I was replying to a query on Florida Traxlers. My South Carolina line branched out in the 1850’s with groups heading into Mississippi and Texas and another into Florida. I posted a fairly extensive “musing” on my own line to my Facebook Traxler Ancestry page and after linking it to the query I answered figured it would be worth posting here too.
South Carolina Line: This is mine. I have the line back fairly reliable to a John Traxler who shows up in Orangeburg SC in 1738. When I say ‘fairly reliable’ –
From Orangeburg Immigrants and 1st Families – published by the Orangeburg Genealogical Society.
1738 Apr 27 50 acres + town lot 400. Plat 4:154. Arrived on ship (Mi)nerva from England in 1738. Pro. son George b. 1740 d. 17ii (settled (ne)ar Rosinville, SC) REF: Bill Linder file.
I have had ‘eyes on’ the book at the South Carolina Archives in Columbia SC. The parentheses are where information is missing. Whether from the binding in a book .. or bad photocopying .. they are missing. Others have said that (…)nerva should be Minerva. Ok. I will “Go with that” until I see differently. The (ne)ar as near is obvious from context. The problem is .. I have not been able to find this same information from searching online newspaper resources showing passengers arriving in Charleston SC in the 1700’s. Was this from another source? I donno. Could the ship have been something else other than Minerva? Possibly.
Could his name been something other than John Traxler .. YES .. YES .. YES. He was either German or Swiss. That meant little at the time .. Princes fought wars and made borders and would draw a line on a map and tell someone that they were members of a principality.
John in German is Johann. One of my cousins thinks that *possibly* (keep in mind that *possibly* is in the same general area as *assume*) .. possibly his name was Johann Georg Dreschler.
John Tracklier was given 50 acres in Berkeley County and a town lot for .5 acres in Orangeburg Township on 27 April 1738. (this is the land grant reported by the Orangeburg Genealogical Society book.
John Trucklier is shown as living adjacent to a plat of land given to a Jacob Bruck on 20 December 1738.
Both of these documents are available online (pretty cool) and looking at the maps and other individuals listed it is obvious that John Tracklier and John Trucklier are the same person.
How do we get from there to Traxler? Think of a German speaking individual repeating his name to an English clerk. Dreschler pronounced would be something like “Drachsler”. The clerk COULD have written down what he thought he heard. Obviously it was ‘heard’ differently between Tracklier and Trucklier. There are so many variations of the name .. including TRAXLER IN GERMANY .. again .. who knows.
George Traxler .. well variously I have found George Traxler, George Draxler and George Drechsler. I have previously posted on the windings and twistings of that name and who might be who. A George Traxler was given several Royal Land Grants in the 1760’s in the area. A George Draxler is in the Charleston District of SC in 1780. I have looked at the documents from a court case where in the records we have George Draxler .. but in the document it is obvious that the name is Traxler .. the ‘D’ is from the ‘loopy’ way the ‘T’ was made using a quill pen.
From him we get John Traxler and then John’s son, Simeon Henry Traxler .. who was my 3rd Great Grandfather. Simeon lived from 1807-1889. The dates are important because he crosses into where reliable documents are kept. Around 1850 Census records start listing everyone. Prior to that .. say the 1830’s you only see the name of head of household .. with everyone else listed by number of persons by sex and age.
The point is this. I can say .. Simeon Henry Traxler was my 3rd Great Grandfather .. I have iron-clad documentation. I can say John Traxler was my 4th Great Grandfather. He lived 1780-1847 so the documentation isn’t quite as ‘iron-clad’. It is enough to make me certain but I can’t be as positive as I can with better records. The further you go back .. to George for example you get to where .. “John’s father was George” .. and then various documents showing a George Traxler lived there. Checks and cross-checks say that “this MOST LIKELY” was the same individual but there is not a journal from John saying “my father George Traxler was giving a land grant in xxxx on such and such a day”.
I have been working on my family Genealogy for 14 years. I have just made a quick overview of the fact that I can RELIABLY track my Traxler line back to my 3rd Great Grandfather. I can FAIRLY reliably track my line to my 4th Great Grandfather. If gets more and more unreliable as you go further back. This is with extensive research. When someone tells me that they can trace their family back to someone who lived thousands of years ago .. I go .. really? I can understand that some are lucky enough to trace their roots back to say England where Christening records were kept but .. just saying .. the further back the more ‘iffy’ stuff gets.