Well I have a rather unusual last name that’s somewhat German sounding. In fact my initial research led me to a simple explanation that is was indeed from the ‘old German’ Schuck, Scouth, or ’Shoemaker’. There were many variations of course, and Schoch was a common Swiss variant. Now all of this was well and good, but it did not square with what my Uncles told me about our name. As best I could remember they said it was Norwegian or Dutch. They said the barrel staves for barrels were called Shook’s and the family name would be a cooper who made barrels. This posed a gaint problem because I had proudly told the story of my name to many who would listen.
While here in Nicaragua, I finally had the time to do some major research, which was made easier by a number of genealogy sites, however I was still a shoemaker from Germany. Finding the truth about my name ( at least that which matched my family oral history) came almost by accident. I had just finished the book “In the Heart of the Sea’, which is the story of the whaling ship Essex. This is the famous ship that Herman Melville used to base his novel “MOBY DICK” on. The ship was attacked, and sunk by a giant Sperm Whale (estimated to have been 26 metres long) in the south east Pacific. Usually crewed by 30-35 sailors only 20 survived the attack, and of those, 10 or so were already out in ‘whale boats’ Of the 20 only 8 survived the three month ordeal drifting to South America (11 were eaten by the others). So, after reading that epic tale, I became interested in whaling, and the ships that made up the fleet out of Nantucket. While looking at a typical whaling ship I found a section showing a cut-away view of the centerline of the ship. It detailed all the segments and what was stored there, or what they were used for. It was while I was going over this diagram carefully that I spotted an area of the forecastle where the “shooks" were pointed out. So now... I had a connection that fit more closely with my Uncles explanation. I first find out that the ’shoots’ were a bundle of barrel staves., I assumed for repairing barrels, and well they were. The more I dug, I discovered that the ’shooks’ were complete barrels, disassembled and strapped into tight bundles. These then would be assembled as they were needed to conserve space. Space was at a premium on a ship barely 150’ long and just over 30’ wide… a three masted ’tall ship’ for sure, and a true ocean sailer. But by this time because of the intensity of the hunting the whales were further and further away from home ports. The ships had to travel half way around the world to fill their hold, taking two or three years in the process, and usually accounting for as many as two thousand of barrels of whale oil before sailing home…
So, My family name did have something to do with barrel staves, and most likely came from the Netherlands (the first true whalers (2000 bc). I, and all my children are blond, and blue-eyed, Dutchmen… PROOST!
Well I have a rather unusual last name that’s somewhat German sounding. In fact my initial research led me to a simple explanation that is was indeed from the ‘old German’ Schuck, Scouth, or ’Shoemaker’. There were many variations of course, and Schoch was a common Swiss variant. Now all of this was well and good, but it did not square with what my Uncles told me about our name. As best I could remember they said it was Norwegian or Dutch. They said the barrel staves for barrels were called Shook’s and the family name would be a cooper who made barrels. This posed a gaint problem because I had proudly told the story of my name to many who would listen.
While here in Nicaragua, I finally had the time to do some major research, which was made easier by a number of genealogy sites, however I was still a shoemaker from Germany. Finding the truth about my name ( at least that which matched my family oral history) came almost by accident. I had just finished the book “In the Heart of the Sea’, which is the story of the whaling ship Essex. This is the famous ship that Herman Melville used to base his novel “MOBY DICK” on. The ship was attacked, and sunk by a giant Sperm Whale (estimated to have been 26 metres long) in the south east Pacific. Usually crewed by 30-35 sailors only 20 survived the attack, and of those, 10 or so were already out in ‘whale boats’ Of the 20 only 8 survived the three month ordeal drifting to South America (11 were eaten by the others). So, after reading that epic tale, I became interested in whaling, and the ships that made up the fleet out of Nantucket. While looking at a typical whaling ship I found a section showing a cut-away view of the centerline of the ship. It detailed all the segments and what was stored there, or what they were used for. It was while I was going over this diagram carefully that I spotted an area of the forecastle where the “shooks" were pointed out. So now... I had a connection that fit more closely with my Uncles explanation. I first find out that the ’shoots’ were a bundle of barrel staves., I assumed for repairing barrels, and well they were. The more I dug, I discovered that the ’shooks’ were complete barrels, disassembled and strapped into tight bundles. These then would be assembled as they were needed to conserve space. Space was at a premium on a ship barely 150’ long and just over 30’ wide… a three masted ’tall ship’ for sure, and a true ocean sailer. But by this time because of the intensity of the hunting the whales were further and further away from home ports. The ships had to travel half way around the world to fill their hold, taking two or three years in the process, and usually accounting for as many as two thousand of barrels of whale oil before sailing home…
So, My family name did have something to do with barrel staves, and most likely came from the Netherlands (the first true whalers (2000 bc). I, and all my children are blond, and blue-eyed, Dutchmen… PROOST!