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- Richard G. Schmidt, SIXTEEN MARYLAND FAMILIES, p. 5 (1981), states:
"The Brunner family was first recorded in Schifferstadt, Germany records in 1679. Schifferstadt (population 12,350 in 1950) lies in the eastern part of the present Palatinate of the Rhine (Die Pfalz am Rhein), in Germany. Joseph Brunner ... was reportedly from a town in Switzerland called Rothenstein, but no further proof has been found that the Brunners came from either of two villages in Switzerland named Rothenstein. ***
"In the year 1655 there were eleven families totaling about 54 persons in Klein Schifferstadt. None were [sic] named Brunner then, but by 1683, four years after the Brunners arrived from Switzerland by way of the Rhine, there were 12 families in the town. ***
"As indicated, 'the Brunners lived in Klein Schifferstadt from 1679 to 1729, when they left for America. Some possible reasons for their leaving include the misery of four wars of Louis XIV of France between 1667 and 1713. Most likely, however, was their desire to leave [as] a result of continuous religious intolerance and persecution because they were Protestants.'" (Quoting from Donald L. Osborn, KNOWING THE BRUNNERS, p. xiii (1968).)
Schmidt continues (Ibid, p. 6): "Joseph Brunner was born circa 1675, probably in Rothenstein, Switzerland. Apparently as a young boy he was taken with his family down the Rhine River about 1679 to the Pfalz area ... of Klein Schifferstadt. On 23 November in Klein Schifferstadt Joseph Brunner married Cathrine Elisabetha Thomas ....
"Eight children were born to ... [them], all in Klein Schifferstadt between 1701 and 1723...***
"[In 1729] Joseph Brunner, his wife, and the rest of the family sailed with 126 other people aboard the ship 'Allen' ... and arrived in Philadelphia on 11 September 1729.***
"Joseph Brunner and his family eventually made their way from Philadelphia by way of Lancaster County Pennsylvania to the area now a part of Frederick County, Maryland...."
The lists recording the family's arrival in Philadelphia are found in I.D. Rupp, THIRTHY THOUSAND NAMES OF IMMIGRANTS IN PENNSYLVANIA, 1727-1776, List 10, pp. 60-61 (Leary, Stuart Co., Philadlephia; 1927) and in vol. 1, R.B.Strassburger & Wm.J.Hinke, PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN PIONEERS, Lists 10A, 10B, & 10C, pp. 27-30 (1934). There one finds in List 10A for the ship Allen, which arrived in Philadelphia on 11 Sep 1729, at p. 27, "Joseph Prunder" and "Johannes Prunder, sick"; at p. 28, as "under fifteen," "John Henderick Prunder"; and at p. 29, female passenger "Caterina Lisbet Prunder". There is no mention of Anna, Gabriel, Valentin, Maria or Elias.
Lists 10B & 10C, Ibid, pp. 29-30, report that the ship Allen sailed from Rotterdam and cleared Cowes on 7 July 1729, arrived in Philadelphia on 11 Sep 1729, and that its passengers subscribed to the declaration of allegience to England on 15 Sep 1729; List 10 B includes "Joseph Bruner" [sic]. He is again mentioned in List 10C, p. 30, as "Joseph Bruner."
T.J.C.Williams & F.McKinsey, HISTORY OF FREDERICK COUNTY, p. 747 (1910), report:
"The Brunner family ... was one of the first families in Fredericktown. ... Joseph Brunner ... came to this country from Manheim, Germany, on the ship 'Alien' [sic] landing at Phildadelphia, September 11, 1726 [sic]. He came direct to Maryland and took up a wide tract of land, 'Shiverstadt.'[sic] He erected a house and named it after the place in the fatherland. He also fortified the house against the attacks of Indians that roamed the country in those days. The old place is still in a good state of preservation and is located on the Montevue turnpike. Joseph Brunner was present and assisted several years later in laying out the town of Frederick."
Joseph's home in Frederick, MD, is now a museum. See: http://smallmuseum.org/schifferstadt.htm (accessed Sep 2010).
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