Patrilineage

NOTE: In cases where I don't have better information, I go with Richard Davis's version of this paternal line. He seems to me to have done the best homework on this issue--by far.

Born in the USA

name:     (Me) STAUFFER

birth:     1959, Aurora, Illinois (Home of Wayne's World. Party on!)


name:    Curtis STAUFFER

birth:     1932 Aug 29, Kirkwood, Illinois

death:    2015 Aug 14, Knoxville, IL


name:    Andrew STAUFFER

birth:     1869 Feb 9, , Van Buren, Michigan

death:    1948 Sep 17

burial:    1948 Sep 20, Kankakee, IL, State Hospital


name:    Joseph STAUFFER

birth:     1812, Warwick Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

             or East Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County, PA

             (According to Davis, the family moved that year; don't know if he was born before that)

death:    1878 Apr (week prior to obit of 18 Apr 1878)

burial:    1878 Apr, Cemetary south of Pierceton, IN


name:    David STAUFFER

birth:     1781 Aug 8, Warwick Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

death:    before Feb. 1849, , Logan County, OH

NOTE: The oldest son of Ontario Abe, he chose to stay back in Pennsylvania instead of following the family to Ontario in 1805. He moved to Virginia in the late 1810s and then settled in Ohio in the 1820s.

Born in Germany 

name:  Abraham  "Ontario Abe" STAUFFER

birth:    1748 Nov 17,  Ibersheim, Germany

death:  1823, Waterloo Twp, Waterloo Co, Ontario, Canada

note:    immigrated to the US, 9 Sep 1749 (as an infant)

           hung out half a century or so in Lancaster Co, PA

           immigrated to Canada 1805

           Here is an article from the Toronto Sunday World, June 19, 1914, describing Abraham's move to Ontario. It's funny they branded him a "Swiss Puritan" instead of a Swiss Mennonite. It's not like the folks in Ontario don't know what a Mennonite is. The history of the Stauffer family mentioned in the article mirrors that found in this report.

name:    Daniel STAUFFER

birth:     1726 Feb 2, Ibersheim, Germany

death:   1803, Warwick Twp, Lancaster Co, PA

note:    immigrated to the US, 9 Sep 1749 (with son Abraham & father Ulrich)

*****

NOTE: The 3-generation link between Daniel and the great patriarch, Christian (born c. 1579), is the only part of this page about which I am reasonably uncertain. It is certain that Daniel descended from Christian (as did most, if not all, Swiss Mennonite Stauffers in the US and Canada). It's just not clear who Daniel's father was, and therefore, his grandfather and great-grandfather.

*****

name:    Ulrich STAUFFER

birth:     c. 1688, unknown

death:   after 1749

notes:   immigrated to the US, 9 Sep 1749 

           (with son Daniel & grandson Abraham aboard the St. Andrew)

*****

NOTE: The Toronto Sunday World article cited above would seem to suggest that this fellow is named Martin and did not make it to America. (The paper is simply quoting from Ezra Eby's history of Waterloo County, Ontario.) I give the Richard Davis version, although Richard doesn't seem too sure on this. Later in the same document he seems to refer to Ulrich as Daniel's brother. Both (and other) versions have problems. Ontario Abe's grandfather is an elusive figure.


Born in Switzerland

According to Davis, the three men born during the exile in Germany migrated to the US on 9 Sep 1749 aboard the St. Andrew. This source lists them as "Ulrich Staufert" and "Daniel Staufer." Abraham was an infant, so he's not listed. Only adult males.

name:    Daniel  STAUFFER

birth:     1657 Mar 1, Eggiwil, Bern, Switzerland

death:   1721, Mückenhäuserhof, Ibersheim, Germany

notes:   exiled to Germany, Dec 1671

             (with grandfather Christian Sr and father Christian Jr)


name:    Christian STAUFFER

birth:     1615 Mar 19, Luchsmatt farm, Eggiwill, Bern, Switzerland

death:   after 1672, Dirmstein, Germany

notes:   exiled to Germany, Dec 1671

             (with his father, children, grandchildren, and a ton of other relatives)


The Patriarch

(As I understand it, the vast majority of Swiss Mennonite Stauffers who immigrated to the US and Canada descended from this outlaw Mennonite preacher.)

name:    Christian "the Obstinate" STAUFFER

birth:     1579, Luchsmatt farm, Eggiwill, Bern, Switzerland

death:   1672 Jan, Ibersheim, Germany

notes:   exiled to Germany, Dec 1671, with many descendants

*****

It's estimated he had as many as 78 living at the time. Not all were exiled, though. Author Romaine Stauffer, who's been to Ibersheim at least twice and actually stepped foot in an old Stauffer residence there, tells us there were 66. 

*****

name:    Niclaus  STAUFFER

birth:     c. 1555 Luchsmatt farm, Eggiwil, Bern, Switzerland

death:   after 1611, Luchsmatt farm, Eggiwil, Bern, Switzerland

name:    Ulrich STAUFFER

birth:     c. 1528 Luchsmatt farm, Eggiwil, Bern, Switzerland

death:   unknown, Eggiwil, Bern, Switzerland

name:    Niclaus STAUFFER

birth:     c. 1485, Luchsmatt farm, Eggiwil, Bern, Switzerland

death:   unknown

name:    Peter STAUFFER

birth:     c. 1455 Eggiwil, Bern, Switzerland

death:   after 1530, Früetisei farm, Eggiwil, Bern, Switzerland

name:    Ulrich STAUFFER

birth:     c. 1415 Switzerland

death:   unknown

notes:  not sure where he was born, but the record has him living in Röthenbach.


Jump 6 centuries...

name:    Klaus STAUFFER, c. 800

NOTE: Swiss historian/genealogist Dorothy Moll suggests that old Klaus was the first Stauffer in our line to appear on the written record (a monastery document, as it turns out, written in 827 A.D. in an ancient form of Gaulish (Celtic writing). Interesting to think that old Klaus could very well have taken his name prior to 800 A.D. 

Here's a link to Dorothy Moll's complete report. It's a big file, so give it time to load.