About Isaac Kauffman

Gleanings from MFH and SA/MG to show suggestions that there was more than one family of Kauffman from the Steffisburg area of Switzerland.

Sources:
1. Mennonite Family History - January and April, 2004; "From Steffisburg to Ste. Marie-aux-Mines: The Exodus of Those who Became Amish"; English translation of a work written by Robert Baecher

2. There is a group of researchers in France, "de L'Association Française D'Histoire Anabaptiste - Mennonite" (l'AFHAM). They publish an annual bulletin, "Souvenance Anabaptiste Mennonitisches Gedächtnis" (SA/MG - Reflections Anabaptist/Mennonite Memories). An article (written in French) by Robert Baecher in issue Number 18 - 1999 entitled "Le Prince de Montbéliard Accueille les Anabaptistes" (The Prince of Montbeliard Accomodates the Anabaptists) gives information about several families, including Isaac Kauffman (father of KF), who left Switzerland to find refuge somewhere else. An appendix to the main article gives court record details.
Annexe A: Extraits des registres du greffe criminal du bailliage de Beaume (Appendix A: Extracts of the registers of the clerk's office criminal of the bailliage (bailiff ??) of Beaume)

References to Isaac Kauffman - MFH:
Page 7 "Only those families who can be verifiably or very probably traced to Steffisburg are described here."
Page 11 "Isaac Kaufmann and Elizabeth Megert The most active individual to bear the surname "Kouffmann" was certainly Isaac Kaufmann. The fourth child of Michael Kaufmann and Anna Bråndli . The chaotic course of his life took him from Steffisburg, to Clémont to Montbéliard (SA/MG 18 (1999), p 61)". 10 children including Isaac who married Anna Streit, the immigrant of 1737. it is possible that he may have ended his days at Montbéliard."


Comments:
The statement "most active individual to bear that surname" implies that there were other "Kouffmanns in the region. ddk


Page 11 "Michel and Anna Eymann. Members of other Anabaptist Kauffman families to show interest in immigrating to Alsace and the Palatinate ".
Page 11 "Jacob Kaufmann and Anna Kropf. Another Kaufmann family that may well have branched out "


Comments:
These last two listed show that there were other Kaufmann families in that part of Switzerland. In our DNA Surname study there are two clusters of Kauffman/Coffman that claim the "three Jacob Kaufmanns(1500-1530-1555)" as theirs. The DNA shows that both groups do not share a common ancestor so both groups cannot be from the three Jacobs. This article suggests that more then one "unrelated" line of Anabaptist Kauffman could have come from Switzerland. This does not take into account that other Kaufmanns, who were not Anabaptist or Mennonite or Amish could also have originated in Switzerland. The two clusters could have both come from the Steffisburg, Switzerland area. More study needed.


Page 78 (Part 2) - "A new generation of Anabaptists, including such notable personalities as Isaac Kaufmann "
Page 80 - "The movement (towards becoming Amish) was not connected to any one individual in the Steffisburg region, except perhaps the very determined Isaak Kaufmann ".
 

Comments:
Ammann visited in the Steffisburg area, left, and no more mention of him is in the public records. Isaac Kaufmann apparently became Ammann's spokesman in the area, and was later an important part of the group that went to Clémont and then Montbéliard in the early 1700s.
Isaac Kaufmann (father of KF) seems to have emerged as a leader of the group, from Robert Baecher's Souvenance article we know he signed some documents with the authorities at Clémont/Montbeliard.