Schömbs X Schemes

Most difficult was looking for an immigrant with the Schemes name and never finding one.
After researching I concluded that, over time, the Schemes name was a variation of the Schömbs name.
This is clearly proven through marriage certificates and baptismal records.
The explanation for that was the difficulty that the local Catholic priests during the 19th Century were mostly Portuguese or Italian. They did not speak the German language. German names were strange to them.
Researcher Gesmar Borges in "Torres Marcas do Tempo 175 anos" explains that "the writing of names and germanic last names was not familiar, was not routine to the notaries or substitutes in the North Coast in century XIX and beginnings of century XX." Hilda Agnes Hübner Flores in "História da Imigração Alemã no Rio Grande do Sul" says that "the 184 catholics had been in São Pedro das Torres, attended by the local Portuguese priest, who did not speak the German language, but performed marriages and gave collective absolution."
Hunsche in "O Ano 1826 da Imigração e Colonização Alemã no Rio Grande do Sul" mentions "the consequences of this assimilation alleged for the P. Amstad relating to the writing of the names, was so significant that many of these names are today unrecognizable. As we read the mentioned "Livro de Receitas e Despesas" (Source n.º 10) of the Colony of São Pedro de Alcântara, we had the chance to observe this unfortunate development, favored, of course, for the parish priest recorded history, not knowing the language of his faithfuls."
In our present day research we find the following variations of the Schemes name: Schems, Schömbs, Schaemes, Schaems, Schembs, Schumbs, Chems e Chemse.

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Who came to Brazil?

In the list of passenger from the ship Kranich (on its 2nd trip to Brazil), we found the family of Thomas Schömbs.
The Kranich was commanded by Captain Klaus Frederico Becker, arriving in Rio de Janeiro on the 19 of January, 1826, with 40 families (216 people) on board destined to the Colony of São Leopoldo/Rio Grande do Sul (RS).
The original list resides in the National Archive (Rio de Janeiro/RJ).

27th Family
Nr - Name - age - relationship status - profession - religion - origin - observations
146 - SCHÖMBS, Tomás, 55, married, farmhand, catholic, Hessen/Darmstadt
147 - Margarida, 2nd wife, 35, married, catholic
148 - Catarina, daughter (1st wife), 22, "obtained a license to be married with Jorge Spohr on Rio, 1st February 1826".
149 - Ana Maria, daughter (1st wife) 18, single, catholic
150 - Catarina Bárbara, daughter (1st wife), 14, single, catholic
151 - Margarida, daughter (2nd wife), 9, died on the high seas on 11 Nov 1825.
152 - Jacob Antônio, son, 6, single, catholic
153 - João, son, 4, single, catholic
154 - Elisabeta, daughter, 9 months, single, catholic

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The itinerary of the family from Germany to Brazil

- 31 August 1825 is made the contract of freightage under number 5,176 of the ship Kranich for Major Schaeffer, in Hamburg.
- 20 September 1825 the Kranich begins loading supplies and passengers at the port of Hamburg, with a destination of Brazil.
- 03 October 1825 the Kranich leaves Hamburg, beginning the voyage of the Thomas Schömbs family and others to Brazil.
- 19 January 1826 arrive at the port of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- 20 January 1826 disembark at Armação da Praia Grande (Rio de Janeiro/RJ).
- 05 February 1826 embark at Rio de Janeiro on the “Americana” sumaca * (Costeiro nº 4), with destination of Porto Alegre/RS.
- 07 March 1826 arrive at the Colony of São Leopoldo/RS, where they had been registered with Dr. João Daniel Hillebrand, Director of the German Colony of São Leopoldo. The family remained a few months in São Leopoldo. For unknown reasons, perhaps not receiving their property or not liking the property that was offered to them, they decided to move to a different colony. In this period, the government of the Province of São Pedro was forming a new colony on the North Coast of the Rio Grande do Sul state. In which Thomas decided to settle with his family.
- 24 September 1826 arrive in four yachts at Porto Alegre from São Leopoldo and are part of the 1st group of immigrants (352 people) with the destination of Torres (“Towers”).
- 28 September 1826 a 2nd group (66 people) arrives at Porto Alegre from São Leopoldo in a yacht , also with destination the Torres.
- 28 September 1826 until 31 October 1826 the groups are delayed in Porto Alegre on their voyage to Torres, "originated already for true difficuldades, already for reasons that I leave in I silence" (Gordilho de Barbuda).
- 01 November 1826 leave Porto Alegre for Torres (they totaled 421 people: 237 protestants and 184 catholics) in the two groups, five yachts; saw rivers Guaíba, Lagoon Itapoã, Lagoon dos Patos, and finally the Capivari river.
- 03 November 1826 arrived at the mouth of the Capivari river.
- 04 November 1826 landed and discharged the five yachts in the Capivari river.
- 05 November 1826 commencement of the overland trip in ox carts. Some families delayed because 4 carts, which had been ordered, did not arrive.
- 07 November 1826 arrive at Passo de Tramandaí (the place to ford the river Tramandaí), after passing through the area of Quilombo.
- 13 November 1826 begin an overland trek near, and sometimes on the beach for the final 80 km (50 miles) in 5-6 days, for lack of canoes and the oarsmen.
- 17 November 1826 arrive at Torres.

The stories of the colonies of Três Forquilhas and São Pedro de Alcântara, both in the Rio Grande do Sul state, mention the heavy rains in late 1826, and the unusual experiences that the German colonists had endured.
- 18 July 1827 Lieutenant-Colonel Inspector Francisco de Paula Soares Gusmão, director of the Colony of the Torres, writes to the President of the Province Salvador José Maciel, saying that "Twenty-eight catholics had arrived to plead in a signed petition to the presidency of the Province, for land in the region of Tramandaí or other places".
We verify that Thomas Schömbs was one of them that signed this document.
Another signatory was Philipp Schaefer, probably his son-in-law (married to his daughter Anna Maria).
According to Ruy Ruben Ruschel in Torres Origens "Pressured by such measures of force, after all in July of 1828, one year and more after their arrival, the last catholic colonists received their property, the most opposed who had emigrated from Germany for São Leopoldo or other places."

* sumaca (of the dutch schmake): sail boat, often used along the coast of Brazil, two masts and Latin sail.

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The Evidence that the Schemes Family of Brazil Descends from Thomas Schömbs

From the passenger list of the Kranich, we know that Thomas Schömbs emigrated to Brazil with two sons: Jacob Anton (*1819, name would generally translate to Jacob Antônio); and Johannes (*1821, name would generally translate to João). Yet in my research I have only been able to find the connection of the Schemes family back to José Monteiro Schemes.
The only documents that show a clear link to the family of Thomas Schömbs are of marriage and baptism. It is through this analysis that I draw my conclusion of the kinship.
When analyzing the document of the marriage of Antonio Jorge Selister and Maria José Schemes (27-09-1883), we see that Antônio is legitimate son of João Jorge Selister and Felisberta Schemes (Anna Elisabetha Schömbs) and that Maria José is natural daughter of Maria Sophia dos Anjos.
Notice that Maria José, for being declared natural daughter, demonstrates that her mother Maria Sophia dos Anjos was not married. The document does not identify the father of Maria José Schemes. But the most important fact in the document declares “without any impediment, except of a second degree of consanguinity of lateral line, which was excused by Provision of Mr Reverend ." This indicates that the fiancés are cousins in first degree and, therefore, their parents are siblings.
But who would be the brother of Felisberta Schemes?
We discover this by analyzing the baptism document of Adalberto Selister (31-05-1887), where appears the name of José Monteiro Schemes as maternal grandfather and Maria Sophia dos Anjos, as maternal grandmother. Next appears João Jorge Selister and of Felisberta (Schemes) Selister, respectively paternal grandmothers.
There are two possibilities: First, José Monteiro Schemes is another son of Thomas Schömbs, born after their arrival in Brazil; or second, that José Monteiro Schemes is the Brazilian name of either Jacob Anton Schömbs or Johannes Schömbs. I think the latter is more probable.

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The family in Brazil

The destination of each member of the family, as we currently understand it:
·Catharina (*1804) married Jorge Spohr (without more notice) days after the Kranich arrived in Rio de Janeiro. The wedding was the 1st of February, 1826. As we have previously seen, the family disembarked in Rio de Janeiro on 20 January, and left Rio de Janeiro on 5 February.

·Anna Maria (*1808) married Philipp Schaefer (widower with one son) in São Leopoldo on 18 June 1826. They then decided to go with most of the family to live in Torres.

·Catharina Barbara (* 15 October 1810, Hessloch, Germany) We only know that she was registered as having arrived in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro), at the Colony of São Leopoldo, and later decided to go to Torres.

·Margaretha, (*19 December 1816, Hessloch, Germany +11 October 1825) died on the high seas, during the voyage from Europe to South America.

·Jacob Anton(* 7 March 1819, Hessloch, Germany) the only record of Jacob is his registration when he arrived in Brazil. Perhaps he died on the journey from Rio de Janeiro to São Leopoldo, and therefore was not registered by Dr. Hillebrand, much less in the list of the colonists who would go to Torres.

·Johannes (*5 May 1821, Hessloch, Germany) as can be read on another part of the website, I believe Johannes changed his name to José Monteiro Schemes in Brazil. No other documentation on José Monteiro regarding either his birth (if he was born in Brazil) or his death have been discovered.

·Anna Elisabetha (Felisberta), (*16 March 1825, Hessloch, Germany) married João Jorge Selister (Johann Georg Schlitzer), (*1815 in Germany, +30 August 1897 Gravataí/RS). We know no more details.

·Thomas Schömbs (*1770 Gundheim, Germany) and his wife Margaretha (Anna Margaretha Seipp * 1791) are known to have gone to São Leopoldo, and later to Torres.
It is probable that Thomas left São Pedro de Alcântara (near Torres) soon after the Law of Budget was enacted on 15 December 1830. The Law rescinded all the tax credits and incentives which had been promised to foreigners.

According to Aurélio Porto in O Trabalho Alemão no Rio Grande do Sul “ Torres, that is, the Colony São Pedro de Alcântara, had a development with the initial impulse of settlement, stopping, later, from 1830 to 1846, for several reasons, especially because of the upheaval in the Province, that also echoed deeply there."

Jean Roche in A Colonização Alemã e o Rio Grande do Sul "This maneuver of the Parliament condemned any new attempt and risked to annihilate the already existing colonies. In São Leopoldo, the settlers got agitated because of the damage they had suffered, since neither the overdue indemnities, nor the ones that had been promised to them for the two first years of settlement, had been paid ".

Such political, geographic, climatic and cultural factors had affected the life of these first immigrants to the North Coast of the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

In the search of a new place to settle, it is possible that Thomas went to other places where he had already been before, when going to Torres, as for example the areas next to the Tramandaí river, near Santo Antônio da Patrulha, Gravataí (where marriages and baptisms of the families Schemes and Selistre took place) or even returning to the colony of São Leopoldo, in the Vale do Rio do Sinos (Valley of the Bells River).

In the future we hope to discover more information which will answer many of these questions.

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