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Internet-link to my Data at GeneaNet, see notes

Rueffer is the birth name of my wife Jutta's grandmother Johanna "Hanne" maternal side.
The ancestors lived in different places in Silesia, see Rueffer families.

Origin of the name

The forms Ruffert, Ruffer, Rüffert, Ruffert, Ruffer, Rufer, Rüffer, etc., means the town crier (mhd. Ruoffere). The name itself is inter alia in old forms, for example, 1406 in Augsburg = Rüffenwein documented or in the form Rufwin. So called until well into the 18th century in the city of Zurich for the employees of the guild, who proclaimed wines to be sold. In Zurich (CH) an Ebrli Winrüffer is documented in the year 1357.
Partly the name goes back to (nd., mnd.) Roper = Night watchman (the exclaimer of the hours), court usher or market barker.
Moreover even the old nickname Ruffo (Rudolf) is to add.
Silesian dialect: rnhd. ruofen (call) = rufa

http://www.wimawabu.de/artikel_alt/Schlesische_Mundart.htm
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Ancestors

The oldest Rueffer ancestor N.N. Rueffer (First name is unknown) was born about 1620 in Reichhennersdorf south of Landeshut, Silesia and was an owner of a homestead. See also the following letter, written about 1850:

Letter of Johann Albert Rüffer, Pastor in Proschlitz, Silesia
Der Rüffer'sche Stammbaum (Original in German)
Oldest news: Around 1640, two brothers, farm owners, lived in Reichhennersdorf near Landeshut. Because of their Evangelical Lutheran faith, they were forced by the Catholic priests of the Grüßau monastery, their landlord, to leave their property because they did not want to become Catholic. May the Lord reward them a thousandfold in heaven for this loyalty. One emigrated to Thuringia, the other settled in Schweidnitz and drove a sizeable freight wagon with a Silesian mountain canvas to Hamburg. Through this, the Rüffer family reproduced in Silesia, as shown here. So through this offspring, in 260 years to this day, he became the youngest offspring's great-grandfather's great-grandfather or the great-great-great-great-grandfather of my children. It turns out that a Rüffer family lasted an average of 40 years and that those who were married all grew older than those who remained single. Long live, green and bloom our tribe in the grace of the Lord to the most distant of times out, and become more and more firmly rooted in the pure Evangelical Lutheran teaching that our ancestors held so firmly.

I am sending you, dearest father, the family tree of our family so that you can see for yourself that I appreciate what you wrote down in Jauer and formerly on November 24, 1838 as a reminder to your descendants and it is certainly very pretty , if you know your ancestors. My two brothers Constantin and Gustav probably know very little about these things, and I think it would be nice and welcome if you occasionally sent them my account in a letter. That's why I drew them on such fine letter paper so that it wouldn't cost a lot of postage. One of the two could make a copy and copy for his future descendants, where he would make himself known as the new progenitor, the other could keep this paper, as I have only kept a completely identical representation for myself.

There may be few non-noble families who know their ancestors as far back as we do, because according to the most likely calculation, we get to 1640. The circumstance also suggests that the religious persecution may have taken place before 1648, the year of the Peace of Westphalia took place because the priests could not commit so many outrageous things after peace; Of course, this peace didn't bring you the Silesians much luck in the --. It is very touching to me that our first parents, father, preferred to leave the estate for the sake of this freedom of belief rather than become a Catholic, because then his entire family would have been banned in the shackles of Catholicism. Which of the now living Rüffers would be able today to make such a sacrifice to their creed? God forbid that such times do not happen again. But you can't know it either. Even 10 years ago, the same Lutheran confession of faith in Silesia cost the Lutheran pastors their office and their freedom and only the current king has again allowed freedom to a certain extent. - I don't know anything about the children of Uncle Karl's sons, Fritz, Wilhelm, etc., whether they have boys. I don't even know the second son of the late Ehrenfried. Otherwise one could have counted how many male descendants of the Rüffer family currently exist. If the grandfather's eight sons had all formed a family, how many Rüffer could there have been? The unmarried people all died earlier and their deaths caused only a few people to mourn. I think the family tree provided here gives a very clear view of the lineage by family. I could have made it prettier, but I think it will serve the purpose and under glass it should be of no small importance. If you, dearest father, know more or are missing some things, please let me know and I will then make the necessary improvements.

J. Rüffer

It is said in the letter, that the brother of the above-mentioned Rueffer ancestor emigrated to Thuringia, he probably is the progenitor Johannes Rueffer who lived in Wallersdorf/Grebenau, Oberhessen and has many descendants, especially in the United States (see also www.ancestry.de batch# C92635-1)


Allocation of the name 'Rueffer' in Germany

In Germany the name Rueffer occurs 10 times in 8 counties. There are an estimated 26 persons with this surname. This is below the average for all German surnames.

Most people with the family name Rueffer were found in the Hanover region; the name occured 3 times in the phone book. More counties/cities: Heinsberg, Kaiserslautern, Offenbach, Paderborn, Diepholz, Main Künzig Kreis.
Source: Base of name distribution are about 35 million telephone subscribers in Germany from the year 2002.



Ambos families


Stock families
in the South-West Palatinate


Oberdoerfer families


Freyer families


Neupert families


Langefeldt families


Boesner families


Rueffer families
Overview


Source list


Background info
concerning Zweibruecken and nearby locations