Neustadt
Benitz, Christian
Benitz, Christian	g.1620
Benitz, Christian	t.1726	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Christian	g.1669	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Christian	g.1688	Hinterzarten/ Bruderhalden
Benitz, Christian
Benitz, Christina	g.1659	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Clemens	g.1769	St. Peter
Benitz, David	g.1687
Benitz, Fides	g.1729	Breitnau
Benitz, Franziska	g.1761	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Franziskus	g.1723	Breitnau
Benitz, Georg	g.1721	St. Peter
Benitz, Georg	g.1667	St. Peter
Benitz, Georg	g.1686	St. Peter
Benitz, Georg	g.1704	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Georgius	g.1683	Breitnau
Benitz, Gertrud	g.1752	St Peter
Benitz, Hans
Benitz, Hans	g.1675	St. Peter
Benitz, Hans Peter	g.1674	St. Peter
Benitz, Jacob	g.1664	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Jacob	g.1650
Benitz, Jacob	g.1757	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Jacob	g.1720	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Jacob	g.1622	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Jakob	g.1658	St. Peter
Benitz, Jakob	h.1755	Jostal
Benitz, Joannes	g.1734	Breitnau
Benitz, Johann	g.1768	St. Peter
Benitz, Johann	g.1725	St. Peter
Benitz, Johann	g.1754	St. Peter
Benitz, Johann	g.1626
Benitz, Johann Georg	h.1804	Buchenbach
Benitz, Johannes	g.1749	St. Peter
Benitz, Johannes	g.1708
Benitz, Johannes	g.1662
Benitz, Johannes	g.1724	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Johannes	g.1663	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Josef	g.1771	St. Peter
Benitz, Josef	g.1760	St. Peter
Benitz, Josef	g.1711	St. Peter
Benitz, Joseph	h.1753	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Katharina	g.1677
Benitz, Lorenz	g.1708	St. Peter
Benitz, Lorenz	g.1689	St. Peter
Benitz, Lorenz
Benitz, Lorenz	h.1792
Benitz, Madlen	g.1705	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Magdalena	g.1756	St. Peter
Benitz, Magdalena	g.1753	Breitnau
Benitz, Magdalena	g.1722	Altglashütten
Benitz, Magdalena	g.1625
Benitz, Magdalena	g.1744	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Magdalena	g.1665
Benitz, Magdalena	g.1731	Breitnau
Benitz, Margaretha
Benitz, Maria	g.1663	St. Peter
Benitz, Maria	g.1663	St. Peter
Benitz, Maria
Benitz, Maria	g.1694	St. Peter
Benitz, Maria	g.1721
Benitz, Maria
Benitz, Maria	g.1746	St. Peter
Benitz, Maria	h.1740	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Maria	g.1743	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Maria	g.1726	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Maria	g.1697	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Maria	g.1656	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Maria	g.1660	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Maria	g.1667	Breitnau
Benitz, Maria	g.1768	Breitnau ex Schollach
Benitz, Maria Anna	g.1750	St. Peter
Benitz, Maria Catharina	h.1703	St. Peter
Benitz, Maria Genoveva	g.17
Benitz, Martin	g.1671	St. Peter
Benitz, Martin	g.1750	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Martin	h.1636
Benitz, Martin	g.1657	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Martiny	g.1664	Breitnau
Benitz, Mathias	g.1807	St. Peter
Benitz, Mathias	g.1757	St. Peter
Benitz, Mathias	g.1752	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Mathias	g.1673	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Mathias	g.1725	Breitnau
Benitz, Mathis	g.1687	St. Peter
Benitz, Mathis	h.1612	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Michael	g.1720	Breitnau
Benitz, Michel	g.1717	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Ottilia	g.1749	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Petrus	g.1761	St. Peter
Benitz, Regina	g.1681	Breitnau
Benitz, Rosina	g.1707	Hinterzarten
Benitz, Theresia	g.1705
Benitz, Thomas	g.1662	St. Peter
Benitz, Thomas	g.1598
Benitz, Ursula	g.1753	St. Peter
Benitz, Ursula
Benitz, Veronika	g.1677	Breitnau

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Zemmin area Benitz Families

Heinrich Benitz (1824-1900) emigrated to the US during the early 1870's from the Pomeranian village of Zemmin in the Kingdom of Prussia.  Today it lies within the Länder (state) of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (see maps above).  It is probably more than just a coincidence that a few kilometers to the north of Zemmin is a village with the very similar name of Bentzin ("Bentz" with the German female “in” suffix?).

Heinrich settled in Wathena, in eastern Kansas, where his descendants have prospered and are leaders in their communities, mostly in Kansas and Washington states.  More information about his family is available via the NotRelated button at the top of this page.

 

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