Georg Philipp Schuchmann, son of Johann Georg Schuchmann and Maria Catharina Becker, was born on 21 October 1766 in Hesse-Darmstadt in Reinheim. Georg Philipp married Elisabetha Margarethe Vonderschmitt, daughter of Johann Georg Vonderschmitt, a royal forester, in October 1797.

They had eight children. A son, Johann Ludwig Schuchmann, was born in May 1805 in Reinheim, Hesse-Darmstadt. Georg Philipp was a haberdasher, a maker of lace, braid and trimmings for fabrics; so was his son Ludwig.

In November 1828 Ludwig married the lady whose portrait is at right, Anne Marie Dressel. Marie was born December 1811 in Bessungen, a suburb of Darmstadt, and was a daughter of Johann Philipp Dressel, a master-butcher ("Metzgermeister"), and Elisabetha Mass. Ludwig and Marie had two children, Elisabeth Margarethe (born 1829) and Johann Philipp (1829).

Ludwig emigrated to Charleston, South Carolina around 1839 and established a prosperous fancy-goods store on King Street, one of the major shopping areas in town. He was naturalized in 1841. An advertisement for his store can be seen by clicking the link in the column at right.

The family surname was changed to Schuckmann in Charleston and Ludwig Schuchmann was known by the more Americanized Louis Schuckmann.

Marie Dressel Schuckmann and the children followed several years later. Mrs. Schuckmann was much admired for her artistic and patriotic embroidery; she contributed a flag to the local regiment, details of which are noted in two articles from the Charleston Mercury at right.

Son Philip joined his father in running Schuckmann's Store on King Street. Philip was also a second lieutenant in the Palmetto Riflemen Company in 1861, defending Charleston from Northern troops during the Civil War.

Not surprisingly, Schuckmann's Store sold clothing for military uniforms and offered gold buttons line this one at left, engraved with the phrase "P. Schuckmann Charleston S.C." The buttons are collectable nowadays. This one sold for $100 at a recent online auction.

In 1868 Philip Schuckmann married Susan Caroline Cater, daughter of Charleston auctioneer Theodore M. Cater and his wife Susan Evans. Philip and Susan Schuckmann had no children.

Louis's and Marie's daughter Elise married Georg Wilhelm Jatho, a watchmaker and jeweler from Dransfeld, Hanover. Together they had seven children.

When Louis died in 1872 his son Philip became sole proprietor of Schuckmann's Store. Philip's nephew William Jatho worked as a clerk in the shop and took over the business when Philip died in 1900. Marie Dressel Schuchmann died in 1882. She, her husband Louis, son Philip and daughter-in-law Susan Caroline are all buried in Bethany Cemetery in Charleston. Philip and Susan Schuckmann had no children so our direct line to the family name in Charleston ends with Susan's death in 1906.

Our Schuchmann/Schuckmann line is demonstrably related to a clan of Schuchmanns who lived in Belleville, St. Clair County, Illinois. Our common ancestor is Peter Schuchmann, born in 1604 in Hausen (now Fischbachtal), Hesse-Darmstadt. The Belleville clan descends from Peter's son Wendel (born in 1639), while the Charleston clan descends from Peter's younger son Johann Georg, born in 1654.

The first to emigrate and settle in Belleville IL was Carl Friedrich Schuchmann, born in Groß Bieberau in 1809. He and his small family emigrated in 1834 and settled in and around Belleville, where he and his wife, the former Helene Margaretha Baltz, had more children, eventually seven in all. The online database at Find-A-Grave lists his details and obituary. If you descend from Carl/Charles F. Schuchmann, you're related to us.

There may be a connection to a Schuchmann family who lived in Louisville, Kentucky and who spent some time in Pennsylvania and Louisiana as well. The Louisville family patriarch, a prosperous tailor, was known as Louis Schuchmann, born about 1818 in Hesse-Darmstadt, and married Adeline Pfleiger or Pfleger around 1842.

It was in Louisville that Elise Schuckmann married G.W. Jatho in 1852. We assume that this suggests a possible family connection to the Louisville Schuchmann clan. We hope to uncover evidence to prove the connection at some point.