Sholder Family History & Genealogy

History

The below is by Kevin L. Sholder from the website

Thus far the research has indicated that almost everyone named Scholderer or a variation of, most likely came from somewhere in present day Germany, with an emphasis in the area known as Wuerttemberg. However, I have also found a several other families with different origins. They range anywhere from as far north as the Netherlands to Switzerland on the southern edge, and east into parts of present day Austria, Hungary, Russia and the Ukraine.

The state of Baden-Württemberg was formed after World War II in 1952. Before this Baden and Wuerttemberg were considered separate states, and actually separate kingdoms ruled by the feudal system of Europe. Wuerttemberg itself dates as far back as the 13th century when ruled by the Counts of Wuerttemberg. Then around 1495 AD it was given rights by the Holy Roman Empire as a Duchy. Even though the area around Wuerttemberg was mostly Catholic, it remained mostly Protestant.

During the next 100 years the name Scholderer and many variations would emerge in the mid 1500's during the height of the religious wars, in the small village of Rosenfeld, which was founded around 1255 by the Counts of Teck, and became a possession of Wuerttemberg in 1317. Between 1546-1547, Emperor Charles V defeated the Protestant princes and towns that allied against him. Then in 1555 the Peace of Augsburg gave the Lutheran states equal rights with the Catholic ones, by granting the princes the ability to determine the religion of their territories. By 1556, Charles V retired into the monastery of Yuste. Within Rosenfeld we find two main Scholderer families during that time, Jacob Scholderer (born circa 1539) and Georg Scholderer (born circa 1549) being the possible grandfather of Martin Scholderer of Remmingsheim.

Over the next 100 years the descendants of Jacob Scholderer mostly remained in Rosenfeld, but either married spouses from or moved to the others towns such as Alpirsbach, Balingen, and Freudenstadt.

Alpirsbach is a town in the district of Freudenstadt, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. It is situated in the Black Forest on the Kinzig river, 13 km south of Freudenstadt.

Balingen is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, capital of the district of Zollernalbkreis. It is located in the Swabian Alb, approx. 35 km northeast of Villingen-Schwenningen, and 60 km southwest of Stuttgart.

Freudenstadt is a town in Baden-Wuerttemberg, capital of the district Freudenstadt. The town was founded in 1599 by Friedrich I of Württemberg as a village for (Austrian) miners on the main road from Ulm to Strassbourg (France). The town obviously grew fast as it became a city in 1600 and at the same time its own arms. The next closest population centers are Offenburg to the West (approx. 36 km away) and Tübingen to the east (approx. 47 km away). The city lies on a high plateau at the east edge of the north Black Forest, and is well-known for its fresh air.

The families that directly descend from the Rosenfeld Scholderer families that came to America are:

Johann Jacob Scholderer (1814-1893) Rosenfeld to Hunter, New York
Jacob Scholderer (1860-1940) Freudenstadt to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Maria Regina Muller (1862-1927) Rosenfeld to Dayton, Ohio

Remmingsheim is where Martin Scholderer lived and raised his family. It is not known where he came from, but he died there in 1635 about two weeks before his last child was born, leaving a wife and five or six children.

From there his son Martin moved to the nearby village of Wolfenhausen, where he married and raised his family of eight children, seven boys and one daughter. The towns of Remmingsheim, Wolfenhausen and Nellingsheim were united in 1971 to collectively form the municipality of Neustetten. Today they have a population of about 3,500 people. The towns of Remmingsheim and Wolfenhausen are both seen in history as early as 1111 AD, but can be traced back as early as the 7th century. The Haus (House) Scholderer, still exists today, it was most likely built and owned by the Scholderer family around 1750. Some of the homes in Wolfenhausen today still carry the names of the people who were their inhabitants hundreds of years ago, ours is one of them.

During this time the 30 Years’ War raged over Europe and undoubtedly the Scholderer family lost many family members due to diseases and hunger brought on by the war. By the end of this war in 1648, the entire population of Württemberg went from about 450,000 to less than 90,000 people. The Scholderer family survived and our line remained in Wolfenhausen until around 1712, when Stephan Scholderer married Anna Maria Ulmer of Degerloch.

Degerloch is now a suburb of and a part of Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Degerloch has an early history and celebrated its 900th birthday at the turn of this century in the year 2000. Degerloch is first mentioned in 1100 AD in the Codex Hirsaugiensis (the manuscripts from the monastery in Hirsau); "The high-noble Hesso von Wolfsölden and his son Sigehard donated to the Monastery Hirsau, twelve farms to Degerloch." From 1712 through 1832, the Scholderer family would prosper, live and raise their families in the town of Degerloch.

Jacob Friedrich Scholderer (1794-1863) Degerloch to Chillicothe, Ohio
Christian August Scholderer (1807-1874) Degerloch to Williamsport, Pennsylvania
The children of Regina Dorothea (Scholderer) Sauter (1793-1850), from Weilheim, to Greenfield, Massachusetts

There are other Scholderer family units found in or around present-day Germany as well as the United States that have not yet been connected into the mainlines listed above. The families that immigrated to the United States and started families in the following cities:

Frederick Scholder - San Diego, California
John Scholder - Stark County, Ohio
Jacob Scholderer - Torlach, Germany to Rotterdam, the Netherlands
John Philip Scholderer - Jersey City, New Jersey
[-?-] Sholder - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
David Sholder - Chicago, Illinois
George S. Sholder - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Louis Sholder - Malden, Massachusetts

Name Origin

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Spellings & Pronunciations

Scholder, Scholderer, Sholders, Shoulder, Shoulders

Nationality & Ethnicity

The progenitors of the Scholderer surname are mostly found in Germany, with an emphasis in the area known as Wuerttemberg. This surname is also found as far north as Denmark then south to Switzerland, west into parts of Belgium, France and the Netherlands, then east into present day Austria, Hungary, Poland, Russia and the Ukraine. Of the various branches that came to America, they predominantly arrived in the 19th and early 20th centuries from any number of the above countries.

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Early Sholders

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