Ancestry Saturday: Their Thier Mystery

"Joannes Henrich Disselbrede or Thier" is how his name appears. It's like that in everything from his 1804 marriage record and his kids' birth entries to the record for the ship Ontario that brought him to America in 1846.  [And, no, I didn't misspell the word their.  That's how it's spelled.]

My kids' Prussian-born fourth great grandfather is a mystery. How does one end up, ambiguously, with two last names?

Though the Americanized version of Disselbrede prevails today, at least two generations of his descendants still, almost interchangeably, would be found using the name Thier instead of Disselbrede, even in America.

For example, the obituary for his daughter-in-law in the early 1900's indicated Thier as the last name of her children living in Minnesota at the time.  All those children went by Disselbrett in most public records by then.

One hypothesis is Thier is his mother's maiden name. That doesn't necessarily check out. Two generations back don't show that. If this was his middle name, why use it this way?

I've seen a handful of other names shown this way in the church records I've scanned and I've had it explained to me.

Thus, another hypothesis is a supposed German practice of agreeing to take on, and carry on, the family name of someone else.  I heard that it was more common when the wife's family farm was passed on and that doesn't appear to be the case here.  Nonetheless, this one's still a possibility.  I can't rule it out totally.  He was a "cultivator" after all.

My latest hypothesis is that one of the two names is the surname of his biological father. The other name is his adopted or step father.

Here's the basis: A baptismal record from 1775, well after what other records say is his birth year of 1760, indicates he was born out of wedlock. The Disselbrede father, Henricus, gets listed, in Latin, as "Pater, denominatus." That straight translates out as "called father" but could just as easily mean "nominated to be father."

This could also not be him at all too, though the church matches three generations.

Again, these are still mere hypothesises. My search has yielded nothing more. The Thier mystery continues.

Anyone finding this post is welcomed to weigh in on this one. Any hints to solving the mystery?

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UPDATE:  Though still requiring more research, the actual marriage record from 1804 is now in my posession and has me leaning to the passing on of his wife's family name more than the adoption hypothesis.  That 1804 record indicates JH was born in Olfen, not Selm.

That means the birth record above is not likely the JH Disselbrede I was seeking.

The path I'm researching now is that the 1804 marriage to a Dreyer was preceeded by a marriage in 1796 to a woman who's birth name was Disselbrede.  She died in early 1804.  Thus, he likely took on his first wife's family farm and name.

Stay tuned.