Dear Jerry, It is about time that I send you a report of my research time on the Maurer, Brill and Emig/Amick research. After studying your material, I went to the following sources.
1. Made a list of all surnames which appear in Falkner Swamp m.f. #0020359 early church records, in hopes it would lead me to the right area in Germany, and although I could place many of the names to their origin, I was not able to place the Maurers, places near Meckesheim where the Kolbs came from.
2. I studied the witnesses used in the christening records.
3. Since the birth place of the Kolbs is listed as Meckesheim, I made a search of the evan.-luth. and evang.- reformed churches in the Meckesheim district of Baden, Germany. the name Maurer appeared in almost every parish, but no Michael or Johann Michael in the time period of 1700-1720.
While doing the above search, I came upon many names that show on the ship "Charming Nancy" of 1738. For instance the Sigmans, listed close to Johan Michael Maurer are in a town near Meckesheim and the more I searched I came to the conclusion that the Maurers on the Charming Nancy may not be your ancestors.
Here is a list of the towns I searched: Heidelberg, Pforzheim, Sinsheim, Meckesheim, Neckargemuend, Schwaigern, Hoffenheim, Mosbach, Michelfeld, Duehren, Broetzinger, Hilsbach, Ladenburg. This area is known as "Kraichgau".
4. The book "Schweizer Einwanderer in den Kraichgau nach dem Dreissigjaehrigen Krieg" call #943.46 W2d shows several Maurer individuals who came from Switzerland to the Kraichgau, yet I have not found traces of them after 1700. I still have to check Durlach.
There is a Michel Maurer who married in Pforzheim in 1673 from Meunsingen, Bern, Switzerland, but when I searched the Altstadt evang. church records, I found not a trace of him after 1700.
5. Checked the German IGI on the Maurer name especially a Michael who could fit into the correct time frame. There is one born 1712 from Eichstetten, Baden, an area closer to the Swiss border. Did not look into this possibility.
6. The possibility of the Brills and Maurers that are supposedly to have come from Boeckweiler and Hornbach, Pfalz was my next approach....( I wrote Trudy and informed her of our extensive search and dead end regarding the Boeckweiler and Hornbach Brills and Maurers. JM)
Two books with lists of Swiss immigrants to Zweibruecken and to the Pfalz were checked, no Brill and no Maurers were listed.
Book by Werner Hacker, "Kurpfaelzische Auswanderer to America", by Annette Burgers #944.383 W2b. shows an Emig Johannes and family on ship John and William in 1732 from Uttenhoffen-Niederbronn-les-Bains. They are later in Trinity Lutheran, Lancaster. Could this be your Amick family?
Sincerely yours, Trudy Schenk
Dear Trudy! 1October 1994
Thank you for your report. Enclosed find more material from Dr. Bernd GOELZER who worked for our family a couple of years ago on the BRILL and MAURER families of the Zweibruecken area. We were quite sure after his reports that our MAURER family could not be found in the records then available in Zweibruecken or Hornbach.
Dr. GOELZER went to the BRILL expert of the Hornbach area and he reported to me that the expert said there is no Martin BRILL of that area that he has ever run across.
We did find a Michael MAURER of that area with wife, Elisabeth who we thought might be ours, but unfortunately he remained in the area well into the 1750's and didn't immigrate. I think the Hornbach and Zweibruecken areas are "dry holes". Tedi Jeen and I extracted all the MAURER and BRILL families found on those existent church records and did their temple work several years ago.
Thank you for the written report, I will send a copy of it out to all our MOWER readers in my next newsletter. Let us keep looking. We know that the Lord will lead us to the records we need. Please keep looking for the origins of Michael MAURER.
My only suggestion might be to look at those people who were christening children during the time period that Michael and Anna Elisabeth christened Andrew MAURER in 1752. Perhaps people in that church came with Michael MAURER to America. Note that a couple years later a Peter MAURER christened children in that church and his origins have been identified. I am sending you notes that Tedi Jeen made when she worked on the MAURER line a few years ago. Perhaps they contain a clue you might need.
Best Regards, Jerry Mower