In the cemetery, my great grandmother's grave marker (headstone) is engraved with the words "From Hourdow Deutchland." In 1856, she came to the United States from BOHEMIA, according to a record at Castlegarden.org. I do not find the word HOURDOW on the internet. My questions are : Has anyone heard of this word? Does anyone know what might be a more recent name for this place?
Totally unknown to me, but the ending “-ow” could denote a Slavic settlement. Are you sure of the spelling? “Deutchland” is misspelled “Deutschland” which is German for “Germany”.
I truly appreciate your reply. Yes, Deutchland is misspelled on the gravemarker. That makes me wonder if Hourdow is also slightly misspelled. I've "googled" possible different spellings of Hourdow without success.
I don’t think so, Germans have no need to replace “ch” with “h”. German spelling of Chodov is “Chodow”, Germanized form should be “Chodau”. In addition, no Chodov lies in Germany and most of the Chodovs in the Czech Republic have altarnative German names (Meigelshof, Gängerhof, Hinterkotten…). “Hourdow” is either misspelling or some kind of English transcription. Or perhaps a place in another country, in Poland for example.