What’s in a name? Our surnames all have a past story to tell: Bowman, Correll, Koning, Koster

Bowman

This is probably the most straightforward. Bowman is the combination of “Bow” and “Man” as in “Archer” and is most typically used with ancestors from England. But, the Bowmans do not have a direct English forefather. Millie Bowman’s father, Swan Ferdinand (Fred) Bowman immigrated with his family from Sweden. Millie’s mother, Trine Martine Jacobson immigrated with her family from Norway - thus if you have Bowman blood then you are part Swedish and Norwegian. Most likely a Bowman immigrated from England a long time ago bringing the Bowman name to Sweden.

Correll

(This section is from memory that is based on now lost research that cannot seem to be refound. Early in the days of the internet I found an article on the first uses of a surname in North America which included the Correll name. I am open to suggestions to the following.). The Correll surname has a bit of a journey. It originated in Spain as “Corales” for which sometime in the past 500 years a Corales family immigrated to Germany. The custom for people immigrating to Germany was to “Germanize” your name upon entering the country, for which “Corales” became “Korell”. Then a couple hundred years ago, a Korell (believed to be Philip Korell on a ship called the White Pearl) immigrated to America. This time the name was “Americanized” to the current spelling of “Correll”. Note that my wife thinks I am confusing the White Pearl with the Black Pearl from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies - possibly, so I definitely stand to be corrected. To continue, Dale’s father, Alonzo Jeremiah Correll married Pearl Matilda Williams (a descendant of the Spielman family from Germany) - thus if you have Correll blood then that part of you is mostly German.

Koning

The Koning surname can be traced back into The Netherlands hundreds of years until about 1200-1300 AD. Before that time the family name may have been different but was changed by the royal family in charge at the time. Koning means “King” in Dutch, although not in the sense of a ruler or even having royal blood but in the sense of someone doing a great thing that was recognized by the King or Queen at the time. If you were good at something (like archery, building, etc), royalty could change your name. Thus “Koning” is really a title for “in service of the King” and it was a great honor to have your family name changed to Koning - thus if you have Koning blood then that part of you is Dutch.

Koster

Similar to “Koning”, the Koster surname can also be traced back into The Netherlands hundreds of years and the family name may have been different but changed by the royal family. This time Koster is a bestowed surname by the King or Queen meaning “in service of the Church”, and more specifically for maintaining the garments worn by the leaders of the Church. And thus if you have Koster blood then that part of you is also Dutch.

So now you know. By the way, this makes me (Dennis) 1/2 Dutch, 1/4 German, 1/8 Swedish and 1/8 Norwegian.