Eigsti Family Origin
The Eigsti family came to the America from the Munich area in Bavaria, Germany. The family of Nicholas and Barbara Augstien originates from this area, with all 11 of the children born there. It is believed the parents were born along the German French border near Strasbourg in the Alsace-Lorraine area of France. This area changed hands between Germany and France many times during the last several hundred years. When the Germans occupied the territory it was known as the Elsass-Lothringen. The family's surname in Germany was Augstien and other German family lines with this name have been noted, so it is likely that Nicholas was of German descent.The heritage of Nicholas and Barbara is not known for sure, because of this, even though they were both believed to be born in this area of France. There were many German settlers and people of German descent living in the area at this time. Many Germans left their country through France during difficult economic times and this area was one of the gathering points.
The family went primarily by Eigstin and Eigsti in the U.S. until the
name was standardized to Eigsti by all family lines in the 1880s. Numerous
other name variations have been found in the early years including: Ecstance,
Eckstein, Ikestein, Eigstin and Eigsty. All of these names seem to imply
some phonetic spelling variation of the "german pronunciation" of the name
of Augstien. These spellings often were the result of someone trying to
interpret the name and put it into "English" for whatever record that was
being produced.
Emigration Information
Nicholas Eigsti died in Germany sometime before 1851 and did not
accompany his family to America. Daughter Barbara Eigsti, her husband and
her brother Christian Eigsti came to the U.S. in 1848. Nicholas' widow
Barbara Eigsti, came to the U.S. along with the 7 remaining children in
1851.
The trip across the Atlantic was made in a small wooden vessel, which was described as an old style side wheeler. The crossing was just under 2 months, being completed in 56 days. After landing in New York, the family proceeded by rail to Chicago and then by canal to LaSalle, Illinois. The final leg of the journey was by boat to Hennepin and then by team to Bureau County, Illinois.
Barbara and various children's families resided primarily in the Morton, Tazewell County area of Illinois for the next several decades. Some members migrated to Bureau County and 2 of Barbara's children migrated to the Milford, Nebraska area in the 1880s.
Family Tree Information
Nicholas and Barbara Augstien were the parents of 11 children in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Both parents were born about 1800. Nicholas and his youngest daughter Elizabeth died there in about 1850 and 1849 respectively. Barbara and the remaining 10 children moved to the United States by 1851 and founded the Eigsti family in America.Every person with the Eigsti surname living in the U.S. today appears to connect back to the original family. In excess of 4000 descendants of this couple have been identified.
Coming Soon
Descendants of Nicholas and Barbara Eigsti
For comments or questions send e-mail to: Webmaster
Last updated May 23, 2004.