I am researching my Gingerich-Gingrich-Kingery ancestors and am seeking to find connections among the various Gingerich-Gingrich, Guengerich, Kingery, etc. lines from Europe and America. I descend from Christian Gingerich, b. ca 1718, Switzerland, d. 1778, Lancaster Co, PA (more info on Christian can be found in a WorldConnect entry at http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&d...). Christian was among several Mennonite Gingerich-Gingriches who settled in Lancaster Co, PA in the 1720s and later. More on the history of these Gingerich-Gingrich-Guengeriches can be found at http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/G563ME.html. My particular Gingerich family later adopted the more anglicized versions of the name - Gingery, Kingery, etc.

In an effort to further explore my Gingerich-Kingery origins, I started a dna project for the Gingerich-Guengerich-Kingery-etc surname and had a Kingery cousin of mine do the testing. He has matched up with another line of Gingeriches (that of Yost Gingerich) from Lancaster Co, PA and testing from another line is pending. The results of the project (http://gingerich.gendna.net/results.htm) have been quite interesting and I'm hoping to get participants from other lines and from those with more recent European origins.

I would also like to know more about the origin of the Gingerich-Guengerich surname itself. An early form of the name appears to have been Gundrich. This has made me wonder if there was a possible connection back to Gunderic, king of the Vandals (a Germanic tribe) in the early 5th century (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunderic). Of course, I'm not sure if such a connection could ever be proven.

I look forward to hearing from other Gingerich-Gingrich-Guengerich-Kingery researchers.

Mike
http://gingerich.gendna.net