Matthias Castler was confused with Theobald Crisler by modern historians. The families were quite separate and the German names were very distinct. Matthias Castler was found in Germany as Matthäus Gessler, who married Susanna Christina Schnell, in 1711, in the village of Berg bei Stuttgart. The groom's father and the groom were weavers, while the bride's father was a schoolteacher. I could not find the village of Berg bei Stuttgart in the index to my atlas, but the name gives a hint as to the location, which would be south of the Second Colony. The births of three children are recorded at Enzweihingen, Württemberg, which may be taken as indication of where they were living just prior to emigration. This small village is just south of the majority of the Second Colony villages. We presume Matthew Castler was an early Virginia immigrant, because his first land patent was 1728, just two years after most of the Second Colony people obtained their land. Perhaps he left Germany in 1719.
Another family who married in Berg bei Stuttgart was Lauentius Greyss, police accountant, who married Maria Euphrosina Schott. A daughter was born to them in 1716 at Untertürkheim, Württemberg, where he was still listed in the parish registers in 1720. His first land in Virginia was patented in 1727 in Hanover County under the name Lancelot Crest. But shortly thereafter, he patented land, in 1732, in the Robinson River Valley. This land had one corner in common with Matthias Castler. Whether there was any influence in choosing this location because both men had been married in Berg bei Stuttgart is unknown. Untertürkheim is a suburb of Stuttgart, being just a few miles to the east from the center of Stuttgart.
A family who left Germany in 1719 was the Crisler family, but they did not go to Virginia. They went to Pennsylvania. A member of this family was Theobald Crisler, who was only ten years old at the time. After several years in Pennsylvania, Theobald moved down to Virginia, perhaps in conjunction with the Garrs who came down from Pennsylvania about 1734. Johann Theobald Christele was born at Lambsheim, in the Palatinate, in 1709. Today, Lambsheim is a suburb of Ludwigshafen, being about seven miles west, and a little north, of downtown Ludwigshafen. This makes two families now who came from the Palatinate.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.