The Boßler family represent a lawful patrilineal branch of the patricians Rüde, who had lived in Mosbach since 1482. The Rüden, who ranked among the wealthiest burghers of the chief administrative city, practised crafts and trade. As councillors and mayors, the patrician family was involved in the local government and was one of Mosbach's lenders. The Rüde family of Mosbach also became part of the patriciate of the imperial city of Heilbronn and were related to the Heilbronn patriciate as well as the patriciate of the imperial city of Hall and families ennobled by imperial letters patent.[2]
Rüde is a nomen gentilicium, which was changed to the dialectaloccupational surname Boßler at the request of the bearer of the name between 1633 and 1640. The Boßler family tree begins in 1616 in the Hessian Amt Lichtenberg. At Asbach, now a district of the municipality of Modautal the family survived the Thirty Years' War unharmed.[3] Martin Rüde dictus Boßler (1616–1694) is the progenitor of the family. He had four sons: Christian (1643–1690) burgrave and gunsmith, Matthaeus (1645–1716), Peter (1654–1697) and Johann Valentin (1661–1719). All four of them were born under the freely adopted surname Boßler, which had replaced the nomen gentilicium Rüde.[4]
One of the first families of America
Johann Wilhelm (1714–1782) from Ernsthofen, the youngest son of Johann Valentin Boßler (1661–1719),[6] was among the pioneer settlers of the Province of Pennsylvania.[7] In 1767, William Bossler farmed his 150-acreplantation in Windsor Township.[8] By 1779, William and his son John Heinrich (Henry) Bossler (1747–1790), also named Bassler,[9] owned a combined 280 acres of plantations.[10]
Alfred J. Bossler (1836–1895), through his grandfather Jacob (1784–1846) a great-grandson of the farmer Henry Bossler,[11] “belongs to an old and respected ancestry, the American branch of which has always resided in the eastern part of the State”.[12] Among the veterans of the American Revolutionary War is William's son George Bossler (1749–1805) and one of his sons-in-law.[13][14][15] George's son John Bassler (1780–1859) married Catharina (1790–1856), the eldest daughter of Captain John Conrad Weiser († 1803) and thus a great-grandchild of Conrad Weiser.[16][17][18]
As rightful male side line and thus a member oft the agnatic legal community of the patrician family Rüde, the Boßlers bear the same coat of arms, which shows a black, smooth-haired Rüde pointing upwards towards the jump with open mouth, craving red tongue and tail curved over itself on a yellow or goldenescutcheon with a frog-mouth helm.[21]
In the field of music and drama, the fine arts were shaped by two descendants of the South Hessian dynasty who were among the cultural elite of their time. The first was the renowned music publisherHeinrich Philipp Boßler (1744–1812), a figure who shaped music publishing in the 18th century. On the other hand, there was Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, a childhood friend of Goethe and one of the most important poets in literary history, whose work Sturm und Drang gave its name to an entire literary epoch in the Age of Enlightenment. Klinger found a connection to the Boßler family through his paternal grandmother's line.[24][25] Both descend from the gunsmith Christian Boßler.[26]
In addition, branches and twigs of the Boßler family share ancestors with important personalities from the fields of theology, science, politics and culture in earlier centuries or are closely intertwined with their family trees. These include, for example, the outstanding chemistJustus Liebig[28] or Georg Gottfried Gervinus (1805–1871) as well as Friedrich Ludwig Weidig. At this point, the social-genealogical reference to the internationally known Merck family of Darmstadt also seems remarkable. In addition, there are recurring genealogical links to families of forestry and hunting officials or members of the Lutheranclergy.[29]
The Paris branch, i.e. the French part of the family descended from Matthäus Boßler. The most famous scientific representative was the astronomerJean Bosler (1878–1973),[30] whose work was shaped by his work as director at the Marseille Observatory. His scientific work was award-winning, even the Nobel Prize winner Erwin Schrödinger considered him for his work. Jean Boslers great-grandfather came from Reinheim and went to Paris. In France the surname Boßler was changed to the form Bosler.
Members of the dynasty and descendants of the gunsmith Christian Boßler made a name for themselves as hesse-darmstadt court gunsmiths. They created rifles that can still be found in public or private collections throughout Europe and have even found their way into the catalogues of Christie's, the global auction house. All in all, these family members have achieved a high social standing, are part of Hesse-Darmstadt's hunting history and have attained pioneer status through their famous creative art in the manufacture of air rifles.[32]
The air rifles of the hesse-darmstadt court gunsmiths Johann Peter (1689–1742) and Friedrich Jacob Boßler (1717–1793) so famous that they were copied during the lifetime of their creators.[33]
Inland shipping company in Neckarsteinach
The Neckarsteinach branch, ergo the entire family from Neckarsteinach, is divided into an older and a younger family line[34] and belongs to the history of shipping on the Neckar. The older line was active in cargo shipping on the Rhine and its tributaries.[35] The Boßlers in Neckarsteinach are also descended from Matthaeus Boßler through the schoolmaster and merchant Johannes Boßler (1796–1834) from Nieder-Modau (near Ober-Ramstadt).[36]
The younger line concentrated on the business of passenger shipping (white shipping). It operated a passenger shipping company based in Bad Friedrichshall as well as two shipping companies in Neckarsteinach and Heidelberg. In the process, the family tradition of operating passenger transport on the Neckar since 1796 was advertised for tourist purposes.[37] Members of the younger family line are considered pioneers of passenger shipping on the Neckar, as they were already active in this business field in the 1920s.
The guest list of the passenger companies run by the younger line included high personalities from the state and politics as well as furthermore foreign representatives. Descendants of the shipping entrepreneur Andreas Boßler (1884–1961) are today shareholders in the passenger shipping company Weisse Flotte Heidelberg.
Thus a family branch of the younger line is involved in one of the largest tourism companies in the shipping industry in southern Germany.[38]
Incidentally, the piano manufacturer Henry Ackerman (1845–1923) in Marion, Ohio (Ackerman & Lowe)[39] belonged to the nephews of Johannes Boßler through his mother, Margaretta Ackerman(n) a née Bossler from Nieder-Modau.[40]
Bibliography in German language
Marcel Christian Boßler: Die hessischen Büchsenmacher Boßler. Two Parts, in: Archiv für hessische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, Darmstadt 2022–2023, ISSN0066-636X.
Part 1. Eine Waffenmanufaktur als Komponente der hessen-darmstädtischen Jagdhistorie und Diplomatie. (2022), p. 91–130.
Part 2. Drei Brüder, ein feurig-pulvriges Kunsthandwerk und die europäisch funkende Vetternschaft von Heinrich Philipp Boßler mit Friedrich Maximilian Klinger. (2023), p. 45–84.
Marcel Christian Boßler: Er war nicht zu Zella geboren! Der Hessen-Darmstädtische Hofbüchsenmacher Johann Peter Boßler und seine Dynastie, in: Waffen- und Kostümkunde. Zeitschrift für Waffen- und Kleidungsgeschichte, Sonnefeld 2020, ISSN0042-9945, p. 151–174.
Beethoven-Haus Bonn: Die musikalische Welt des jungen Beethoven. Beethovens Verleger Heinrich Philipp Boßler, Bonn 2001.
Helmut Betz: Historisches vom Strom. Die Neckarschiffahrt vom Treidelkahn zum Groß-Motorschiff, Vol. 5, Duisburg 1989, ISBN3-924999-04-X, p. 53, 122, 128, 142–148.
Hans Schneider: Der Musikverleger Heinrich Philipp Bossler 1744–1812. Mit bibliographischen Übersichten und einem Anhang Mariane Kirchgeßner und Boßler, Tutzing 1985, ISBN3-7952-0500-X.
Günter Benja: Personenschiffahrt in deutschen Gewässern. Vollständiges Verzeichnis aller Fahrgastschiffe und -dienste, mit 115 Schiffsfotos, Oldenburg 1975, ISBN3-7979-1853-4, p. 34–35.
Europa-Verkehr = European transport = Transports européens. Band 18, Otto Elsner, Darmstadt 1970, ISSN0014-262X, p. 122–123.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Boßler family.
^Boßler, Marcel Christian (2024). "Ein kurpfälzisches Stadtgeschlecht zwischen Bürgerstolz, Patriziat und Adel, betrachtet im Spiegel alter Urkunden. Die zu Mosbach stadtsässigen Rüden und ihre hessen-darmstädtische Seitenlinie veränderten Namens". Pfälzisch-Rheinische Familienkunde. XX (7): 333–339, 379, 381–388. ISSN0171-1504.
^Boßler, Marcel Christian (2024). "Ein kurpfälzisches Stadtgeschlecht zwischen Bürgerstolz, Patriziat und Adel, betrachtet im Spiegel alter Urkunden. Die zu Mosbach stadtsässigen Rüden und ihre hessen-darmstädtische Seitenlinie veränderten Namens". Pfälzisch-Rheinische Familienkunde. XX (7): 336–342, 345–346, 347–348, 367, 371–374 390–391, 394, 402. ISSN0171-1504.
^Hermann von der Au: Zur Besiedelung des Pfarrdorfes Nieder-Modau nach dem Dreißigjährigen Kriege, in: Hessische Chronik. Monatsschrift für Familien- und Ortsgeschichte in Hessen und Hessen-Nassau. Sechzehnter Jahrgang. Darmstadt 1929, ZDB-ID400444-9, p. 63–64.
^Boßler, Marcel Christian (2024). "Ein kurpfälzisches Stadtgeschlecht zwischen Bürgerstolz, Patriziat und Adel, betrachtet im Spiegel alter Urkunden. Die zu Mosbach stadtsässigen Rüden und ihre hessen-darmstädtische Seitenlinie veränderten Namens". Pfälzisch-Rheinische Familienkunde. XX (7): 334, 382, 384–385, 411. ISSN0171-1504.
^Ralph Beaver Strassburger, William John Hinke: Pennsylvania German pioneers – A publication of the original lists of arrivals in the port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808, vol. II (Facsimile Signatures 1727–1775), Norristown 1934, p. 247 Online
^Diethard Köhler: Familien in Ernsthofen 1635–1750, in: Familien in Herchenrode, Ernsthofen, Neutsch, Allertshofen und Hoxhohl 1635–1750, Ober-Ramstadt 1987, OCLC74998604
^William Henry Egle: Names of foreigners who took the oath of allegiance to the province and state of Pennsylvania 1727–1775, with the foreign arrivals, 1786–1808, Harrisburg 1892, OCLC263030192, p. 172–173, 679, Online
^William Henry Egle: Proprietary and State Tax Lists of the County of Berks, for the Years 1767, 1768, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1784, 1785, Harrisburg 1898, OCLC631138552, p. 45, Online
^William Gabriel Long: History of the Grim family of Pennsylvania and its associated families including the following: Merkle [and others], Pottsville 1934, OCLC608526506, p. 46, 51, Online
^William Henry Egle: Proprietary and State Tax Lists of the County of Berks, for the Years 1767, 1768, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1784, 1785, Harrisburg 1898, OCLC631138552, p. 295, Online
^Richard Williams: The Pennsylvania Traveler-Post. Records, family history and data relating to Pennsylvania and surrounding States, vol. 16, no. 1, November 1979, OCLC866029041, p. 28.
^Samuel T. Wiley: Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Schuylkill County Pennsylvania. Comprising a historical sketch of the county, Philadelphia 1893, OCLC1026485897, p. 500 Online
^Charles A. Fisher: Early central Pennsylvania lineages. Section One, Selinsgrove, PA 1948, OCLC1275724, p. 23.
^ abCharles A. Fisher: Early central Pennsylvania lineages. Section One, Selinsgrove, PA 1948, OCLC1275724, p. 24.
^Charles A. Fisher: The Snyder county pioneers, Selinsgrove, PA 1938, OCLC2607173, p. 6, 97, Online
^Frederick Sheely Weiser: The Weiser family. A genealogy of the family of John Conrad Weiser, the elder (d. 1746) Prepared on the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of his arrival in America, 1710–1760, Manheim 1960, OCLC593239, p. 52.
^John W. Jordan, , Edgar Moore Green, George T. Ettinger: Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, New York 1905, OCLC777865395, p. 241, Online
^Boßler, Marcel Christian (2024). "Ein kurpfälzisches Stadtgeschlecht zwischen Bürgerstolz, Patriziat und Adel, betrachtet im Spiegel alter Urkunden. Die zu Mosbach stadtsässigen Rüden und ihre hessen-darmstädtische Seitenlinie veränderten Namens". Pfälzisch-Rheinische Familienkunde. XX (7): 355–357. ISSN0171-1504.
^Boßler, Marcel Christian (2024). "Ein kurpfälzisches Stadtgeschlecht zwischen Bürgerstolz, Patriziat und Adel, betrachtet im Spiegel alter Urkunden. Die zu Mosbach stadtsässigen Rüden und ihre hessen-darmstädtische Seitenlinie veränderten Namens". Pfälzisch-Rheinische Familienkunde. XX (7): 355–357, 387. ISSN0171-1504.
^Boßler, Marcel Christian (2024). "Ein kurpfälzisches Stadtgeschlecht zwischen Bürgerstolz, Patriziat und Adel, betrachtet im Spiegel alter Urkunden. Die zu Mosbach stadtsässigen Rüden und ihre hessen-darmstädtische Seitenlinie veränderten Namens". Pfälzisch-Rheinische Familienkunde. XX (7): 355–357, 360. ISSN0171-1504.
^Heinz Lieberich: Rittermässigkeit und bürgerliche Gleichheit. Anmerkungen zur gesellschaftlichen Stellung des Bürgers im Mittelalter, in: Festschrift für Hermann Krause, Köln 1975, ISBN3-412-20375-0, p. 67.
^Heinrich Wolf: Familienbuch Reichelsheim 1643–1875. Vol. 2, Mit Pfaffen-Beerfurth, Reichelsheim, Rohrbach, Unter-Ostern und den Verzeichnissen, Otzberg 2018, ISBN978-3-946295-61-7, p. 969.
^Mary K. Klinger: The Klingers from the Odenwald, Hesse, Germany, Ca. 1610-1989, Baltimore 1989, OCLC20796966, p. 9.
^Marcel Christian Boßler: Die hessischen Büchsenmacher Boßler. Teil II – Drei Brüder, ein feurig-pulvriges Kunsthandwerk und die europäisch funkende Vetternschaft von Heinrich Philipp Boßler mit Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, in: Archiv für hessische Geschichte und Altertumskunde. Neue Folge 81, Darmstadt 2023, ISSN0066-636X, p. 48–49, 58, 72, 74–78.
^Otto Magnus von Stackelberg, Genealogisches Handbuch der estländischen Ritterschaft, Vol 1, Görlitz 1931, p. 28
^Bernhard Koerner, Hessisches Geschlechterbuch, Band 52 der Gesamtreihe des Genealogischen Handbuchs bürgerlicher Familien, Görlitz 1927, ZDB-ID2252-4, p. 304–305, 309, 321–323.
^Bernhard Koerner, Darmstädter Geschlechterbuch, Band 96 der Gesamtreihe des Genealogischen Handbuchs bürgerlicher Familien, Görlitz 1937, ZDB-ID1041-8, p. 397, 413, 415.
^Marcel Christian Boßler, Er war nicht zu Zella geboren! Der Hessen-Darmstädtische Hofbüchsenmacher Johann Peter Boßler und seine Dynastie, in: Waffen- und Kostümkunde. Zeitschrift für Waffen- und Kleidungsgeschichte, Sonnefeld 2020, ISSN0042-9945 p. 151–174.
^Nadine Sauer, Familien in Neckarsteinach 1603–1900, Band I. die evangelischen Kirchenbücher, Band 171 der Reihe B der Deutschen Ortssippenbücher, Neckarsteinach 1999, OCLC866178658, p. 76.
^Helmut Betz: Historisches vom Strom. Die Neckarschiffahrt vom Treidelkahn zum Groß-Motorschiff, Duisburg 1989, ISBN3-924999-04-X p. 53, 128, 142–145.
^Marcel Christian Boßler, Er war nicht zu Zella geboren! Der Hessen-Darmstädtische Hofbüchsenmacher Johann Peter Boßler und seine Dynastie, in: Waffen- und Kostümkunde. Zeitschrift für Waffen- und Kleidungsgeschichte, Sonnefeld 2020, ISSN0042-9945, p. 155, 158.
^Reisen in Deutschland. Deutsches Handbuch für Fremdenverkehr, Vol. III, Hessen (Mitte und Süd), Saarland, Rheinland-Pfalz, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Darmstadt 1970, ISSN0171-5291, p. 48.