# Bushong

Bushong is a surname found mostly in the United States, derived from the surname Boschung found mainly in Switzerland, but also in the Palatinate and other regions in Western Europe.

## Surname history

The American surname, Bushong and variant Bushon, prior to being anglicized, was the German-Swiss name, Boschung. The spelling was changed after immigration to Colonial America. The immigrants, Hans and Johann Nicholas both arrived as Boschung, Hans in 1731 and Johann Nicholas in 1732. The original ships manifests and transcriptions list them as Boschung, but the spelling was changed in their American lives.

## The origin and meaning of the Bushong surname

One favored theory is the surname is based on two syllables, Bosch and ung. Bosch is considered a Germanic topographical name, derived from the Latin word, boscus which translates to wood, as in forest. Subsequently, the patronymic suffix ung was added to the original name and means descendants of (the Bosch). It has been theorized that the reason to differentiate from an original Bosch family, with the addition of the suffix, was that there had been a large well established Bosch family. The patronymic suffix identified them as having separated by proximity from the original family. In other words, the families who moved away were not the Bosch, they were the Boschung. All occurring as surnames were beginning to be the accepted practice.

## Origination of the Boschung family

There are several Boschung family lines, originating in Switzerland, one of which started in 1750, when a line Bosson, changed its names spelling to Boschung. Another line began in 1600 in Boltigen, Switzerland, with a name change from Studer, and this is believed to be beginning of the Colonial American Bushong. However, the Boschung name is first noted in the 1520s in Jaun, Fribourg, Switzerland and in the 1530s a few miles away in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland. These families whether related or not represent the majority of the Boschung. All would have been spoken a Swiss German dialect, more specifically its predecessor western High Alemannic dialect (Bernese German).

## Colonial period immigration to the United States

For the vast majority, the Bushong Family of America descend from two immigrants, Hans Boschung and Johann Nicholas Boschung. Hans and Johann Nicholas Boschung arrived in port of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1731 and 1732 respectively. They were Protestants of the Reformed Swiss sect, who left Switzerland and spent some years in the Palatinate.
Hans Boschung immigrated with his family on the ship Brittania and qualified for entry to the Colonies September 21, 1731. They were listed, Barbara age 37, and their children, Magdelen age 11, Hans Phillip age 9, Ana Barbara age 6, Christiana age 3.
Johann Nicholas Boschung immigrated with his family on the ill-fated voyage of the pink John and William and qualified for entry to the Colonies October 17, 1732. Listed on the manifest as Paschun, with his wife, Magdalena (over 16) and their children, Hendrich, Eve, Andreas, Maria.
The Bushongs originally settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where they were members of the Salem Hellers Reformed Church. Today descendants who can trace their ancestry back to Hans and Johann Nicholas Bushong number in the thousands.

## Post-colonial immigration to the United States

There are a few other family lines with the Bushong surname in America. Some are descended from French Catholics who immigrated from Nova Scotia, Canada to the United States in the 19th and 20th century while others are descended from slaves of the Bushongs prior to the American Civil War. There also appear to be a few different lines of European Bushongs. These families immigrated to the United States in the mid to late 19th century from what was a war torn central Europe and took the Bushong name. But with about 1.2 million other mostly Germans immigrants, there was at least one Greek Bushong. Their surnames all had various original spellings, Bushing, Busching, Buchen, Bushan, and others. During this period the most common immigration destination in the United States was New York, through Ellis Island.

## Descendant Bushong lines

vteDescendant Lines of Hans Bushong :
Hans Bushong abt 1692-1749Barbara abt 1694-1737
Johannes Paul Eckman 1708-1776Magdalena 1720-aft 1747Hans Philip 1722-1785Anna Eve Hergard 1733-1778Philip Grim 1723-1793Anna Barbara 1725-1806Christina 1728- ?John 1732-1808Elizabeth Sprinkel 1732-1821Jacob 1735-1811Julianna Weigel 1733-1810
8 children9 children9 children10 children10 children
Hans Bushong is known to have had grandchildren through five children.
Johannes Paul Eckman and Magdalena
John 1744-1804
Jacob 1746-1806
Mary Magdalena 1748-1834
Peter 1750-1811
John Henry 1754-1821
Hieronimus 1758-1824
John Martin 1759-1829
Daniel 1763-1829
Hans Philip and Anna Eva Hergard
John 1750-1831
Barbara 1752- ?
Hans Philip 1761- ?
Peter 1762-1833
Henry W. 1763-1845
Jacob 1767-1828
David 1767-1827
Mary Magdalene 1717-1827
Elizabeth 1778- ?
Philip Grimm and Anna Barbara
Christina 1751-1786
John Peter 1754- ?
Philip Ludwig 1756-1829
Michael 1757- ?
Maria 1758- ?
Barbara 1760- ?
Peter abt 1762- ?
John Daniel 1762-1825
Jacob 1764- 1803
John and Elizabeth Sprenkel
John Jacob 1754-1830
George 1755-1809
John 1756-1796
Elizabeth 1759-1839
Margaret 1761-1844
Ann Marie 1763-1826
William 1765-1837
Peter 1771-1859
Andrew 1773-1853
Catherine 1777-1870
Jacob and Julianna Weigel
Jacob abt 1755-1816
Anna Maria Margaretha 1755-1826
Mary Elizabeth 1756-1799
Magdalena 1759- ?
Juliana Euly 1761-1812
Catherine 1762- ?
Barbara 1775-1798
Philip 1778- ?
David 1787- ?
Maria Susannah Sabrina 1787-  ?
Note: Dates may be approximations or incorrect and there may be other descendants. :
vteDescendant Lines of Johann Nicholas Bushong :
Johann Nicholas Bushong abt 1695 - 1732Anna Magdalena Schaffner abt 1698-1732
Anton Andreas 1717 - abt 1790Catherine (2nd wife) abt 1744 - 1817Maria Barbara Juliana 1719-1805Georg Henrich 1722 - ?Eve Elizabetha 1724 -bef 1770Johann Nicholas 1727 - abt 1732
John 1760-1825Jenette Young abt 1761-1821George Washington 1767-1852Martha Davis 1770-1827Henry 1770-1856Isabelle Summers 1770-1850
John and Jenette had 6 childrenGeorge and Martha had 9 childrenHenry and Isabelle had 6 children
There are three known surviving lines, descended from Johann Nicholas Bushong and Magdalena. They are through Andreas and all had descendants.
John Bushong and Jennette Young
James 1784-1824
George 1788-1880
Nancy 1790- ?
Sally 1793- ?
John 1797-1885
George Washington Bushong and Martha Davis
Nancy 1789-1863
Margaret Peggy 1791-1881
John Andrew 1792-1883
Jacob 1794-1867
Easter 1796-1870
Sarah 1799-1887
Catherine Ann 1801-1886
Martha Amanda 1803-1880
George Washington 1807-1892
Henry Bushong and Isabelle Summers
John 1794-1846
Mary 1797-1860
Ann 1798-1868
James 1801-1866
Samuel 1803- ?
Henry 1805-1862
Note: Dates may be approximations or incorrect and there may be other descendants. :

## Some common Bushong myths
### The colonial immigrant Bushongs descend from Beauchamp

In the beginning of the 20th century, it was thought that Colonial Bushongs descended from the French Beauchamps and that the name was originally spelled that way. It is not certain exactly when the myth originated, but in 1900 Oscar Kuhns published The Germans and Swiss settlements of colonial Pennsylvania: a study of the so-called Pennsylvania Dutch. In it he stated the Bushongs were French Huguenots and their name was originally Beauchamp...
   "These German names almost all came from the Palatinate and Switzerland. Even today we can trace the Swiss origin of many-for instance, Urner (from Uri), Johns (Tschantz), Neagley (Naegeli), Bossler (Baseler). Some are of French Huguenot origin, which by combined German and English influence have often received a not very elegant or euphonious form: examples are Lemon (Le Mon), Bushong (Beauchamp)".
Rev. A. Stapleton published this book in 1901- "Memorials of the Huguenots in America, with special reference to their emigration to Pennsylvania"
   "Beauchamp, — In 1731 arrived; Beauchamp and wife Barbara, the head of the "Bushong" family, now so numerous in America. He located in East Lampeter, near the Heller Church. He was born in France in 1692. His son Jacob located in Berks county and was the head of the Bushong family of Berks county, while another son, Peter, emigrated to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, and founded the Southern branch."

### Multiple lines of colonial Bushongs immigrated

One theory fostered by some, was that there were numerous different lines of Bushongs entering Colonial America, some with different spellings. To date there is no evidence to support this theory and to the contrary, thousands of Bushong descendants are listed as descendants of Hans Boschung and Johann Nicholas Boschung's son, Andreas. With a charting project for the entire Bushong 1930 United States Census completed and most identified, it makes multiple lines that much more improbable.

### Bosang descend from Bushong

This myth was first mentioned in the late 1980s or early 1990s by several Bushong researchers, who perceived a similarity between the surnames Bosang and Bushong. It was suggested that David Bosang, whose name was spelled Bosseng before it was Anglicized, had been a Bushong in Europe prior to leaving. Though lacking any European documentation, the myth gained a degree of legitimacy through repeated publishing of Bosang's United States documentation mixed with the Bushong name. It is probable that Bosseng is a variant spelling of the surname Bossong.

## Some notable people, places, and businesses

* Dr. Lee C. Bushong, U.S. Marine, deputy sheriff, and professor.
* Albert J. "Doc" Bushong D.D.S., Baseball player, Dentist
* Howard F. Bushong, American baseball coach
* Robert Grey Bushong, U.S. House of Representatives, Pennsylvania
* Bushong, Kansas
* Bushong's Mill Covered Bridge, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania