BRETHREN-L Archives

From: bowsersa< >
Subject: Re: Bowser, Bausser, Buser
Date: Mon, 06 Oct 1997 19:41:10 -0700

> wrote:
> Jerri-----
> Direct hit, we are both apparently decended from John Bowser, but the
> trail back accross the pond is messy! I had assumed John was a son of
> Mathias Sr.
> but I am unable to make such a connection. It is much more likely that > we are decended from a second or third cousin of Mathias Sr. I am now > engaged in nailing this down as I have gotten some leads that I haven't > checked out yet.
> The target is Switzerland, Canton Basel. Our answers may be in the > work of Werner Hug, a Swiss genealogist who has done the Buser line(yet > another spelling!). My tie to John Bowser is that I'm a decendant of > Eve Bowser Arthur and John Arthur I. What info do you need? I'll share > anything I have on the subject.
> > --------George Smafield
>
Hello George

Your best source of records for the Busers in Switzerland is "Mundwilers
of Tenniken". It's available through the LDS and is microfilm #1045498;
European Region. The correct spelling is "Mu"ndwiler" I think with the
little do-hinky over the "u".

That was the source I used to trace the John Bowser (Buser) who died in
Washington Co. Md. in 1792 and Mathias Bowser (Buser) ancestry back to
Hans Buser b. about 1538. Later I obtained photocopies of the original
baptismal records for both their families from the Swiss archives.

This work was done by Jules Billeter, another famous Swiss genealogist
back in the 1920's. It traces a Mundwiler-Buser connection back to the
1500's and is beautifully done in a ledger book format. A wild guess on
my part would be that it may cover 3-4,000 Buser's dob (bapt.), dod,
mariage if available, village, etc..

Unfortunately I've already checked that source for you and I don't think
you'll find any help there. That source shows that Mathias had 6 bro-
thers. The family lines of 2 are traced further, but I couldn't find any
record showing a Johannes of the approximate dob (1730) that you're
searching for had emigrated.

Don't let that stop you from checking it out for yourself though. I may
have missed something. The only information given for Mathias in that
source is his dob; Sept. 27, 1670.

Werner Hug's book on the Buser's is a bit more complicated - since it's
written in Swiss-German and I don't read German..... <smile>

"Familienchronit Buser" which I interpret as "Family Chronicle of the
Buser Family" is an attempt by Werner Hug to trace the spread of _some
of the Buser families back as far as possible and connecting the
families as much as posssible with the records which still exist; in
chronologi- cal order, tracing them from village to village as they
spread.

The book stops with Matthys Buser's father Jakob who was born in
Buckten.
As far as I know it's only available from the author at a cost of about
$175 including shipping. It's only a half inch thick.

One very large problem is that many of the Busers are not even related.
The surname derived from a village named Buus (or Bus) and at one time
there were no surnames; only given names. So when "John" in the village
of Buus moved to Buckten before the time that surnames came into use; he
may have become known as "Johannes von Buus". If Henry moved from Buus
to Buckten he may have become known as "Heinrich von Buckten". Later the
surname was shortened to "Buser". So now we have John and Henry Buser's
families living in Buckten, but they are in no way blood relatives.

That's only the tip of the iceberg when researching the Busers.

Some went to England and became Bowser.
Some passed through or tarried in Germany where they became Bauser.
Some came to America and are known variously as Buser, Bauser, Bowser,
Booser, Boozer, etc.. Baltzer (?) Just about anything you can imagine.

My guess is that over 100 Busers are know to have emigrated to America,
probably that many more have done so through the back door without it
being known.

Since it isn't known where Mathias Bowser spent his time after his birth
in 1670; no records are known regarding the births of his children, no
record of his marriage, etc.; it's going to be quite difficult to
connect your John and Eve to him.

The LDS computer programs are no help, by the way. Their records list
Phalz, Bayern (the Pallitinate region of Bavaria) as the place of birth
for Mathias children, including Mathias II.

The PAF submissions were simply taken from "The Bowser Family History"
which is absolutely worthless if you're searching for the true origin of
an immigrant Bowser ancestor.

The only clue I have as to where Mathias spent at least some of his time
after leaving Switzerland lies in the fact that Mathias II married Anna
Elizabeth Edelman and there were other Edelmans on the Richard and
Elizabeth in 1733; 2 of whom were from the village of Steinselz on the
outskirts of Strasburg, France. He must have fiddled around there long
enough for Jr. to get married, anyway.

Sam

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• Re: Bowser, Bausser, Buser by bowsersa< >