The family is from the Baltic countries and moved to Finland at the end of the 1600s. It is considered to be from the nobility of Courland. However, according to an alternative theory the roots of the family could be in Kurpfalz, Germany, in which in 1596 a family with the same name was ennobled.
Today's living branches are all descendants of his grandson, noble-muse Berndt Otto Schauman (1738–1805). In connection with the organization of the Finnish House of Nobility, Schaumans were marked there in 1818 as a noble family, number 96. Descendants of the family moved to Argentina in the late 19th century and in the 1920s to France; the family still lives in both countries. Alternative noble families[clarification needed] have subsequently re-elected the right to represent the House of Knights. Schaumans are also living today in Paraguay and the United States.