Wednesday, May 31, 2017

The Burger vs Borger Controversy


In my mother's family there was a great controversy: Whether her father's family name was Burger or Borger. I was raised believing that all right-thinking people spelled it Burger, because that was obviously what the original German immigrant was named, while those infidels on the other side of the family, with their shaky morals and doubtful intellect, spelled "Burger" with an O, of all things! Well, now that I'm going through all the family notes and photos that Mom left for me to go through (she's not dead, she's in a nursing home suffering from dementia), I have come to the conclusion that... well, my side of the family may have been wrong. My goodness, that was painful to admit.

I am amused by this page out of the Burger family bible (given to my great grandfather William Henry Burger on the occasion of his marriage to Mary Ann Dufner). Okay, it was originally the Borger family bible, however someone went through and corrected the O's into U's! I have to laugh.

It's interesting trying to research these people when I'm looking in findagrave.com for people with the last name of Burger and find out they were buried under the Borger name. I've learned to vary my searches.

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