What's in a name? Who are the Jossy's and where did they come from?

I decided to research my Jossy Patriarchal line as far back as I could. I made it all the way back to the 1300s and along the way I learned some things. For one thing my last name has evolved over time. My father spelled his last name Jossy but a few generations back they spelled it Jossi. Go back a few more and it becomes von Jossa. This journey took me from Washington State to Oregon to Switzerland and eventually Germany. I also learned that the "von" represents nobility. 

I also noticed that they repeated the same first names a lot. There were a lot of Peter's for example. Peter is a very old name. The people of ancient Greece used it and its said to mean "rock." Of course Peter was also one of the disciples of Jesus which is probably where most people know it from but Peter the disciple was nick-named that by Jesus. He was born with the name Simon and I found that name in my Patriarchal line too. 

Simon is also an ancient name. It means "hearkening or hearing" in Latin, Hebrew and Greek. 

Another name that repeats is Johann (or Hans or Henne). This name means "God's gracious gift" and it comes from ancient Hebrew. 

But the reoccurring name that fascinated me the most was one I never heard before: Melchior. 

Melchior is an ancient name that means King of Light. This is the name given to one of the three wise men that visited baby Jesus in the manger. He was the oldest of the three and the one who brought gold. These men were said to be Magi from Persia who followed a star to find the newly born King of the Jews. They were versed in ancient magic and followed what biblical researchers say was actually Jupiter which was in the Aries constellation when Jesus was born. They estimate that Jesus's actual birthday was April 17th. 

If you've been following this blog for long you probably know why this reference to the Magi is interesting to me. Many of my biological ancestors seem to possess or have knowledge of spiritual/magical powers. 

I got stuck in the 1300's with my 19th great grandfather Symon von Jossa. I did find further information about the von Jossa's but I haven't been able to connect it with Symon yet. That information is at the end of this blog and it was gathered from several German websites that I had to translate in order to read. The English translation is below.  

I wanted to trace the Jossy line all the way back to the beginning of our recorded history and perhaps I will make it there someday but this is all I have so far: 

You → Carl Jossy
your father → Rudolf Jossy
his father → Peter Jossi
his father → Peter Jossi
his father → Peter Jossi, II
his father → Andreas Jossi
his father → Christian Jossi
his father → Peter Jossi
his father → Melchior Jossi
his father → Christian Jossi
his father → Hans Jossi
his father → Stephen Jossi
his father → Hans Jossi
his father → Melchior Jossi
his father → Conz von Jossa
his father → Henne von Jossa
his father → Eghard von Jossa
his father → Hermann von Jossa
his father → Henne von Jossa
his father → Johann Hans von Jossa
his father → Symon von Jossa
his father

Maybe someday I will be able to link this line all the way to Noah. I did find a blood path between myself and Noah's son Shem but it wasn't a direct Patriarchal or Matriarchal line. Someday I also intend to follow my Matriarchal line as far back as I can go. Looking forward to that project too when I have time for it. 

I contacted Ancestry to see if they could help me get further on the Patriarchal line but they said it would cost a minimum of $3000 and definitely more since the research would be in Europe instead of the US. I need to exhaust all my own resources before resorting to investing that kind of money on this little hobby of mine. 

I started a project on Geni.com and invited some other people who share the Jossy name so they can help me research it too. 

In my own research, I discovered that there are other spellings and pronunciations of Jossy that I can't yet connect to my tree but its still very interesting to know: 

Joshi (Sanskrit Origin) stems from Hindu surnames derived from Jyotish, meaning 'one who leads us into the light'.

In Jainism: Jyotiṣī refers to “stellar (luminary) celestial beings” and represents one of the four classes of Devas, according to the 2nd-century Tattvārthasūtra 4.3. They are named after their vehicle which is endowed with shining light. 

jyōtiṣī - An astronomer or astrologer.

Sanskrit is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.

GERMAN ROOTS OF THE NAME VON JOSSA: (translated from German)

The town that the von Jossa's lived in was in the Rhon Mountains and that area is known to have Celtic origins. Ancient circular embankments are there.

There is a town named Jossa that is named after a river named Jossa that is named after another town called Jossgrund where there was a castle and monastery owned by the Jossa (or Jasza) family, a branch of the Steckelberg family, who likely built the original stone castle Joß around 1150. In German letter "ß" stands for "ss."

The later castle was built around 1290-1300 by the brothers Gebhard II. And Giso IV. Von Jossa on the Dagsberg. 

They were the sons of Reinhard I von Jossa (who was named after the Castle Joß in Burgjoss near Salmünster ) and his wife Agnes, a daughter of the noble lord Konrad II von Bickenbach (1245-1270) and his wife Guda von Falckenstein (1237-1287), the widow of Schenk Konrad II von Klingenberg. 

After the deaths of Konrad (before 1272) and Guda (before 1290), Agnes and her sons Gebhard and Giso inherited the Jossa office, which consisted of Jugenheim, Balkhausen, Quaddelbach, Winthan, Staffel and the exclaves Langwaden and the Dietersklingen farm. 

The brothers built the castle, then called Jossa, on the approximately 295 m high and then called Dagsberg near Jugenheim.

Soon after, on August 4, 1312 Gerhard and Giso carried the castle the Mainz Archbishop Peter von Aspelt fief, and they received from him as a fief back, with the obligation to keep it open for the Archbishop. In the case of feuds , Giso had to behave neutrally and Gerhard to help the Mainz people.

The lords of Jossa were a noble family, which first appeared in 1156 and was a branch line of the lords of Steckelberg. They also called themselves von Jasza (documentedly also von Jazo) and were probably the builders of Castle Joß in Burgjoß near Salmünster in the north-western Spessart, which was built around 1160 out of sandstone in place of a wooden building on the Jossa that rested on piles and was surrounded by a moat.

In 1176 they were enfeoffed with the castle and court of Joß by the Fulda Abbey and have since been the secular representatives of the abbey in the Jossa valley.

In the middle of the 14th century they withdrew from the Jossa valley and relocated the center of their rule to the Bergstrasse to the Jossa Castle they had built, between Jugenheim and Alsbach in what is now Darmstadt-Dieburg district. Their property in Jossgrund was gradually sold, mostly to the Lords of Thüngen and von Hutten.

As early as 1290, the brothers Gebhard II and Giso IV von Jossa, sons of Reinhard I von Jossa and his wife Agnes, had through their mother, a daughter of the nobleman Konrad II von Bickenbach (1245-1270) and his wife Guda von Falckenstein (1237–1287), the widow of Schenk Konrad II von Klingenberg, inherited important properties in the lower Odenwald: Jugenheim with Balkhausen, Quaddelbach, Winthan and Staffel as well as Langwaden and the Dietersklingen farm. 

This property must have been her mother's dowry. Soon after, and probably before 1300, the brothers built Jossa Castle on the 295 m high castle hill near Jugenheim, which was then called Dagsberg. 

In 1312, the two of them gave their castle as a fief to Archbishop Peter von Aspelt of Mainz and received it back as a fief from him. Gerhard II died around 1335 and his heirs gradually sold the castle and the associated lands to the taverns of Erbach. Giso's widow Hedwig also sold their shares to Erbach in 1338 and her son in 1339.[2] The entire Jossa office came into the sole possession of the Erbach family, although it was still a Mainz fiefdom.

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This is the extent of my research into the origins of my last name and Patriarchal line so far. I hope to someday visit the towns in Switzerland where the name Jossy is still common (Grindelwald and Adelboden) and the Jossa towns in Germany mentioned above to see the lands and castles I seem to be named after. 

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