Where did Jacob Hegnauer come from?

Summary

No record names Jacob's origin. The search did produce four new facts that narrow it down. None of them is in data/occurrences.csv yet:

1. An adult-type Hegnauer burial at Igis in 1729. "Hans Heinrich Hugenauer" was buried at Igis on 11 Dec 1729: 66V7-JDHB, DGS 8014188_002, img 225.
   • The entry gives no age and no parents.
   • In this burial book, children's entries name the father (Flori 1718: "father Jacob"), and nearly every adult entry of 1729–30 carries an age (first 100 Igis burials of 1729–30 checked).
   • So he was probably an adult, perhaps one whose age the pastor did not know. That fits an incomer.
   • He is the only Hegnauer at Igis before 1744 apart from Jacob, Jacob's children and Elsbeth.
2. Jacob's probable sister Elsbeth was born about 1690. "Elsbeth Michlener" (Michlener means "wife of Michel") was buried at Igis on 19 Jul 1759, aged 69: 66V7-5KSZ, img 358.
   • The only Igis Michel wife named Elsbeth in the right generation is Elsbeth Hegnauer (H1441), who married Conradin Michel in 1717.
   • The other Michel wives of 1704–1743 were Anna Däscher, Christina Margusti, Margreth Rofler, Barbla Cassretzi and Christina Rofler.
   • Probable identification.
3. Both siblings named a son Hans Heinrich.
   • Elsbeth's son Hanss Heinrich was baptised 16 Jul 1723: 66VM-HKNH, indexed "Ruhel" for Michel. He was buried in 1770, aged 47 (66V7-VQTY). A further entry, 66V7-FKGZ, also names her as the mother of a Hans Heinrich Michel.
   • Jacob named his last son Hanss Heinrich on 24 Jan 1734. That was four years after the Igis Hans Heinrich died, the usual way of reusing the name of a dead relative.
   • Elsbeth also had a son Johannes Jacob (66VM-KM9L).
   • Taken together, this suggests a family with a father Hans Heinrich, a daughter Elsbeth born about 1689–90 and a son Jacob.
4. The study's "Schwyz" index series is Volketswil, the parish of Hegnau itself.
   • The series sits on DGS 8120584. The FamilySearch catalog lists that folder as Film 889427: item 1 is the Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirche Volketswil, Taufen, Heiraten, Tote 1588–1801, and item 2 is Uster Tote 1863–1875.
   • Image numbers put the series inside the Volketswil book: baptism of 1590 img 278, 1671 img 341, 1682 img 356, marriage of 1684 img 430. The 1868 burials (img 682) belong to the Uster item. The FamilySearch catalog records are koha:227192 (Volketswil) and koha:368230 (Uster).
   • Under the spelling Hegneüwer the series holds about 30 Volketswil entries of 1660–1685 that the study's harvest missed (search 4 below).
   • They include two new Jacob baptisms: 1671, eliminated below, and 5 Feb 1682, a candidate.

The surname spelling itself points to Zürich rather than Alsace.

• Elgg's own clerk wrote the Hegnauers as Hagenauer / Hagnauwer / Hegenauwer in exactly the 1680s–90s:
  • Barbara Hagenauer × Heinrich Büechi, 1667 (66VW-7YG4);
  • Heinrichli Hagenauer, buried 1689 (66V7-HJ75);
  • Elsbeth Hegenauwer, 1689 (66VS-RNB3);
  • Hs Heinrich Hagnauwer, 1691 (66VS-13X7).
• Jacob married in the Reformed church at Igis. Every Hagenauer family found in Alsace and southern Germany was Catholic, and those families stayed where they were.

Candidates, ranked

Nothing reaches "probable". Candidate 1 is the best fit for the whole Igis cluster (Jacob, Elsbeth born about 1690, Hans Heinrich died 1729, the Hans Heinrich naming). It rests, though, on a Jacob baptism that has not been found, and on reading the 1729 burial as an adult's.

Eliminations

• Jacob, bapt. Volketswil 1 Aug 1671, son of Jacob (Jagli) × Anna Gul/Gürt (6FZR-N4JD): "Jacobli Hegachter", father Jagli, was buried 19 Oct 1676 (6FZB-RJ9L). Eliminated (probable).
• Jacob Kaspar, bapt. Volketswil 10 Jul 1670, son of Rudolf × Verena Fürer (6FZR-HX9H): he carries a double name, and a "Jacob Hegmaucker" with no parents was buried at Volketswil on 14 Apr 1672 (6FZB-LJNZ). Probably dead; set aside.
• Jacob Hegenauer, bapt. Altstetten 13 Aug 1665, son of Hans × Anna Töbelin (66JY-83Z5): buried 17 Aug 1668, born 1665, father Hans (66JY-X8BT). Eliminated.
• Hans Jacob, bapt. Elgg 26 Sep 1682, son of Johannes × Anna Gessner: the name was reused in 1686, so he probably died. Set aside.
• Hans Jacob × Margretha Stadelmann (married Elgg 1698): stayed at Elgg, with children to 1714. Eliminated.
• The Elgg burial of 24 Mar 1720 ("Hans Jacob, father Johannes", no age): tested against the Elgg burials of 1719–21 (first 100 of the film read).
  • In that book, children are indexed with a father (Mantel, Büchi, Kuper, Peter, Sommer, Hofman …).
  • Adults are indexed with no kin or with a spouse (Rudolff Kuper, Jacob Büchi, Ulrich Capeler, Jacob Keller; married women with a spouse).
  • So the entry is most probably the infant Hs Jacob bapt. 2 Jul 1719, son of Johannes × Esther Koller (66VS-RQS6), as the Elgg map already has it. It does not exclude the 1686 man, but it is not his either; the image (img 273) would say "Kind" or give an age.
  • Note: the FamilySearch Family Tree attaches this burial to a "Hans Jacob Hegnauwer 1682–1720" (GXK6-JHQ) and the 1719 baptism to a "Hans Jacob 1719–1740" (GK41-JH2). Those are tree conclusions and appear to be mistaken.
  • Three adult Jacob burials at Elgg remain unassigned: 20 Jan 1728 (66V7-3RW9), 20 May 1738 (66V7-NTYZ) and 2 Mar 1748 (66V7-X8GC). Any of them could be the 1686 man staying at home, which would eliminate candidate 2.
• The Winterthur Hegner Jacobs of 1670–1696 (about 15 baptisms): a different surname. Set aside.
• Catholic Jacobs (a Catholic immigrant would not normally marry in Reformed Igis):
  • Pfeffikon LU 1675 and 1677; Grenchen SO 1689 (already excluded in H1434);
  • Jacobus Hegnauer/Hagnauer, bapt. Bleichheim (Freiburg archdiocese) 30 Apr 1682, parents Peter × Anna Schertzinger (QB9Y-GXW2 / N589-4Z4);
  • Joannes Jacobus Hagenauer, Gengenbach 1679 (V4P2-D4F);
  • Jacobus Hagenauer, Herrnsheim (Worms) 1697 (6CY3-3G6G; the Herrnsheim family stayed, with burials of 1738 and 1745);
  • Joan Jacob Hangnauer/Hagnauer, Schussenried and Haisterkirch 1685 (the Schussenried Hagnauer stayed: Jacobus × Elisabeth Fahrner, married 1708, buried 1748);
  • the Alsace Hagenauer of Sélestat (Jacobus married 1725, still there), Bas-Rhin.
  • Eliminated as candidates, though not excluded outright.
• Graubünden before 1715:
  • The Igis/Zizers film (DGS 8014188), searched for surname H*g*n* 1600–1716, returns 82 entries. The earliest Hegnauer is the marriage of 1 Mar 1715; nothing earlier fits.
  • Exact-place searches for Chur, Maienfeld, Malans, Jenins, Fläsch, Trimmis, Untervaz, Zizers, Schiers and Seewis found no Hegnauer-type entry. This means little where a parish is not indexed for this period.
• Sargans / Werdenberg / Rheintal: Grabs 0 and Wartau 0 (exact place, H*g*n*u*). The Swiss-wide Hagenau* list for 1600–1760 has no St. Gallen entry before 1790. Nothing found.

The surname question: Hagenau (Alsace) or Hegnau (Zürich)?

• "Hagenauer" can mean someone from Hagenau in Alsace. The Swabian "Hagnauer/Hangnauer" of Schussenried probably comes from Hagnau am Bodensee.
• Against an Alsace origin:
  • The Igis spellings run Hagenauwer (1715–17), Hagenautern (1718), Hagenauer (1724–27), Hegeauer/Hegrnauer (1731–34), Hegenauer(in) for Elsbeth (1720s–30s), and Hegnauer from 1744. The family ended up spelling itself Hegnauer.
  • The Elgg clerk used the very same Hagenauer / Hagnauwer / Hegenauwer forms for Elgg Hegnauers in 1667–1691 (see the Summary).
  • The -auwer ending is the standard 17th-century Zürich form, and Volketswil wrote Hegnauwer / Hegneüwer.
  • All Alsace, Baden and Swabian Hagenauer/Hagnauer found are Catholic and settled. Jacob married twice in the Reformed church of Igis.
• Conclusion: the evidence favours a Reformed Zürich Hegnauer (Elgg or Volketswil) whose name the Igis pastor wrote as he heard it. That is probable for the region (Zürich), and only possible for any particular family.

Naming and godparents

• Jacob's children:
  • by Margreth Hartmann: Hanss (1715), Flori (1717);
  • by Leta Gujan: Nuttin (1725), Jacob (1727), Elsbeth (1731), Hanss Heinrich (1734).
  • Flori and Nutt(in) are Rhaetian names and come from the mothers' side. A Leda Gujan × Hans Jörg Schmid named a son Nutt in 1789 at Scharans, Malans or Scheid (direct-line-records-2026-09-27.md, section 5).
  • Hanss, Jacob, Elsbeth and Hanss Heinrich are the Zürich stock, and should be the paternal side.
  • Under the usual custom, Hanss (1715) points to a paternal grandfather Hans or Johannes, and Hanss Heinrich (1734) to a Hans Heinrich who had died. The Hans Heinrich buried at Igis in 1729 fits the second.
• Elsbeth's children (with Conradin Michel): Andreas, Hans Heinrich (1723), Conrad, Anna Lisabeth and Johannes Jacob. The same Zürich stock (Hans Heinrich, Jacob) appears.
• Godparents: the FamilySearch index of Igis carries only the child and the parents. The record pages of the 1715 marriage (66VW-81M1, img 159), the 1715 baptism (66VM-J5LQ, img 110) and the 1717 marriage (66VW-ZX1B, img 160) have no further fields. The godparents can come only from the images.

Which images would decide it

All are restricted to FamilySearch Centers and affiliate libraries.

1. Igis burial, 11 Dec 1729, Hans Heinrich "Hugenauer" (DGS 8014188_002, img 225). Age, relationship ("des Jacob H. Vater/Bruder") and origin: this is the single most useful entry.
2. Igis marriage, 1 Mar 1715 (img 159) and Elsbeth's marriage, 22 Jan 1717 (img 160): "von Elgg" or "von Volketschwyl", or "Hintersäss", and the bride's and groom's fathers.
3. Igis baptisms of Hanss, 12 Dec 1715 (img 110), Flori, 8 Apr 1717, and Hanss Heinrich, 24 Jan 1734 (img 144): the godparents (for example a godfather Hans Heinrich Hegnauer).
4. Igis burials of Jacob, Aug 1744 (66V7-V7GH), and of "Elsbeth Michlener", 19 Jul 1759 (img 358). An age for Jacob would fix his birth year: 1682 for candidate 3, 1686 for candidate 2, about 1685–95 for candidate 1.
5. Elgg baptisms, 9 Jan 1689 and Feb 1691 (DGS 8014315_001; the 1691 entry is img 83): are the parents really Hans Heinrich × Elsbeth Bosshart, and not a misreading of the Schöchli entries? Also the Elgg burials of 11 May and 1 Aug 1691: which Hs Heinrich died.
6. Volketswil marriage, 23 Apr 1684 (DGS 8120584, img 430): the groom's full name (Hans or Hans Heinrich?) and whether he was "von Elgg". Also the Volketswil baptism of 5 Feb 1682 (img 356).
7. Elgg burial, 24 Mar 1720 (DGS 8014315_001, img 273): "Kind" or an age. The three unassigned adult Jacob burials at Elgg (1728, 1738, 1748) should be read for ages at the same time.
8. Outside FamilySearch, and likely decisive:
   • the Zürich Bevölkerungsverzeichnisse (Staatsarchiv Zürich, E II 700 series) for Elgg and Volketswil, about 1690–1715. They list each household with its children's ages and often note absent members ("in Pündten");
   • the Elgg Haushaltungsrodel of 1721 (DGS 8015187);
   • the Igis Hintersassenbuch and Gemeindeakten (DGS 8482680, 8482682).

Search log

FamilySearch historical-record search, read-only. "p." is the number of result pages read (100 rows each) where the total exceeded 100. "Coll." means collection 4138674 (the Swiss church-records collection).

Side findings for the study (nothing was changed)

• The 'Schwyz' series is the Volketswil register (DGS 8120584, item 1, 1588–1801). The family_line "Schwyz" in data/people.csv and families/switzerland/schwyz-and-central.md could be relabelled Volketswil ZH (Hegnau's parish), after a check of one image. That would put Hegnauers in the parish of Hegnau itself from 1590 to 1736.
• Missing from the harvest: the "Hegneüwer" spelling at Volketswil (search 4; about 30 baptisms and father entries of 1660–1685).
• Other entries missing from data/occurrences.csv:
  • Igis: 66V7-JDHB (1729 burial) and 66V7-5KSZ (1759 burial of Elsbeth, aged 69);
  • Elgg: 66VS-13X7 (Hs Heinrich Hagnauwer, 1691);
  • Volketswil: 6F8M-469X (1684 marriage), 6FZR-CQ5B (1686), 6FZR-GXBM (1682), 6FZR-N4JD (1671), 6FZB-RJ9L (1676 burial);
  • Altstetten: 66JY-83Z5 (1665 baptism);
  • Wollbach (Baden, Lutheran): QPDB-RBV3 (Michael Hegnauer m. 1691, son of Melchior), relevant to the German line;
  • the Steckborn Hagenauer entries (6F8Q-62ND and the Ursula Hagenauer × Marci Frey entry) are already in the study only in part (H2157).
• Proposals for the masters (for review only):
  • H1441 (Elsbeth): add a probable burial, Igis 19 Jul 1759, aged 69, born about 1690, with her son Hans Heinrich (1723–1770).
  • H1434 Research Notes: record the 1729 Hans Heinrich burial and replace the "Before 1715" paragraph with the ranking above.