A way the Germanic heritage of Lexington County can be found is through th last names of the families who have been here for generations.

Many of the most common surnames found here may not sound German due to the fact that they have been.

Harman/Harmon was originally Herrman. Corley was originally Karle and Shealy was Shule. Several of the common surnames originally ended in “le” which is common in the part of Germany and Switzerland known as Swabia.

Anglicization led to some names being translated. Schneider which means tailor i German became Taylor and Rauch which means smoke in German became Smoak.

JR Fennell is Lexington County Museum director.