Scheu

This medieval German name is one of a group of nicknames which described a person's behaviour. In this case "Scheu" indicates a shy person, one rather withdrawn, although as there are at least two Coats of Arms directly associated with the namebearers, they seem to have overcome their original handicap. The name appears in many forms and often with a suffix, as in Caspar Scheinbecker of Marburg, in 1581, and Johan Schuchenwin of Schwas in the Tirol, in 1488. The name has often been confused or even conjoined with "Scheur"; this was an occupational or residential name for somebody who lived by a tithe barn, or who collected the tithes. The principal Coat of Arms, originally recorded in Leipsig, is per fesse, blue and gold, two clubs in saltire counterchanged. The name is early into America, being there before Independence in 1776, and probably associated with the Hanoverian military influence of the British Royal family. Zacharius Schue (or Shoe) was recorded in Codorus, New York, on November 30th 1767, in the reign of George 111 (1760 - 1820). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Scheu die Wurfel, which was dated 1290, of Heldenbergen, Province of Hesse, Germany, during the reign of Rudolf 1, Hapsburg Emperor, 1273 - 1291. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.