Schreckengast Family: Wittgenstein to Pennsylvania

By Gary Schreckengost

According to Oscar Kuhn's "Studies in Pennsylvania German Names " that was published in Americana Germanica in 1901, "Schreckengast" means "to startle a guest" ( Schreck en Gast ). " Schrecken " is a verb that means "to startle, frighten, or scare" and " Gast " (pronounced "gost") is a noun for "guest," like in Gasthaus (guest house). The first recorded Schreckengast was Nikel Schreckengast, a Garkoch (professional cook) from Jena, Thuringia. Scholars believe that it was a sardonic Satzname (nickname) that described a particular personality trait. As such, " Schreckengast " would have described someone who "frightens a guest," like a Garkoch who worked in a Gasthaus in Jena, Thuringia during the Middle Ages. " Nikel Schreckt en Gast " would have meant "Nicholas startles a guest. This is a brief history of the Schreckengast Family from Nikel Schreckengast the frightful Medieval inn keeper from Jena, Thuringia, to Jeremias Schreckengast, who immigrated to Wingeshausen, Wittgenstein in 1669 in the wake of the apocalyptic Thirty Years' War, to Johann Jost who left Wittgenstein with his young family at the close of the almost as catastrophic Seven Years' War and beat feet for Pennsylvania and the Mahantango in 1764, to his sons Henry and Conrad who immigrated to Armstrong County just after 1800, up through some of their descendants to 2007. It is not a genealogical study per se but a narrative of one family line, mine. In Germany, the Schreckengasts changed the spelling of their name to Schreckegast soon after Wittgenstein was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1815. In America, the many branches changed the spelling of their name to Schreckengost, Schrecengost, Shreckengast, Schreckengaust, Schrecongost, or even Schreck. Either way, every Schreckengast in America traces his or her lineage back through Jeremias Schreckengast , der Hausherr von Reitzenhaus in Wingeshausen, Wittgenstein , Heiliges Römisches Reich (Jeremias Schreckengast, the Houselord of Reitzen House, Wingeshausen, Wittgenstein, Holy Roman Empire).

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B09NRDSQRP
• ISBN13: 9798788875026
• Release Date: December 2021
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 550 Pages
• Dimensions: 11.0" x 1.2" x 8.5"