In connection with the recent notes on migration, for which most everyone thinks of as outward migration or away from Germany, I thought we look at some of the inward migrations to Germany.
Leonhard Christler, sometimes given as Christele, is mentioned for the first time in Lambsheim town records on 1 March 1709, when he received citizenship there. This, of course, means he was not born there. His actual origins have not been proven, but three factors suggest that his origins might have been in Bern, Switzerland. The spelling of the name as Christele suggests Switzerland. This family name is to be found in Bern. His appearance in the early 1700's suggests it may have been in response to the French invasions in the last part of the 1600s. In Lambsheim, Leonhard married Anna Maria, daughter of a local blacksmith, Johannes Bender. This Johannes Bender, with his two sons-in-law, Leonhard Christler and Christian Merkel, sold their property in Lambsheim and moved to Pennsylvania in the year 1719.
The family of Christopher Zimmerman originated in the Canton of Bern (Switzerland). Michael Zimmermann, a native of Steffisburg, migrated from there to Sulzfeld, Baden, before 1665 and worked as a dairyman at Ravensburg, a castle which overlooks Sulzfeld and the surrounding countryside. In Switzerland, Michael had married Benedicta. They moved to Germany where she soon died. Michael married Elizabeth Albrecht, the widow of Hans Lehmann of Steffisberg in Switzerland. A son, Christian, of this couple married Maria Schlucter at Sulzfeld. Their son, another Christian, married and had the son Hans Christoph, the immigrant to Virginia.
Barthlin Mueller (also Myller) was born at Oberbaldingen where he married Salome, the daughter of Sebastian Metzger of Altdorf, Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Their daughter, Maria, married in 1684, Matthias Hengsteler. Hengsteler was the maiden name of the wife of Johann Michael Willheit, and this couple came to Virginia. Her first name was Anna Maria. Usually the couple is referred to as Michael and Mary Willheit.
While putting together these notes (from the
Before Germanna
series by Gary Zimmerman and Johni Cerny), I was struck by the fact that many of the names rang a bell by their correspondence to, or duplication, of Virginia names. The maiden name of Maria Willheit's mother was Kuentzler. Since the "tz" spelling is redundant because the "z" sound has the "t" sound embedded in, we could have the spelling, Kuenzler, a name which occurs in the German Lutheran Church in the Robinson River Valley. Christopher Zimmerman's grandmother was Maria Schuchter, and Anna Barbara Schoen's second husband was a Schluchter.(The Zimmerman and Blankenbaker families were close, as John Zimmerman married Ursula Blankenbaker.) Deobald Crisler had an uncle with the name Bender.
(03 Jun 03)
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.