Société Suisse de Généalogie Familiale

Maurer, Murer. nom de famille dû au métier de maçon, en allemand Maurer, et répendu dans les cantons d'Argovie, Berne,
Glaris, Lucerne, Saint-Gall, Schaffhouse et Zurich.

Du canton de Zurich :
Maurer, autrefois aussi Murer.
I. Familles connues à Zollikon et à Grüningen dès le milieu du XIVe siècle. - Heinrich, de Grüningen prieur
du couvent de Rüti 1433.
II. Très ancienne famille de Zürich. (latin Cementarius), originaire de Fluntern et citée en 1250 déjà. Sa généalogie est encore incertaine.
- Kaspar , de Bâle, bourgeois en 1482, du Conseil des "Cornus" 1489 + 1517 ou 1518. Jakob Murer, greffier, de Grüningen, bourgeois 1496, reçut en 1487 un diplôme d'armoiries de l'empereur Maximilien : d'azur au mur couronné d'argent. (Suivent les personnes marquantes de cette famille).
III. D'une famille éteinte de Winterthour descend Hans-Jakob Murer (lat. Pastor Lithopolitanus), diacre de Stein am Rhein 1577, pasteur de Neunforn 1595 + 1616. Auteur de Kurtzer christenl.Catechismus, 1615.
IV. Famille d'AEugst am Albis. Voir Spinner.

MOWRER, Michael
email address: mowrerms@26asg.heidelberg.army.mil
(Reformed)

I strongly suspect Swiss ancestry for my MAURER ancestors. I only have documentation as far back as Christian MAURER, born 1774 or 1775, probably in Berks Coounty, Pennsylvania. He married (Anna?) Elisabeth ERNI / ERNY / ERNE circa 1792 - 1796, probably in Berks County or Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. I think Christian MAURER'S father was also named Christian MAURER, and came to Pennsylvania in 1765 aboard the ship "Polly" (along with an URFFER and a HANMUELLER, if I recall correctly), dying about 1779 in Ruscombmanor Township, Berks County, PA. I suspect my MAURERS originally came from Canton Bern or Zurich or Aargau or Basel, but probably spent some time in Alsace or the German Palatinate before coming to the USA. "Hot spots" for my research are the Frankenthal area of the German Palatinate, west of Ludwigshafen, Woerth, Alsace, and Seftigen, Steffisburg and Zweisimmern, Canton Bern. My Maurers were strongly associated with PETRY and BREINER / BRINER and also with KRICK and KERN families in Pennsylvania and later in Wayne Coounty, Ohio. I speak and write German, and welcome correspondence on MAURERS or other families who followed the Switzerland-Alsace-Palatinate pattern to Pennsylvania in the 1700s. There is a chance my MAURERS may have been Moravian or Mennonite / Amish, but existing evidence only shows Reformed. I live in Heidelberg, Germany, and have for 23 years.