Pofahl Family

There is a heraldic picture of the Pofahls. The Pofahl family has its origin in Pommern / Pomerania (Map) , http://www.POMMERN.ws , formerly in the East of Germany, now partly Germany, partly Poland. Most probably the name has its origin in the slavic word "Potalani", which means "hilly, with mountains" ("hügelig-bergig") or from an indogerman ("indogermanisch") word for "Leader" ("Herrscher"). Pofahls lived in :

• area Belgard - Schivelbein
• Neukoprieben, area Neustettin
• Jagertow, area Belgard

From the original area there were migrations to the West and to overseas. The first people went to the "new world" between 1770-1795. The second wave swapped over during the 19. century, the last wave left after world war II.

There is a "Pofahl Lake" in Nebraska, USA, Madison County, Latitude: 41.993894, Longitude: -97.3903282

About 230 Pofahls are listed in the (internet-) phonebooks of the following parts of the world :

You can look up the distribution of Pofahl families

in Germany : http://www.verwandt.de/karten/absolut/pofahl.html

in the U.S. : http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/fact.aspx?&fid=7&ln=Pofahl&fn=&yr=1920

Some known chronics (remarks)

• Johann Friedrich Martin Pufahl , * 17xx in Klebow
• Friedrich Pofahl, * 17xx
• Johann Pofahl , * ~1800 in Pommern
• Friedrich G. Pofahl, * 1830 in Pommern (derived from Pofahls in Minnesota)
• Rainer Pofahl, * 1952 in Eberswalde (look for "Stammbaum")

Johanna Pofahl from Rösrath near Cologne in Germany did some research and has a large archive.

There is some info on the Genealogy Homepage about the name http://genforum.genealogy.com/pofahl/.You find about 100 Pofahls, when you do a search on http://www.familysearch.org/.

Some Pofahls went to the USA with the following immigrant ships (shipname, date of arrival, name, age) :

• Bark Meridian, 1857-09-16, Aug. W., 40, Henriette, 40, Justine, 15, Emilie, 12, Ferdinand, 9,
• SS Victoria, 1878-04-25, Ferdinand, 33, Frederike, 33, Herman, 7, Robert, 3, Bertha, 6Mo,
• SS Silesia, 1881-07-18, Ferdinand, 42, Auguste, 30, Theodor, 8, Bertha, 7, Marie, 3, Emil, 9, Anna 70
  

And there maybe more data available.

Because the ortographical skills of the people, who wrote down birth and death in the church books, varied, there is a high chance, that the name "Pophal" (160 entries in Germany phonebooks) was also used for the same people, depending who was in charge to write down history.

I was inspired to set up this "Pofahl" page by many contacts from people with the same last name. I invite everybody to contribute to this page. If you have corrections or additions : please send them.

Pofahls on the web:

• Alfred Pofahl, Germany
• Andrea (Pofahl) Clinard, Illinois, USA, Pofahl Family Tree
• Edson Lauro Pofahl, Brasil
• Lars Pofahl, Norderstedt, Germany
• Martin Pofahl, 31162 Bad Salzdetfurth, Germany,
• Rainer Pofahl, Schwedt/Oder, Germany,
• Mario Pofahl
• Michael Katona, Australia (his mother is a born Pofahl)

and myself :

Ekkehard Pofahl, Cologne, Germany

Access to data bases and free software to build family trees and genealogy records http://www.familysearch.org/ and http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/

There is a promising genealogy software PhpGedView : http://www.phpgedview.net/de/about.php

A private Pofahl group is maintained. Whoever is interested to join, please either email Ekkehard Pofahl, or apply directly :

Join the Pofahl Clan

E-Mail:

visit the group

The content (emails, date for family reunions, ... ) of this group is only visible to members.

finis, last edit : 29. September 2011