Across eight generations in North America and many more in Central Europe dating back centuries, descendants of Scherschel lineage have steadfastly worked to preserve a respected heritage. We successively contribute to the progress of humanity through entrepreneurialism, charity, innovation and our households’ various professional pursuits.
The family’s occupational foundation took root in the agricultural, shepherding and mining traditions of Central Europe during the Late Medieval period. Those traditions continue to this day in many locations. As generations progressed, the family expanded to numerous fields including medicine, engineering, architecture, journalism, finance, law, media and the arts just to name a few. Today, we proudly continue a standard of excellence in all that we do for our greater communities.
Through the numerous epochs of Central Europe, our surname thrived and carried on during periods of both calm and tribulation. The namesakes of this venerable pedigree, descended from the 6th Century Christian convert tribes of Germania, would endure through the Middle Ages, survive the Black Plague, witness the Renaissance, reside under the auspices of the Holy Roman Empire and eventually step first foot on the shores of the New World in the 19th Century.
The values, traditions and legacies honed by these forebears would come to be known in North America as the family name of Scherschel. As of the early 21st Century, the Scherschel descendant line has grown to over four-thousand members across North America. Similarly, the forebears and descendants in Europe number in the thousands through five centuries of documented history.
With each new Scherschel generation, staying perennially connected amongst the global relations remains paramount. Scherschel Legacy, through its collaborative model, functions as the consolidated means to preserve our family’s historical resources in one centralized organization. It builds upon prior generations’ efforts and is a meticulously curated dynastic record for the primary benefit of the direct Scherschel bloodline.
The Legacy functions to:
The Scherschel Legacy enterprise unifies all global Scherschel namesake branches into a singular library of our dynasty’s extensive history. Whether looking back in time to the Late Medieval period or forward to future generations, Scherschel lineage remains unbroken. The principles of continuity and cherishing the eternal over the temporal forever guide the Scherschel collective toward our outlook.
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“Scherschel” is a distinguished and rare surname of Germanic origin. Two theories exist of how the name arose. One claims the name derived from a francophone version of the first name “George”. Another claims that Scherschel expounds upon the old high-German word “scherz”, which translates to “jokester” or “one who is fond of telling jokes”.
While the precise origin cannot be pinpointed to a specific generation, historians agree that fixed hereditary family names in Germany began around the 12th Century. By the 16th Century, most families in Germany used fixed surnames. The first appearance of Scherschel in printed records showed up in German parish archives of the early 1500s. Given the ubiquitous appearance of the name in Catholic and Lutheran books at that time, it is deduced that the name originated sometime between the 12th to 15th Centuries.
During Scherschel household immigrations to America, port authorities often misspelled the surname on passenger lists or entry forms. Similarly, through the 19th Century in North America, census officials misspelled the Scherschel name when recording. This led to variations of the name being carried down through current generations’ records.
“Scherschel” is the authentic spelling of the surname as recorded in numerous diocesan baptismal, marriage and death register archives in Germany dating back many centuries. In German archives consistent with German language conventions, the feminine gender declension form of the last name also appears in records as “Scherschelin”. However, due to the administrative misspellings of the name in North America, Scherschel descendants may also be found in North American under derivative spellings such as Sharshell, Scharshell, Scharshel, Sharshal, Sharshel, Sharsel, Churchell and Chargel.
Samples displayed here from numerous archives depict the history of the name across four-hundred years of script starting with the year 1631 to the present.
Scherschel patrilineal ancestry traces its roots in America and Europe through 500 years of written records. Prior to the 16th Century, the ancestry traces to north Central Germany at a burial site called Krakauer Berg which dates to 1140 A.D.
From 1140 A.D. onward, Scherschel progenitors settled throughout the Holy Roman Empire across what is nationally defined today as Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, eastern France and Hungary. 1837 marked a most significant year when the Scherschel descendant lines continentally divided across the ocean into two major groups of North American and European descendants.
A graphic timeline of major events in Scherschel history records notable occurrences of our dynasty.
In contrast to other dynastic lines, the Scherschel Legacy distinctly favors “horizontal lineage” equally as important to “vertical lineage”. Most dynastic lines focus solely on vertical lineage. Our all-inclusive emphasis on both types of lineages distinguishes Scherschel history from other family or monarchical lines around the world.
While most genealogies primarily focus on direct vertical descent through the centuries, our family documents and captures all descendants horizontally within any given generation and from each generation to the next. With our bi-directional focus, the catalogue of Scherschel extended relations grows vast with each passing generation from the 1500s. This system also ensures that all descendants are valued essential members of the larger extended family. In essence, no descendants are forgotten through the annals of time or separated from the major branches of the surname.
All descendants are included even when descendant surnames change through marriage or maternal line descent. Many other families’ structures become fractured over generations and centuries due to singular focus on only vertical or horizontal lineage. However, the Scherschel ancestry ensures a unified singularity and cooperation unparalleled in modern times. Direct descendants may access the master family trees of Scherschel ancestry though the private network login.
Seven ancestral homelands document Scherschel lineage in an official religious or civil capacity. Scherschel descendants may be found across the globe in many nations in the 21st Century. The following group of nations hold the distinction of being homelands to continuous generations of Scherschel descendants. The time spent in these countries allowed the family to acclimate to local cultures and customs over time. And they help to cultivate the present-day character of the dynasty by allowing us to pass on our global traditions to future generations.
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