Re: The Fesmire Forum
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In reply to:
Re: The Fesmire Forum
7/17/01
I have never been to Europe, but my sister used to live in Germany.I tried everything to try to get her interested in helping, but you know how some people are! (They think WE are nuts!)
Has anyone ever found the original German name?Every native German that I ask says, "Ja, that's a German name.But I don't recognize it."The family must be as small in Germany as it is here!
I tried everything.But I never could find the original spelling of the name.Then one night...
Do you know how you can hear your own name paged, even though you can't/don't hear anything else?I had the TV on, and I was grading papers or reading or something during the Olympics.I heard the name "Fesmire" and looked up.There was a German downhill skier (I think he took the silver in the Olympics) named Marcus Wassmeier.I had a little German in college, but even though I looked under V as well as F in all the records I searched, I forgot that in German the W is pronounced like a V (which sounds like F sometimes)!The very next day I saw a German friend and said the name to her.She said, "Oh, yes!Of course I know this name.You know what this is?This is the person who makes the Vass (barrel)."In other words, a Vassmeier is a cooper.They made the barrels for the beer or sauerkraut.
In North Carolina and Tennessee, we were mostly farmers, but a few of the Fesmire families were potters.The Fesmires and Cravens made the jugs for a little company over in Lynchburg called Jack Daniels.
All history isn't boring, now is it?
Alice Ann