Left: the signature of Jacob (Jakob) Varnbüler, the original immigrant, from
an 1856 document.
Most people who find
their way to this site will probably be VanBuhlers. The original name was VarnBuhler -- in
Germany and Switzerland usually spelled Varnbüler or Varnbühler (never with a capital B, always with an umlaut "u," and always Varn not Van).
During the late 1880's and early 1900's in Michigan, the two main spellings of
our name, VarnBuhler and VanBuhler, were used in what appears to be an almost
random manner. Listings of those names in the yearly Detroit City Directories
were intermixed, with some of the family being in one part of the list as
VanBuhlers, and others listed as Varnbuhlers. Eventually the spelling VanBuhler
became, for reasons we'll probably never know, the one adopted by most of the
family, and the one that most members of this family in the United States carry
today. My branch of the family tree is the only VarnBuhler branch in the USA,
and that is because my father, Raymond Robert VarnBuhler, was the only one who
decided to retain the "r" in Varn, allegedly because he was told by
his father that it was the original name of the immigrants and of the ancestral
family in Germany -- something research has confirmed to be true. Actually,
over 30 (!) spellings of the name were found in various records and documents
discovered during the family history research. Many of these can be found in
"Spelling variations of the VarnBuhler name" in the Contents list.
From a single
immigrant couple who came to America in 1854 with a 2 year old child, the
family has grown to the point where there are now about 40 living males in this
country with the VanBuhler/VarnBuhler name (see "The male lines of the
family in America" chart in the Contents/link list), and of course there
are many female VanBuhler's/VarnBuhler's who have married, assumed their
husbands surname, had children, etc. We can be sure that the impoverished
immigrant family had to surmount numerous difficulties in order to rise above
their condition at the time. Their eventual success and that of their
descendents is seen today in the large extended family (of VarnBuhlers and
VanBuhlers) that is still going strong.
In the process of
tracing the family genealogy I found that we have an extremely rich and
remarkable history. We have as ancestors some very exceptional people -- in
Switzerland, a battlefield hero, mayors, castle owners, prominent city
officials and political leaders, the prioress of a women's abbey, and
apparently some very good businessmen who somehow garnered enough wealth to
live in the swankiest part of St. Gallen. After a political conflict in
Switzerland, they went on to even greater achievements in Germany. We can count
among our German ancestors several high level politicians and statesmen, a
renowned professor of law, a respected friend of Albrecht Dürer and Erasmus,
and, in Johann Conrad Varnbüler, someone who earned the family the nobility
status it still enjoys today because of his exceptional diplomatic skills in
the negotiations to end the 30-years war. Many other members of the family
brought it distinction as well, and the family's long history includes a varied
mix of interesting people: a successful author, a baron who married below his
rank for love (something nobility just didn't do at the time), a prominent
minister, a hypnotist (in the American family), and more. The family is honored
and remembered in many books and articles, in street names, in portraits in
hallowed halls. There are titled nobility, coats-of-arms, and castles. It gets
more interesting with each new discovery.
The family genealogy
and history has been traced back as far as 1375 in Switzerland. The evolution
of the family and its continuing history is presented in this web site.
About this web
site
The genealogy of the
family is presented in the Contents list on the Welcome page in several
different formats (pedigree charts, indexed family cards, etc.). There are also
biographies containing information about some of the most famous Varnbülers on our line, and a variety of images in the Image Gallery links. The latter will
lead you to such things as a 16th century woodcut of Ulrich Varnbüler by the
famous German artist Albrecht Dürer, a still-existing castle in Switzerland
owned by a Varnbüler in 1375, the Varnbüler coat-of-arms, and much more.
On virtually all of
the pages on this site you will find a link back to the Welcome page and the
Contents list. Returning to that list and selecting your next item of interest
is the easiest way to move around the site.
I update this
website periodically, so you may want to return to the site once in a while to
see if anything new.has been added.
I'd be happy to hear
from any VanBuhlers out there who can provide information still missing about
more current branches of our family tree. That will assist in developing a more
complete picture of how the VanBuhler/VarnBuhler tree has spread in America
from the original immigrant family. (Please click on the "Contact
Ray" link in the Contents list for more information).
Click on the link
below to return to the Contents list on the Welcome page.