The earliest identified ancestor in our Gar/Gaar/Garr family is Hans Gahr of "Kolnpach", which I am identifying as the farm Kolmbach in southeastern Bavaria. Hans was born about 1545, and he married, 23 Jan 1570, Elisabeth Schaidtl at Regensburg. So, the westward migration started with Hans. There may have been an earlier migration, perhaps from Austria to Germany. This is the tradition in at least one German Gaar family, but we have no proof yet. Elisabeth was said to be from "Drisper", which has yet to be identified.
Hans died only seven years after he married. There were two children, Thomas and Warbara, who seem to be totally orphaned when Hans died. Their guardian gave the deed for the house to the tutors of the children. This home had been purchased by the mother.
Thomas Gahr/Gar married twice in Regensburg. He was referred to as a citizen, locksmith, and laborer. His son, Andreas, of the second marriage, was also born at Regensburg. In later life Andreas was a master weaver. He moved to a village close to Illenschwang.
Andreas' son Johannes entered this world in a very weak condition. The midwife was so concerned for him that she baptized him immediately. He survived and lived to 80 years less six months, which was a very old age for that time. He died 22 May 1739 between 3 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon, peacefully and happily in his old age, and was buried two days later. "He was a man sincerely faithful to the Lord and to the neighbor, whose memory will be blessed, since nothing else than good and laudable can be said of him." This Johannes is the father of Andreas Gaar, the immigrant to America in 1732. Johannes was a linen weaver and a member of the committee of twelve at Frankenhofen.
From Hans, the first known, to Andreas is five generations in Bavaria.
It seems clear there were other Gahrs besides Hans. The name, spelled as Gahr, occurs 564 times in the telephone book. The biggest concentration of these occurs around the farm Kolmbach in southeast Bavaria. There are 157 Gaars in the telephone book, and again the largest number is not far from Kolmbach. Eighty Gars are present also, divided between southeast Bavaria and North Rhineland-Westphalia. Even the Garr name is present 32 times. In all cases, the largest density is in the southeast of Bavaria.
There seems to be little doubt about the place in which the family originated in Germany. It is a mystery now as to their earlier history. When going back almost five hundred years, the records are very scarce, and hard to use.
(04 Feb 02)
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.