Kauga, Germany?

[singerjess]

Hello all! I'm searching for a place potentially in Germany.... or Prussia.... or neither!

The lady in question is Rebecca Singer (abt 1835-1927, Singer is married name). She describes where she was born differently on all the censuses she appears in and I've tried finding this 'Kauga' but have not idea where it is! I realise it could be an anglicisation from the German accent, so any help would be much appreciated!

1861 - Prussia
1871 - Prussia
1881 - Germany
1891 - Kauga, Germany
1901 - Germany (British Sub)
1911 - Germany

[shanreagh]

The second last letter may be 'z' rather than 'g'. The first may be R or H rather than K.  There is a region called Hansa see the Hanseatic league in what is now Baltic Germany but spread across other countries as well. 

I am not sure how it would tie into Prussia but she would have put Prussia until Germany unified. 

[still_looking]

Mentioned here but seems to be historical

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NlQOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PT387&lpg=PT387&dq=kavga+germany&source=bl&ots=2rXyUBEDz2&sig=hocrYn8kWSGVt1YFRVBHNS_MHs8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBmoVChMIldi2lc6PyAIVA1waCh2IFQmO#v=onepage&q=kavga%20germany&f=false

S_L

[singerjess]

Hi S_L, that appears to be it! Now to research the place and find out where its records went....!

[arthurk]

I think the Kauga mentioned in the extract S_L linked to is a red herring. The entry doesn't mention Germany, only "Bornou" (which I haven't located), but crucially, the latitude and longitude given place Kauga close to the border between Chad and Sudan, near the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. 

I'm also not convinced by the Hansa suggestion. The Hansa (Hanseatic League) existed to foster trade, rather than as a political or geographical entity, and although individual cities were (and are) proud of that heritage, I'm not sure that there was ever a region of Germany known as "Hansa". In any case, the initial letter isn't like the one in Harry.

Having expressed doubts about two suggestions, I'm afraid I can't do the decent thing and come up with one of my own. But I wonder if Rebecca's maiden name might be helpful - obtainable from a child's birth certificate, and of course her marriage certificate, if there is one.

Arthur

[singerjess]

Hi arthurk... when will I learn to read things properly  !

You're right. I just saw many 'Germany's highlighted! I'll have another look at what it might be. I wish there was some sort of list of mid 19th century German towns! I've recently gotten in touch with my dad's cousin who has her maiden name down as 'Berwin'. I'm not sure where he got this info from though, so hopefully it will lead to more info on where 'Kauga' is!

[sugarbakers]

I think it's a K, but can't help with the g/z ... however we can assume the enumerator wrote what he heard rather than what he saw.

The excellent JewishGen Gazetteer  http://www.jewishgen.org/communities/loctown.asp  shows Kauša / Kausha in Latvia 108.5 miles ESE of Riga. This would have been just beyond the eastern extreme of East Prussia at the time of Rebecca's birth. Maybe her folks moved west into the German Confederation during her childhood.

I'm not sure how Kauša would be pronounced, but it may well sound like Kauga or Kauza 

[sugarbakers]

I've recently gotten in touch with my dad's cousin who has her maiden name down as 'Berwin'.

Bahlow's German Names gives ...

Berwin, Bärwein, Perwein as variants.

FamilySearch has ...

a Beerwein bpt and a Purwins bpt both in East Prussia 1870s, and a Purwin bpt in Poland

... so the name is certainly possible.

[still_looking]

doh! sorry about that red herring.

S_L