The Argersinger family can be traced back to 16th century Germany. All the way through our history, up through my father, Wilson Daniel Argersinger, my family has been farmers.

Dad was born in 1913, and left school after the 7th grade to work on the farm. The soil is in our blood.

My most distant relative on my Dad’s side, at least that I’ve found so far, is Hans Baltus Ergerzinger, who worked a farm with his family near Reningen, Germany. Apparently the name Ergerzinger was mistakenly transcribed at Ellis Island when a family of seven brothers came over in the early 1800’s. Each of the brothers was assigned a different legal name in America: Argotsinger, Argesinger, Ergesinger, and yes, Argersinger. It certainly has made genealogical research interesting!

Anyway, I love the name Baltus, because it speaks to me of rootedness, heritage and home. 

I’ll be representing that heritage when I form Studio BALTUS, which will launch in winter of 2022-23, and will live under the “thomasargersinger.com” banner. Studio BALTUS will focus on improvisation & theory/composition, as well as publishing and producing original poetry and music.

My Mom’s heritage was recently traced back to Scotland, to the Stuart clan. Research shows that we are actually very distant relatives of Robert the Bruce. Mom was born in 1917, and left school after the 11th grade.

My Dad, a truck driver and diesel mechanic later in life, passed away in 1974, and my Mom, a homemaker, died in 2006. They both loved the land and their family, though in a very old-school way. They also liked to fix things and help people. They answered their call, simple as it was, and they were faithful to it.

Their memory inspires me to answer mine, and help others discover and answer theirs.