Date:
From:
To:

Sun, 28 Oct 2001 22:26:35 -0800
Sharon sharon@lansville.com
arnold.schunck@aachen-webdesign.de

Sharon wrote:

... (techtalk) ...

Sharon Shunk Spencer, USA

Date:
From:
To:

...
arnold.schunck@aachen-webdesign.de
Sharon sharon@lansville.com

Hi Sharon!
Thanks a lot! This is the kind of feedback I need.
... (techtalk) ...
Seeing your name, I understand that you are interested in our family name.
There is a link at my home page, http://www.michaelscottcaldwell.com/genealogy/shunk/ahnentafel.html
It's the ancestor table of Simon Shunk (=Johann Simon SCHUNCK) in Berlin, Brothers Valley Twp. Somerset Co. PA. There he spelled his name "Shunk"
He was born in Germany, and came from a family of "leineweber" (= linen weavers).
Well, in my family there were a lot of weavers too. Coincidence?
Maybe you are my cousin!

Greetings, and thanks again,
your "cousin"

Arnold

Date:
From:
To:

Tue, 30 Oct 2001 20:49:03 -0800
Sharon sharon@lansville.com
arnold.schunck@aachen-webdesign.de

Hello Arnold,

I am so excited to hear from you. Yes my maiden name is Shunk. I have been trying to trace my fathers family for about a year now and can't seem to make a connection to Germany. Although I think all the Shunks are related and come from Germany.

The information I have is:

My father George Jackson Shunk b. 9/2/22 Shawnee, Ok

His father George Washington Shunk b. 7/17/1894 Altoona, Pa.

His father George Johnson Shunk b. 2/17/1854 b Maryland

Then I am told his father was Daniel Shunk and that is all the information I have at this time.

My dad said the Shunks came from Germany to the USA and then during the Revolutionary War some stayed loyal to the king and went to Canada. I know some came here from Canada and married and had children. This makes it very hard to trace. I have found cousins on the web that live close and have met them. This was wonderful as growing up I always thought there were only 4 Shunk's in the world. Boy was I wrong.
They are everywhere.

I am going to the genealogy library in the next week or so to see if I can trace any farther back.

Please stay in touch.

Your Probable Cousin

Sharon

Hi Arnold,

Thank you for the lovely birthday present. It is great to see all the pictures of Germany and you. Nice to have a face to put with the voice.

I had a great birthday. The ladys at work got a cake, chocolate of course, and my children took me out to dinner and another chocolate cake. Chocolate, the staff of life.

Yes a family crest is a coat of arms. My dad said when mama got it was said to be a shank. As in shank of ham. I don't know but it is nice to have. Although a big lion or something would be a lot more impressive.

Shunk is the 11,306 most common name in the USA. There is a Shunk, Ohio and a Shunk, Pennsylvania. Really, really small towns. All the Shunk's in daddys family that we have information on were blacksmiths. My grandfather then went to work for a railroad. He was the one that painted the words and signs on the cars of the train. At that time they were pretty fancy even with gold leaf., Daddy said his dad could draw a straight line freehand better than us with a ruler.

I am sending some pictures separate.

I had seen Michael Caldwell's web sight and emailed him a while ago. He answered that he didn't know me and thought we were not related. Not much help there. I can't imagine Shunk, Schunk, Schunck's not being related. I have been to the Mormon Church one time, need to go back. My information stops with my grandfather who I have birth info on. I have names but nothing else on his father and his father. Since birth records at that time are scarce I may try church records if I can determine what church they belonged to.

Our weather here in Oklahoma is really nice. 73 degrees and sunny. There is a saying about Ok weather. If you don't like it wait a day and it will change. How true. But is a beautiful state and Tulsa where I live is one of the most beautiful cities in the US. A man visiting from Austria one time said Oklahoma is beautiful, so green, the people so easy going and all drive pick up trucks.

We are all anxious at work, they are laying people off where I work and all over the US like crazy. There were 400,00 laid off last month in the whole US. The anthrax scare seems to have stopped for now but they are now worrying about smallpox. Up until I was a child they would still vaccinate for smallpox. Then they quit since they thought they had conquered it. Now they are worried there may be a problem from those fanatics.

Well I must close for now. Housework to be done and a pot of stew to be made. It is supposed to get cold tonight.

Again thank you

Sharon

Happy Birthday, Sharon!

Probably I'm the first to congratulate you, because here in Belgium it's already Monday. Yes, I live in Belgium, near Aachen (Germany) and the place, where I was born (Valkenburg, Holland). My origin is Dutch, and I went to Germany with the Dutch army when I was a draftee. I learned to speak German there, and after my military service I went to Aachen for study and work. This region is multilingual, and my profession is to teach Dutch language (and culture) to German business people who have to deal with Holland. If you would like to see me and my family, click on "Kelmis" at my site. That's the name of our village. I am married, but don't live with my wife in one house anymore.
Since we moved apart, we can stand each other far better. However, we don't want to divorce, because there are two boys. Now Toni (14), the younger one, lives with me, and Jupp (= Joe, 16, pronounce "Yoop") lives with his mother. We live in the German speaking part of Belgium, which is very small. My wife is German, and so we speak German at home, though my mother tongue is Dutch.

At http://users.skynet.be/kelmis/urlaub/ you will find some pictures of Toni, our dog and me, paddling through Eastern Germany last hollydays.

You wrote, your mother bought a Shunk family crest. What's that? Something like family arms? My dictionary said, it can be a "helmet sign". I don't know about any family arms, but in Germany there are quite a lot of people with this name, also beyond Rhenania.
The ham sounds probable!

You wrote:

I have pictures of my grandfather and father I will send if you would like.
Yes, of course, if you have got them digitalized!

Do you have any information on the Schunck's coming to the USA?
I fear I don't. Maybe you are lucky to find some information at:
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=start This is the site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and they seem to have a lot of information. Untill now I visited it only once. Lack of time.
Or try:
http://www.michaelscottcaldwell.com/genealogy/shunk/ahnentafel.html

Maybe you don't know, but the Saarland (Germany), where Johann Simon SCHUNCK was born, is not far away from a former part of Germany, which is French nowadays. It is called Elsaß in German, Alsace in French. There is a village called Weiterswiller.
François Schunck made a site about it, with an English version:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/f.s.weiters/home.htm
There you also can download some files (census, parish and civil registers). You will find out, that there live(d) many Schuncks too.

Happy Birthday again, the links in this letter are my present for you

Arnold

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This is my grandfather, George Washington Shunk, age 19. In World War I, about 1920.
This is my grandfather, grandmother and daddy. George Washington, Viola, and George Jackson (Jack) Shunk. Daddy was about 14. He was born in 1922.
This is my mamma and dad's wedding picture, 1944. George Jackson and June Jeanette Shunk.
This is my father 1944 in the US Air Force.
Me about 6 years old.
Me today.
My son Scott Catterton.