Swiss Roots of Neff, Weber, and Huber Families
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Zurich families, intermarried since the fifteenth century, had Anabaptist descendants who were early immigrants to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Swiss Roots of Neff, Weber, and Huber Families by]ane Evans Best ive men named Neiff!Neff were on the list of those corrections, or questions should be sent to Jane Evans Best, who had immigrated to North America by 1718 5 Kutz Avenue, New Holland, PA 17557-1225, telephone and were naturalized in present Lancaster County, (717) 354-2316. FPennsylvania, on February 14, 1729. 1 According to The question mark within bracketed material refers to a the research described in this article, they are believed to question concerning placement of that material at that have been Hans Heinrich Neff (NF1313.4), Anabaptist, location in the outline and is not a question concerning the and his two sons, Francis Neff, Junior (NF1313.41), and internal validity of the material within brackets. Hans Heinrich Neff, Junior (NF1313.42); Francis Neff, I wish to express a special note of appreciation to Erika Senior (NF1313.31); and Heinrich Neff (NF1127.10). All Riibel-Kern, historian of Naf and Huber families of were descendants of Naf!Naef families of Hausen and Zurich, Switzerland, whose research, records, and personal Kappel, Canton Zurich, Switzerland. assistance were invaluable in clarifying the results of my Also on the 1729 naturalization list were four sons of research. The documents she sent from the cantonal Hans Waber (WB4128), whose grandfather, Georg Waber archives (Staatsarchiv) in Zurich increased greatly our (?WB41) 2 may have been a nephew of an Anabaptist knowledge of the earliest recorded history of the Albis area ancestor of the Neff immigrants. of Zurich and the people who lived there. Hans Huber (HR244) was baptized September 7, 1663, at Hausen, a son of Hans Jacob Huber and Barbara Hans Naf (NF) Family Baumann of Wesenmatt, Hausen. 3 On September 2, 1685, During the battle of Sempach in January, 1386, Rudi he married Barbara Lier (LR29), who was a granddaughter and Hans Naf won the right to citizenship of Zurich, of Elsbeth Naf (probably NF132). I believe he is the Hans Switzerland.5 Rudi Naf lived at Rengg (Rangg) on the Huber who had 200 acres in Earl Township, Lancaster Albis mountain range in the parish of Langnau, Canton County, surveyed on June 23, 1721, and whose will was Zurich, and managed a manor belonging to the Kappel proved there on October 25, 1750. 4 Their son, Hans Jacob cloister. Hans Naf managed a manor belonging to Rengg at Huber (HR2445), was baptized September 5, 1700, at Schnobelburg, and died about 1500. Hausen. The family lived at Wesenmatt in 1696, in the Hans Naf (NF), who may have been a son of this Hans town of Hausen in 1700, and was not included in the 1710 Naf, was killed at the battle of Kappel on October 11, census of Hausen. 1531, and several of his sons also fought in that battle. All the outlines in this article are intended as clues for Adam Naf (NFl) was an ax guard under Hans Huber of further research, not as proof of lineage. Additions, Tufenbach, and rescued the banner of Zurich at Kappel, for which on March 10, 1533, he received Zurich citizenship for himself, and the Sennhof at Kappel as a free fief (feudal estate) for six years. On July 5, 1550, he received from the Zurich council the newly created Sennhof as a free fief through the partition of the possessions of the Kappel cloister. 1lra D. Landis, "The First N aturalization List in Lancaster County," Mennonite Research journal 1 (Apr. 1960): 8. 2Jane Evans Best, "Swiss Origins of Groff, Hess, Weber, Landis, and Oberholtzer Families," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 13 (Apr. 1990): 16-19. WB in the Apr. 1990 article is now ?WB41, and WB28 becomes WB4128. JE III 47, Hausen Pfarrbuch (1577-1861), Archives of Canton Zurich [Staatsarchiv des Kantons Zurich] Zurich, Switzerland, and LOS microfilm no. 0996917. The Cloister at Kappel ab Albis, Canton Zurich, Switzerland, was 4Harry M. Hoover, The Huber-Hoover Family History (Scottdale, called St. Markuskappelle in the twelfth century. It owned land in the Pa.: Mennonite Publishing House, 1928), pp. 18-31, 46-95. surrounding area until after the sixteenth century Reformation when SElmer Ellsworth Neff, A Memorial of the Neff Family, (Altoona, farms were sold to the hereditary tenants. Pa.: Mirror Printing Co., 1931), pp. 3-8, 34a, 34b. 16 Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage On November 6, 1571, Adam Naf (NF13) and his brothers Jacob (NF12) and Joachim (NF14) received the Sennhof of Kappel as a free fief in place of their deceased father. On August 12, 1575, he received Zurich citizenship with Jacob and Joachim. Before 1617 the Sennhof was divided into upper and lower Sennhof. Kleinann Waber (?WB5) wife of Adam Naf (NF13), is mentioned in a fascinating document6 dated August 11, 1588, at Kappel: Niklaus Zinda!, pastor in Kappel, on August 10 furnished a written report ordered by the dean, junker (Hans Heinrich Meyer of Knonau}, magistrate (of Knonau}, about the one isolated Anabaptist adherent in Kappel named Kleinann Waber, unable to read or write, the wife of Adam Neffs; Lehensmann [feudal tenant] of the Stadt [city] of Zurich. For as long as eight years she In 1569 the hereditary tenants of the dairy farm at Ober Albis, had not attended services or taken communion. Pastor Hausen, were brothers Hans, Ludwig, Gorius, and Heinrich Waber. Zinda!, together with the chapter assistant Rudolf, By 1603 Hans Bar (BA), Anabaptist, lived here. Kleinann Waber, wife hunted up her house and, since at the time she was of Adam Naf (NF13) and probably a sister of the four brothers, was working in a field, they left word by two messengers to working at Kappel in a field in August 1588 when state church invite her for instruction [discussion], which she flatly authorities came to question her about her Anabaptist beliefs. They rejected. Whereupon both ministers offered, at the were unable to convince her, and when they came a second time, her suggestion of her husband, to meet with her in the field, children would not let them in the house. but they were unable to convince her. According to the action [minute] of the council of Aargau (Arauw) pertaining to the sessions dealing with the Anabaptists (BA), an Anabaptist, and ancestor of Hans Heinrich Bear and the subsequent mandate of the Council of Zurich, the (BA5187), who immigrated to present Lancaster County in said pastor Zinda! and his Ehegaumer wanted to visit her 1717. 8 to admonish and warn her once more, but her children Klei Jorg Waber (?WB41), born about 1576, may have would not let them come in. been a son of any one of these four brothers, probably Heinrich (WB4), and a nephew of Kleinann Waber In 1588 it must have taken great courage for an illiterate (?WB5). Recorded in 1633 in Baretswil, Zurich, as an woman to defy the government, her pastor, and her Anabaptist who had come three years earlier from Alb is, he husband, in order to follow her conscience. If her children was imprisoned in 1641 for his faith. His grandson, Hans would not let them come in, they must have supported her Waber (WB4128), also immigrated to Lancaster County in position. It is easy to imagine these children telling their 1717. children and grandchildren about the day in August 1588 On September 22, 1625, a Hans Waber was a sponsor at when their mother stood up for her beliefs, and how her the baptism of Anna Bar (BA34), daughter of Osli Bar children had helped her. (BA3), Anabaptist, whose older daughter Anna (BA33) 9 While Adam Naff (NF13) was not recorded as an Anabaptist, he suggested a solution to the encounter of his wife with the authorities, and he apparently did not 6Arch1ves of Canton Zurich, C II 4 Kappel, nr. 732, translated by intervene when they came a second time. He served as a Noah G. Good. A junker is a social class of wealthy land owners. An sponsor at two baptisms at Hausen of Waber children -on Ehegaumer is a congregational official who oversees the propriety and February 11, 1582, at the baptism of Verona (WB32), morality of marriages as interpreted by the state church. daughter of Gorius Waber, and on November 28, 1582, at 7 Archives of Canton Zurich, C II 4 Kappel, nr. 681, 767. 8 the baptism of Anna (WB43), daughter of Heinrich Waber. Jane Evans Best, "A Bear Saga: Albis to America," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 9 (Oct. 1986): 14-17. This Verona Waber (WB32) is listed as an Anabaptist and 9lbid., p. 20. Martin Meili (ML23) had three children by his first widow of Hans Hitz, living with a married son and his marriage to Katherina Wintsch: Trini (ML231), bap. June 18, 1631; family in Unter Ratlisberg in 1634 and in Mittler Barbel (ML232), b. ca. 1632; and Hans (ML233), b. ca. 1633. Ratlisberg in 1637 and 1644. Gorius (Gregorius) (WB3) Elsbeth (ML234), b. ca. 1635, was the "child of an unconsecreted and Heinrich (WB4) were probably brothers of Kleinann marriage" with Anna Bar (BA33). This corrects the parentage of Barbel, Hans, and Elsbeth in Jane Evans Best, "A Bear Saga: The Waber (?WB5). Birmensdorf Connection," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 11 (Apr. On March 24, 1569, brothers Hans (WB1), Ludwig 1988):36. By 1661 Barbara Meili (ML232) was the wife of Ulrich (WB2), Gorius (WB3), and Heinrich Waber (WB4) were Hauser (HD5), deacon at Ohnenheim, Alsace, who signed the granted a written hereditary tenant contract from the city of Anabaptaist Dordrecht Confession in 1661.