View Message

My grandmother's family had the surname of Gallwas. They were from Germany and she had family that she said had recently come from Germany (in her lifetime). However, in all German records I cannot find any place, anywhere, that documents a family existed with this surname. Apparently a Friedrich August was sired in 1829 by a Philip Gallwas who was a potter in Dresden. I have no understanding of why I cannot find this name absolutely anywhere! There are now numerous families of Gallwas in the U.S. but none that were found before this date! I do not know the background for this name further since now almost all my relatives on this family side are now dead. Does anyone have any ideas if this name Gallwas was actually a distortion for an entirely different looking surname??