Yep, I’ve been bitten again. This time the genealogy bug bit me on my dad’s side of the family. Previous searches for his surname, Almeling, hit a major roadblock in 1811 with the birth of my second great grandfather Berhand/Bernard.

There simply isn’t any record of that surname prior to 1811. None. Nada. Zip. Zero. So, either my ancestor didn’t know how to spell his name or when he got off the ship in New Orleans from Germany in 1853, or someone misunderstood him and wrote it down incorrectly. He is listed as a merchant from Hanover. Either one is entirely possible.

The earliest photo I found was of Berhand’s son, August Karl/Carl who was born in 1856, the year his father died. He is my great-grandfather and the first of this immigrant family born in America. His son, August Edward was my grandfather, whom I never knew as he died when my father was only twenty-one years old. August Sr. is found in the 1870 census and is listed as a “hack driver”—the 1800s version of Uber…on a horse. The word hack is short for the word hackney, derived from a French word, haquenee, or horse for hire.

What I have found are variations of the Almeling name that date back to the 5th century in Europe. They all seem to trace back to the name (and variations) Amelung/Amelunke/Amelang/Amalungi/Amelungen, which trace back to the Germanic Amali tribe. And not just a tribe…it was a dynasty! Research from numerous sites state the name is one of ancient royal families, mighty kings and fierce queens…Not merely Gothic royalty but “the highest nobility” within the so-called “barbarian” world of Roman times. Who woulda thought? Not to worry, you won’t need to bow if you see me.

The Amali people were the leading dynasty of a group of people known as Goths. The Amelungen surname is credited as the ruling family of the Ostrogoths in the 4th century. They were an eastern tribe of  Germanic people called Goths who rose to power in the area north of the Black Sea. The Amali people may be traced to the Scandinavia area where people called themselves Gauts (or Goths) and followed a king named King Gaut. Gaut is also the name of the Scandinavian god of war. These tribes had no written history prior to engaging with Rome so it’s impossible to know exactly where they came from or emigrated to prior to being recorded by the Roman antiquity scholar, Cassiodorus, in the 5th century. Evidently, they marauded their way across what it now knows as Russia, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Ukraine, and on into Italy in the fourth century.

According to some historical sources, the Goths were a major player in the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Somewhere along the line, my ancestors settled in the area known today as Germany. It’s all genealogical soup when I try and separate these different tribes, rulers, migrations, conquered/lost lands and the like. If you are into this stuff and want a little light history reading about the Amali and Goths, go HERE.

So, while not a direct line back from my ancestor, it’s as close as I think I’m going to get until someone more capable than me unearths other documents from the 1700 and 1800s.