Hi Michael, Swiss Surnames Prior to 1862 shows the Möschinger surname in Häfelfingen, Canton Basel-Landschaft prior to 1799. I don't see any other name variants or locations listed. Note that if a family name had died out in a village before 1862 they would not be listed in this source. A. B. Faust, "Lists of Swiss Immigrants in the Eighteenth Century to the American Colonies", lists a Barbara Möschinger married to a Hans Bitterlin in Rünenberg, BL. Häfelfingen is only a few kilometers from Rünenberg so this tends to confirm Möschingers in the area. A place to check would be the Basel State Archives (Staatsarchiv des Basel-Stadt) to see if your ancestor appears in the emigration reports. You could also check with the Baselland State Archives (Staatsarchiv des Basel-Landschaft) to see if there is any mention of your ancestor in local land records. The web sites are only in German, however, both archives have been kind enough to respond to my questions in English via both email and post. It helps if you can be as specific as possible about your ancestor. Also, you may want to check the relevant church book available on microfilm from your local LDS Family History Center. The Rümlingen Church Book is the one that includes Häfelfingen. Regards, Jim Rickenbacker Kingwood, TX Home Page: http://borisbrooks.com ---- Original Message ----- From: <mmessinger@macalester.edu> To: <SWITZERLAND-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2005 11:13 AM Subject: [SWITZ] Michael Messinger born 1719 in Basel > Hi everyone, > During the course of my research I have found that several sources seem to indicate that one of my ancestors was born in Basel, Switzerland in 1719. His name was Michael Messinger (and variants... including Moessinger). His family was German and protestant. They immigrated to the US in 1732. They may have lived around the area of Mossingen or Reutlingen before coming to Basel. I was wondering if anyone is familiar with this time period and area. It would be great if anyone had advice as to how I should procede in trying to veryify that my ancestor did come from Basel, and how to procede if he did. I was wondering what sort of records I shoudl look at / where to find them / etc. Thanks! > > ~Michael Messinger~ > > > ==== SWITZERLAND Mailing List ==== > Swiss Resource Site > http://swiss.genealogy.net > >