Ancestors of the Settlers

by Stefan Schmied
Translated by Gerald "Jerry" Thomas Boyle

      Alexander Karolyi hired an agent, whose name we don't know, to enlist the first wave of immigrants in Upper Swabia in the spring of 1712. From 1720 on, he sent his own people. The expense sheets of these agents give us information about the places they stayed during their journey. The most important expense sheet is from the year 1720, between April 15, the day of their departure from Pest to June 28th, the day of their arrival back in Pest with the settlers. The agent gives the places where he visited from Ulm to the southern part of the Wurttemberg: Ringschnait, Ochsenhausen, Biberach, Ellemannsweiler, Stein, Laupershausen, Schweinhausen, Waldsee, Weingarten, Ravensburg, Fieramoos, Reinstetten, Heggbach, Gutenzell, Ulm.

      The most important document to ascertain the ancestry of the Sathmar Swabians is the one of June 15, 1723, instructions of the count to settlers. The places, as well as the rulers of those places where the settlers came from, is recorded here. It deals with the German inhabitants of the first three settlements: Schinal, 76; Fienen, 78;, and Maitingen, 93 families. 293 families - 8 are not listed - came from 129 communities. Of these, 97 are in Upper Swabia, 16 in Baden, 8 in Bavarian Swabia, 2 in Switzerland, and one in Hohenzollern. The affiliation of five places is not known. Since 75% of the towns are in Upper Swabia (Wurttemberg), the number of settlers from there comes to 83%. We can come to the conclusion that most of the settlers came from the Biberach-Waldsee-Ravensburg area.