Meister Family History
The Meisters of Rochester originated in a small town called Fützen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Fützen is situated in the Southwestern edge of Germany less than a mile from Switzerland. By the time Bill Meister became interested in tracking the Meister family history in the early 1960's. No one was quite sure how we had come to the United States or where we had come from.
In 1963, Bill Meister took on the task of tracing the Meister family history. Eventually, via letters sent to individuals in Fützen, and researching records on file in the United States, he was able to find direct evidence of the emigration of Lorenz Meister to America. He also found records of the Meister lineage at the church in Fützen going back to the 1600's.
Although the original letters to Fützen are not yet available, the responses from the Pastor Stumpf (Pfarrer) and Jacob Meister are presented here.
- Letters from Pfarrer Josef Stumpf to Bill Meister (1963/1964).
- Family tree sent to Bill Meister from Pfarrer Josef Stumpf: doc1, doc2, doc3
- Letter (auf Deutsch) from Jacob Meister to Bill Meister (7/15/1963). This is a translation that Bill Meister had obtained in 1963.
- Picture of
Jacob Meister in his World War
I uniform.
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Martin Meister was born in Fützen in the 1500's
and became the Abbot at
St. Blasiens Monastery.
Because church records only go back to the early 1600's, it is not
possible to directly link him to our family tree. However, other evidence
suggest that he was probably related to the Meisters of Fützen.
Abbot Martin Meister's Coat of Arms is pictured on the left. |
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| Lorenz Meister was born the 14th child of a miller named Jacob Meister in Fützen on May 3, 1825. In 1848, Susanna Korhummel gave birth to his son. Probably because of the revolutions in Europe during 1848, Lorenz emigrated from Germany to the United States without Susanna and his son. |
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This letter, written by Pastor Unterheimer, in Fützen in 1848, documents the birth of Frederick Meister to Lorenz Meister and Susanna Korhummel - page 1, page 2, page 3. This document establishes paternity and determined that Fredrick would assume the Meister surname.
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This document records the 1st communion of Fredrick Meister by Paster Friker at St. Vitus Church in Fützen in 1862. |
After Lorenz left Germany for Rochester, New York in 1848, he settled in the town of Henrietta and bought a farm with Franz Kaiser, on East River Road.
On December 17th, 1855, Lorenz Meister became a citizen of the United States.
In 1864, Lorenz returned to Fützen to bring his son to Henrietta. At the age of 16, Frederick went with his father to the United States while Susanna Korhummel remained in Fützen until her death (an unknown date after November 1911).
After living in the United States for 27 years, Lorenz Meister met an unfortunate end as he was run over by a train. This link shows an account of the death of Lorenz Meister from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in 1875.
| Lorenz Meister was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery on the
Gnadinger family plot (click
here to see map). The grave stone is written in German. The translation
reads: |
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After Lorenz's death, his estate seems to have become jointly owned by Pauline Meister and his son Fredrick. On May 12, 1877, two years after Lorenz Meister died, Pauline Meister bought out Frederick Meister's interest in Lorenz's estate for $1,200. Click here to see the document.
Letters from Christina Korhummel to Frederick Meister. These provide an interesting view into how difficult life was in Fützen in the turn of the century. Unfortunately, we have no letters from Frederick to Christina. The translation links show translations that Bill Meister had obtained in the 1960's.
| Date | Original Pages | Translated Pages |
| August 1904 | page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4 | page 1, page 2 |
| December 1904 | page 1 | page 1 |
| July 1907 | page 1, page 2, page 3 | page 1 |
| August 1907 | page 1, page 2, page 3 | page 1, page 2 |
| February 1908 | page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4 | page 1 |
| November 1911 | page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4 | page 1 |
| Unknown date | page 1, page 2 | page 1 |
Fredrick Meister Sr. was married to Mary Spacher. Pictures of Fredrick Meister:
- With two unidentified guys. Fred is the fellow in the back.
- In front of his milk wagon
Fredrick Meister owned a copy of the Life of Jesus Christ (Das Leben Jesus Christus) printed in 1873 by the Benzinger Brothers of Einsiedeln, New York and Cincinati. Benzginer was known for the production of a great variety of catholic religious art and publications.
Page from Fredrick Meister's copy of Das Leben Jesus Cristus.
| Fredrick Meister died of causes more natural
than his father on June 21, 1915 at the age of 67.
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Brief history of St. Vitus church in Fützen.
Lucia van Kreuningen of Eggingen, Germany (a Meister by birth) has developed this very large family tree which has been scanned and reassembled into one image here.
