Our research has established that the name Wagy - Waggy is unique in that everyone who bears this name can be traced  directly to Philip Waggy Sr.

The family is of German origin, probably coming either from Germany or Switzerland early in the eighteenth century.    Family tradition says they were Pennsylvania Dutch, but the first trace we have is the record of Philip Sr. purchasing land in Rockingham Co., Va. in 1783.   Several sources say the name was once spelled Vogey but no proof of this has been found to date.

Another reference, West Virginia and Its People   states, "Philip Waggy came from Germany probably about 1740."   This date fits with the great exodus from Europe because of religious persecutions there.  No substantiating evidence has been found of his entry place and date, his marriage to Susannah in Rockingham County, Virginia, or of his Revolutionary record.   If anyone has a reference of proof of entry, his marriage record, or Revolutionary war record, would you please share it in an E-Mail ?

An article,  Wagy Family in America,  states that "Philip Waggy Sr. was born in Germany and was one of a colony from Amsterdam, Holland which settled in Virginia about the year 1706.  The year quoted in this reference must be wrong or there was another Philip Waggy as the Philip Waggy we have records of died in 1812 or 1814, making him 106 or 108 at the time of his death.

My Uncle Marvin Waggy was told by a German co-worker while working in Germany that another possibility of the Waggy origination maybe a town in Switzerland by the name Wagge but that today no Waggys live there.

They may have lived for a time either in Maryland or  Pennsylvania, most likely the latter.  This is said to have been true of the many German families who moved on to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia after the war ended.  The  family  spoke German and   Pennsylvania Dutch dialect.  As the children of the families learned English,   use of German in the homes and churches gradually waned. 

A fascinating account of these Germanic Americans  is found in the book  The Pennsylvania Germans of the Shenandoah Valley.   They mention both the Waggy and Kiser families and that different ways of spelling surnames is a characteristic problem of the Pennsylvania Germans.

 

Continue to Philip Waggy Sr. and Family

	Back to  The Waggy/Wagy Family
	Back to The Waggy Home Page

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page