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The Mayer family's earliest known ancestor, Barthold Mayer, was born ca.1597 in Leonberg near Regensburg in Bayern (Bavaria). He is found as a sargeant in Gießen during the 30 year war. Barthold Mayer was a "Teichgräber and Wallmeister", master welldigger and wallbuilder. In 1628, Barthold built the "Reinheimer Teich" in Spachbrücken on orders from the Landgrafen Ludwig V. The Reinheimer Pond was used to hold fish to supply to the Landgravate. About 1638 he married Eva NN and began their family in Spachbrücken.
About 1759, my 5th great grandfather, Johann Nicolaus Mayer moved to Zeilhard near Spachbrücken. He married and began his family. His son Georg Heinrich Mayer I, also married and lived with his family in Zeilhard. His son, Georg Heinrich Mayer II married Elisabetha Margaretha Klock in the village of Zeilhard and they soon began their own family. After the birth of their youngest child, the family of Georg II accompanied by his father set sail for the US in May of 1850. On the 5 July 1850 the family arrived in New York to began their journey in this new land. They lived in Dodge County, WI until about 1865 when the family moved once again. This time to Blue Earth County, MN. They remained there until their deaths.
In 1943 my great aunt Esther, began our family history. She only had a couple of pages but it was enough to start me on my journey. For the past four years I have searched microfilm and found birth and baptismal records for all of the family born in Zeilhard. I have traced the family in the US through census records. I have amassed a large amount of data consisting of obituaries, cemetery photos, death records, etc. I have even found an "ancestral cousin" in Spachbrücken that sent me the familienbuchen for the villages of Zeilhard and Spachbrücken. Thanks to him I have a real success story. He told me that all of the Mayer's in Spachbrücken and other small villages are all related.
I am researching the German families of Mayer and Oelers (Hannover,Bayern & Hessen-Darmstadt) & Haenel, Laube and Bluschke (Posen/Poznan, Prussia). These families lived mainly in Blue Earth Co., MN.
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