Shirhall Family History & Genealogy

History

Some peoples living near Vienna, Austria, inside what is now the Slovak country of Slovakia, are said to be Sudeten (sp) Deutch, moved by the Turks from their homelands to Slovakia in the 17 century. There, these German speaking peoples learned to speak Slovak. As time passed these people lived with two ethnic identities: German and Slovak. One such family Sirhal, began their emigration to the US in 1882. One Matej (Mathew) Sirhal came to the US in 1882. In 1896, two sons, Jan (John) and Stefan (Stephen) came to the US. John settled in Binghamton New York.

The first thing these Slovaks did was to change the spelling of their names so that they could be pronounced in English. Thus Sirhal became Shirhall. In reading church records from the late 18th century it can be seen that the name Sirhall was also recorded as Sirhall, Schirhal and Schirhall. With so many rulers and political winds of that earlier time and part of the world, it seems that there could have been more ways to spell the name.

The meaning of the name seems obscure; however, the Sirhal's were known as sheepherders and brick makers.

Name Origin

None known; although the Sirhal's seem to have been sheepherders and brick makers.

Spellings & Pronunciations

Sirhal, Sirhall, Schirhal, Schirhall

Nationality & Ethnicity

Gbely, Austria/Hungary (Now Slovakia)

Famous People named Shirhall

Are there famous people from the Shirhall family? Share their story.

Early Shirhalls

These are the earliest records we have of the Shirhall family.