Elsass-Lothringen Emigration and Immigration

The Earldom of Hanau-Lichtenberg lost most of its population during the 30 Years War. The authorities invited settlers from Switzerland into the area. Around 3000 Swiss followed the invitation, 2400 from Bern. People from Simmental settled in Obersulzbach, the people from Diemtigtal settled in Rauschenberg and the ones from Oberaargau in Schalkendorf.

Swiss citizens in Elsass Lorraine from 1651-1685
After the 30 Years War, many Swiss citizens migrated into Southwest Germany. Protestant areas like Elsass and Baden, Pfalz (Bacharach), Württemberg, Odenwald and Hessen saw a great increase in Swiss migrants.

The author Karl Diefenbacher has extracted from the Lutheran church book of Mutterscholz bei Schlettstadt Swiss nationals who married between 1651 and 1685. Altogether he found 185 marriages in which either one or both partners were Swiss. The author found the greatest percentage of such marriages between the years 1663 and 1674, while after 1674 the fraction of Swiss citizens decreased. The author assumes that many migrants kept on moving north.

The list of these Swiss marriages was published in Archiv für Sippenforschung, Jahrgang 53, Heft 108 (1987) page 298.

When the German emigrants passed through Alsace-Lorraine on their way to the Le Havre port, many of them established records which gave their place of origin. The Family History Library has some of these records dating from 1817 to 1886.

Other Online Records
Ancestor Research From Soultz Sous Forets, Lower Alsace