This document was found in the York Co. PA Historical Society .
THE ORIGIN OF THE ZIEGLER NAME
The distinguished name of Ziegler and it's variants, according to a well
known authority on Teutonic surnames, belongs to that group of names which
owe their origin to a trade or occupation from the German "Ziegler",
"Ziegel", (from Latin tegula) a brick, tile, and plus the suffix "er"
-
brickmaker, tiler, roofer.
Early bearers of the name: Jakob Ziegler (Latin Zieglerus), German
theologian, mathematician, and author born in Bavaria in 1480 visited Italy
and witnessed the sack of Rome in 1526; Bernard Ziegler, German Protestant
theologian, born in Misnia, Germany in 1496; was professor of Hebrew at
Leipsic; he was acquainted with Martin Luther who esteemed him highly;
(Luther's mother's maiden name was Margaret Ziegler) Hieronymous Ziegler,
German poet and biographer, born in Rotenburg in 1520; Casper Ziegler German
jurist and Protestant canonist, born in Leipsic in 1621; was professor of
law at Wittenberg, he published several books; Heinrich Anselm Von Ziegler
a German writer was born in Upper Lusatia in 1653; Franz Von Ziegler, Swiss
medical writer born in Schaffhausen before 1700, was professor of medicine
at Rinteln; Friedrich Wilhelm Ziegler German actor and dramatist, born in
Brunswick in 1760, Was patronized by Emperor Joseph II and performed at
court for nearly forty years;
Werner Karl Ziegler, German writer on theology, born near Luneburg in 1763,
was professor of theology at Rostock; Claud Louis Ziegler, French painter of
history and portraits, born in Langres in 1804, was a pupil of Ingres,
employed by Louis Philippe to decorate the cupola of the Church of
Madeleine, among his works, " The Death of Foscari ".
The difference in the spelling of the name should be ignored for two good
reasons; In the first place, in the olden days spelling was precarious.
Often men spelled their own names with different spellings on different
occasions or a clerk spelled the name as he heard it pronounced rather than
bother to ask how to spell it. When the Palatines came to America early in
the 18th Century the English clerks who could not speak German and spelled
the names phonetically in many instances thus we have: Ziegler, Zeisler,
Zegler, Zegeler, Zigler, Ziegeler, and Zeigler. The other reason is that
here in America the census records were printed about 150 years after they
were written. The paper and ink faded, fine strokes of the pen had worn away
as the pages rubbed against each other in use, and the clerks, experts as
they were in reading old documents, sometimes erred in interpreting the
handwriting.
Early in the 18th Century many inhabitants of the Lower Palatinate, lying on
both sides of the Rhine in Germany were driven from their homes by the
persecution of Louis XIV of France, whose armies desolated their country,
Many of these fugitives found refuge in England, and many came to America.
At this point it is well to bear in mind the fact, that through the
centuries in Europe, due to religious and political differences, people have
been driven from their homes and countries (a case in point, the French
Huguenots) and forced to seek homes elsewhere, and so today we find persons
bearing the same surname, or one of it's variants, who are now of different
nationalities.
During the years 1709-1712 shiploads of German people came to America and
landed in New York. As most of them came from Renish or the Palatinate, the
name " Palatine " was applied indiscriminately to all of them although some
came from neighboring territories as well.
Walter Knittle in his book " Early Palatine Emigration " lists the following
bearing the surname or variant; Michael Ziegler; Lorentz Zeisler, wife and 3
children; Henrig Zegler, and wife; Andries and Kasper Zegeler; Andries
Zigler, wife and 4 children; and Keonract Zigler, wife and child.
Source: Historical Research Bureau, Washington D.C.
Submitted by,
Allen Ziegler