Bra(a)tz Facts

Some Interesting Facts on the Bra(a)tz Family

The earliest information known is that the family is of Swedish origin, having one Braatz being part of the invading forces of King Gustav Adolf, from Sweden, in 1630 (information gathered by an historian named Werner Braatz, from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA, who wrote a book "European History from 1500 on"

One Braatz family member who lives in Sweden, however, informed that her family had German origin (Stetin, Pomerania) - a sailor defected a German ship to live in Sweden in the 19th century. Another lives in Norway and wrote his father came from Klaipeda, Memel, Lituania to Sweden, first, and then to Norway.

Braatz, Bratz, Brat, Bratzke, Bratke, Bratsch, Braasch, Brasche, Braza and Brabandt are all supposed to be from the same origin - contradictory information have it as of Slavish origin, meaning "brother" or German, meaning "noisy rowdy person". The earliest entries in our table of names, both from 1551, place the family near Zurich (Switzerland) and near Nürnberg, in Franconia, Germany.

Another version: “The origin lays in the North East of Germany (in the former borders) and the Bradke may connect with your name. Perhaps to help you a bit further here is what I think: One of my great-great-grandmothers was a nee Bratka. I connect the name Bratke (pruzzian) = brote = brother. After my previous research are the name Bratke and my name Annuss Pruzzian origin. (in Pruzzian, pronunciation with stretched long u and a very hard s). In my accessible literature were the Pruzzian, Litauers and Letten folks of the Baltic Sea States (Balkan).

The roman historian writer Tazitus did mention it the first time a Aestiorum gentes. Later the Pruzzians, after a 50 year struggle, lost to the German Church, and under other circumstances lost there rights to be free farmers, and got there freedom through Freiherr von Stein back ca 1700. With the new settlers from the West they became known as the East Prussians. There original language was lost in around the same time, 1700. The name Bratke was very common in Masuren (Ostpreussen-East Prussia). All my information is mostly from the films the Mormon have from the Church registers, they have all sorts of lists on film, like tax records. Kind regards from the town of Luenen, the town between Muensterland and the river Ruhr”. Friedhelm Annuss

From another source we have the following results:

Research about the Braatz name.

The suppression of the second "a" in the family name is explained by the German use of a symbol over a letter which appeared twice in sequence. Lack of care in registering the name in church books and civil registration books is probably the cause for a one a spelling of the name. Wolfgang found out that at the turn of the XIX to the XX century the name spelling was changed from one “a” to two “aa”, which may have happened with general changes and standardizations of the German Language.

Nine different sail ships carried family members to Brazil:

Christian and August Bratz, 1858 - Ship August Emma;

Wilhelm Braatz, born 1853, came onboard the Eleonore in 1859

Gotfried Bratz, born 1809, arrived in 1860 - Ship Vesta; Johann Friedrich

August, at the Ship Assecurateur, left Hamburg in April 1865; Justine

went to Brasil in 1868, traveling with another family at the Zanzibar;

Ferdinand, born 1845, with wife and six children, arrived in 1868 with the Elisabeth

Gustav August Friedrich and Johann August Braatz, 1869 – Ship St Catharina left Hamburg and later transferred some of the passengers to the Gutenberg (constructed in England in 1862, 53,85 m long, which sailed up the river Jacuí in South Brazil to Rio Pardo. An ox cart transportation receipt documents the day of arrival as July, 9, 1869); Carl L. left Germany in 1872 and Johann, in 1878, but the ship names are not known.

Only between 1865 and 1975, more than 35 ships brought family members to the US. Family members were born on those ships, others died during the long trip. Some came as children with other families. We do not have accounts of pirate attacks, but they occurred in the earlier years. In the late 1700s a Braatz married in Philadelphia. See table of names, ships, ports and dates at Genealogy.

A Captain Braatz, decorated with the "Kavalier des Eisernes Kreutzes" (iron cross of chivalry) of the Prussian Army was in General Blücher's forces in 1815, which defeated Napoleon in Waterloo, (a copy of the letter written by this Captain to a family Brandt, who lost a spouse in a battle over a bridge in Waterloo, is available here. He belonged to the 2. Comp., 1. Batl., 4ten Kurmaerkish. Inftr. Regiments

The oldest record known of a Bra(a)tz family member: born 1551. A list of Bra(a)tz names, containing year and place of birth, year of death (if the case, because we also list living family members), father, mother, spouse and number of male and female siblings can be seen in the "Summary of the Braatz Family and even downloaded as an Excel table for reordering and insertion of additional family members, at the German site of the family: www.braatz.de

You may also enter the names of your family members in a form in this site.

The Bra(a)tzes are definitely not only one family - DNA proves it See the results of the first four tests of the DNA of 3 "aa" and one "a". Recent Ethnic Origins (proportion in 1000)
Haplogroup	Ra1	I	I	I1b
Countries of exact matches (12 markers)
Balkans + Austria				4,7
England + Great Britain + UK		10,0
France + Germany + Netherlands + Switzerland		9,7
Scandinavia + Iceland + Greenland		20,9

Countries of One Step Mutations
Balkans + Austria	4,2	12,6		23,5
Baltic	33,3	14,4		11,2
England + Great Britain + UK		19,6
France + Germany + Netherlands + Switzerland	1,2	12,2		0,9
Italy		6,9
Russia + Belarus + Ukraine		0,7		2,0
Scandinavia + Iceland + Greenland		31,4		2,1
Spain		27,3

Countries of Two Step Mutations
Balkans + Austria	23,5	14,7	2,1	44,1
Baltic	22,3	6,7		8,9
England + Great Britain + UK	0,2	24,1	0,6	0,1
France + Germany + Netherlands + Swizerland	1,2	34,0	1,8
Israel	13,3
Spain		28,6
Russia + Belarus + Ukraine		2,0		2,7
Scandinavia + Iceland + Greenland		56,5	6,3
Uzbekistan	7,9

I - The I, I1, and I1a lineages are early completely restricted to northwestern Europe. These would most likely have been common within Viking populations. One lineage of this group extends down into central Europe.

I1b - This subgroup of Haplogroup I is found within the Balkans countries at it's greatest frequency and diversity. These countries probably harbored this subset of Haplogroup I as a refuge during the Last Glacial Maximum. The "I1b" went to the Balkans before the Ice Age and did not return to Scandinavia after the Ice Age.

R1a - The R1a lineage is believed to have originated in the Eurasian Steppes north of the Black and Caspian Seas. This lineage is believed to have originated in a population of the Kurgan culture, known for the domestication of the horse (approximately 3000 B.C.E.). These people were also believed to be the first speakers of the Indo-European language group. This lineage is currently found in central and western Asia, India, and in Slavic populations of Eastern Europe.

We made a comparison of the recent ethnic origins (where the genetic relatives are) of the four tested and grouped the regions of Scandinavia, Balkans, Baltic, United Kingdom and some other regions.

To use adequately the numbers, we made a proportion in thousand - in percentage the numbers would be very low - to identify for each tested where those close to his DNA inform their ancestors come from. One should look at the numbers vertically, not horizontally, because the number of offspring in the four tested is certainly different. The second column, f.ex. comes from a larger population (offspring owners of certain DNA characteristics) and the third from a smaller population. Both are from the "I" haplogroup.

One thing we can say for sure: three of us have no close genetic relatives in Germany. Two of us have its genetic relatives in the Balkans, two in Scandinavia and one in the Baltic and one in France. One of us is everywhere and another is almost nowhere.

Two of us have recent (XIX century) presence in a small district of Pomerania in Prussia, no more than 30 km apart, and are not related, even looking more than 600 years back. The ancestors of the four tested come from Pomerania. Our genetic puzzle, instead of advancing towards elucidation, is posing us more and more questions. Only many more tests from other members with the same name will bring us forwards.

List of surnames with direct matches (12 markers) for one of our four tested: Adamson, Appleby, Berhenke, Brazel, Bridge, Bruggeman, Cameron, Carlton, Cowen, Craft, English, Fleischer, Harris, Lee, Leighton, Mosley, Porter, Rae, Robbins, Robinson, Rose, Swanson, West, Whitten, Wideburg. Name with direct mach (12 markers) for another of the four tested: Beals. Interpretation: These are closely related genetically with the two of our four tested than the four tested among themselves.

Seven times Bra(a)tz married Bra(a)tz

From ancient records researched by the family, we found out that at least seven times Bra(a)tz married Bra(a)tz. (And we did not degenerate! On the contrary, in general we have very good health and no known hereditary genetic disease).

We found also that in 433 birth records in a span of more than 350 years, 34% more boys were born than girls in Bra(a)tz families, being 231 male entries and 187 from girls. That is statistically a relevant difference from general population trends, where the difference is about one percent.

In two cases we had 3 sisters marrying 3 brothers from other families. In more than one case, a Bra(a)tz first married one sister and than the other. (These were not cases o bigamy, but probably occurred because the first wife died and the "second choice sister" was called to raise the children of the first marriage).

Only twice we registered twins in the above period.

There are Braatz family members in Germany (999, with listed phones in the 16 German States), in the USA (350, according to 1970 Census data), in Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Austria, Chile, Venezuela, Australia, Scotland, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

Through search engines for Braatz or Bratz many thousands entries can be found on the Web. (If you use “Given name + Braatz” you will find interesting information about your name or of other family members with different given names. Doing this many times, we were able to collect many interesting facts presented in this page.

Once an entry could be found in the net about a Braatz lake in Russia. It was part of a travel report made by some Americans who traveled in Russia. Has anybody heard of such a lake?

In the 1930s we had a very famous female juggler (Selma Braatz).

The family has a world champion of miniature ships in a bottle (Berndt Braatz).

There is a Braatz Drive in Kewaskum, Wisconsin 53040, near the Hwy 45. There is also a Rua (Street) Ernesto Braatz in Santo Ângelo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

In Germany, the most important family origin in the last 500 years is Pomerania, in fact Hinterpommern, which belongs to Poland today.

A Braatz in the Battle of Gettysburg

August Braatz was from Ixonia, a small town between Watertown and Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. He enlisted, during the U.S. Civil War, in the 26th Infantry on August 21, 1862. He was in Company B, which was called the "German Americans". He was wounded on July 1, 1863, during the Battle of Gettysburg, and died of those wounds on August 9 of that year.

We found an entry indicating that Eli Zoota, from the Mafia, used the name Alfred Bratz as a fake name. Most frequently, however, the family name is associated with the military and the police. Today one (Lloyd Bratz) is a Regional Director in Cleveland, Ohio, for drug combat. Another (Christian Bratz), in the Netherlands, belongs to EUROPOL.

It calls our attention, that we have a relative concentration of family members as educators (several dozen), pastors (5) and astronomers (5). We also have a Judge (William Braatz, retired) and a referee (Roberto Braatz), in the family. And a filmmaker (Peter Braatz), who is specialized in documentaries, but participated also, recently, in the film Good by Lenin.

For those who regularly use a personal computer, take note that one family member (Valmor A. Bratz, from Brazil), was, for a very long time, an IBM Director in the US.

If you like to eat out, let be advised by a gourmet from the Family (Dieter Braatz), at least if you are in the Hamburg area of Germany. He recommends restaurants in a local newspaper.

One family member (Edio Bratz) from Nova Petrópolis, RS, was decorated with a medal by the German Government for his work during more than 20 years organizing internships for young Brazilian farmers in Germany.

For those who enjoy fruit juices, perhaps would like to know that one member of the family (Rudi Braatz) coordinated the work for the CODEX ALIMENTARIUS (belongs to the WHO and FAO, with seat in Rome), during 3 years, to produce the world standard for almost 100 fruit juices. This standard is used in international trade of fruit juices and is the basis for national legislations which standardize production and trade of fruit juices. If the taste is not sweet enough, you know who to complain to!

The Bratz dolls and toys which are having great success, are, as far as we know, unrelated to the family. The trademark Bratz is detained by MGA Entertainment, whose owner is Isaac Larian, an Iranian naturalized US citizen.

A Braatz, a King's Cook, father of French fries.</b>

Friedrich Emil Fürchtegott Braatz (1729-1788) was the cook to the King of Prussia, influenced peace negotiations with Austria cooking heavy meals for the Austrians and light ones for the Prussians. Invented the Bratkartoffeln, nominated Braatzkartoffeln by the King, who gave him an order for his invention. His recipe was sent by the Count Hercule de Grasseville-Fraissac to the French King Louis XV and there was baptized "Pommes Fritz" in honor to our Friedrich (Fritz) Braatz and is called today "Pommes Frittes", known also in Germany under this name. We got this story from a newspaper clipping sent by Ute Braatz, Australia, which she got from a German family member. Dieter Braatz also got a copy of the article. The article will be posted in Germany, in German and thanks to Marianne Braatz Patzer, from Australia, who translated it for us, it is shown here in ENGLISH. Wolfgang Braatz made contact with the author of the article and he confessed that he made up the story and that there is nothing historical in it.

Ned has created maps showing the distribution of Bra(a)tzes across the USA

and Germany .