Among the Germanna Colonists, the name Fischbach became Fishback universally. Some other people may have adopted a different spelling and certainly the name is to be found in America as Fischbach. The general rule is that these people came later, at a time when spelling did matter. In the eighteenth century, exact spelling was not a requirement. For example, an early eighteenth century land patent refers to a Fischbach or Fishback as Fishbey.
The -bach to -back transition was almost universal. The Bach family of Freudenberg, with a bit of luck, became the Back family. I say with a bit of luck because the family came on the ship Oliver in 1738 and the ship never quite made it to the dock in Virginia. Of the eighteen family units recorded as leaving Freudenberg, only six made it to Virginia. (Maria Bach in Germany married George Weidmann in 1659 and was the grandmother of another successful 1738 immigrant, George Wayman.)
The Brumback name in America shows, rather nicely, how names evolved. In 1572, we have "Jost in der Braunbach." Only a generation or two earlier, in lieu of a last name, individuals are referred to as the son of another individual. Apparently, with the passage of time, the family members were identified by the name of the farm, Brombach or Brumbach, on which they lived. (A similar process occurs with the Blankenbakers whose name in Austria seems to have been taken from the name of the farm on which they lived.) It appears that some Brombachs who came to America adopted the spelling Brumbaugh.
A daughter of Melchior Brumback married John Jacob Neuschwanger. The spelling of this last name certainly looks like a German spelling. Several other spellings have been adopted in America such as Niswanger, Niswander, Niswonger, Nieswanger, and probably even more.
The name Button in Fauquier County, Virginia, perhaps had sources in two countries, England and Germany. Also, in the same area, the Spelman family may have had two nationalities. Over in the Culpeper County area, the Smiths and Thomases had origins in the same two countries. With intermarriage between the nationalities, unraveling the families becomes very confusing.
The late Benjamin F. Dake III gave a fascinating history of a possible connection between the Button and Jung families in Europe, but the story is too long for this note and it will have to be deferred. The names were influenced by the spellings in several countries.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.