My mother's father's name was Rossman William Smith, Sr. He was the original Pompo. Two of my brothers and I have adopted Pompo as the name our grandkids call us.
Pompo's first name, Rossman, was a family surname, though it worked nicely as a first name as well.
Here is a photo of the Rossman family. This family was entirely German, unlike most of my family's ancestors, who trace to Britain.
Not only were the original Rossmans German, they were specifically from a place then called the Electoral Palatinate of the Rhine.
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| Left to right: Elizabeth, b. 1858 (only part of her shows up in the photo); Mary, b. 1848; William (my Pompo's namesake), b. 1866; John, Sr., b. 1819; John, Jr. b. 1861; Catherine Rossman nee Davis (she was a first generation German immigrant,) b. 1824; and Martha Rosella Underwood nee Rossman, b. 1856. |
Not only were the original Rossmans German, they were specifically from a place then called the Electoral Palatinate of the Rhine.
