Merz von Menziken AG

[JosephSmith]

My Merz ancestors were from Menziken in the Canton of Aargau. My most recent Mertz ancestor was my 6th great-grandmother, Anna Margaretha, who was born in 1701 in Alsace. Her father was Peter Merz. He was born at Menziken in 1662. By 1689, Peter was in Strasbourg.

Here is my question... Some of my ancestors were also from the Canton of Bern. To leave the Canton of Bern lawfully, they had to pay an immigration tax - the Abzug. These payments were recorded in the Landvogt's Amtsrechnungen. Did people looking to leave the Canton of Aargau lawfully also have to pay the Abzug? Were records like these kept in the Canton of Aargau in the late 1600s?

I know that the Canton of Aargau was not founded until 1803 and in the 1600s this part of Aargau was under Bernese rule. Menziken was located in the Oberamt Lenzburg in the Unteraargau.

I wrote to the Aargau Cantonal Archives in Aarau and they would not give me a definite answer if their collection includes the records I am looking for. I do not think they know themselves! Perhaps, someone here might have better insights or have studied similar records in the Cantonal Archives?

Thank you for all of your assistance!

[Peter.D]

Hallo Joseph

Auswanderer aus dieser Gegend wurden im deutschsprachigen Ausland vor der Revolution mit der Herkunftsangabe "von XXX in der Grafschaft Lenzburg Berner Gebiets" oder so ähnlich registriert, wobei XXX meist die Kirchgemeinde und nicht den Ort oder die heutige politische Gemeinde bezeichnete.

Der Begriff Abzug bezog sich nicht auf die Person, sondern auf deren Vermögen (zu verkaufendes Grundstück, Vieh, zu erwartende Erbschaft etc.), das aus dem Aargau transferiert werden sollte. Davon waren in der Regel 10% als Abzug(steuer) zu bezahlen. Wenn jemand kein Vermögen hatte, gab es somit auch keinen Abzug. Nach meiner eigenen Erfahrung zog ein grosser Teil der Auswanderer ohne Abzug weg, oft sogar ohne irgendeine Meldung an die Behörden oder den Pfarrer (siehe dazu die kürzliche Diskussion im Unterforum für Zürich).

Am Ort der Immigration wurde jedoch oft der Nachweis verlangt, dass der Einwanderer überhaupt zur Auswanderung berechtigt war und im Notfall freiwillig oder unfreiwillig an den Heimatort zurückkehren konnte. Dazu diente das sogenannte Mannrecht.

Sowohl zum Abzug wie auch zum Mannrecht bestanden mit gewissen anderen Kantonen und fremden Staaten auch Abkommen auf Gegenseitigkeit.

Im Inventar des Aargauer Staatsarchivs von 1935 hat es für die Grafschaft Lenzburg zu beiden Themen Einträge auf der Seite 45 unter Nr. 796. Ich habe die entsprechenden Bücher allerdings nie gesehen. Was hat dir denn das Staatsarchiv genau geantwortet?

Zur Genealogie der Familie Merz gibt es eine Publikation des bekannten Genealogen Julius Billeter von 1919. Hast du die schon mal durchsehen können?

Peter

[JosephSmith]

Thank you for your thoughtful and helpful response, Peter. It is appreciated!

The Merz family attended church in Reinach as there was not a church in Menziken at this point in time. However, all of the records in the Reinach parish register note that the Merz family was from Menziken.

Peter Merz was born in the Canton of Aargau and died in Alsace. He did not go to America. His daughter, Anna Margaretha, was born in Alsace and did go to America in 1733 with her husband, Abraham Vautrin, and their children. My Bernese ancestors went to straight to America and did pay the Abzug. I do not know if that makes a difference with regards to these records. There is, of course, the possibility that Peter simply left to avoid paying the tax.

I did, indeed, see the Inventory produced by the Aargau Cantonal Archives in 1935. It was this document I referenced when I contact the Archives. I wanted to know if an immigration record like the one I found in the Canton of Bern existed in the Oberamt Lenzburg in the 1680s. The Archives confirmed that were Abzug records in this file. I asked again if they were for immigration to other Cantons, to France, to America, etc, and the years covered. I am looking for a document from the 1680s, if it exists. Again, all they said was the file contained Abzug records. They were not particularly helpful. My researcher is wonderful, but I want to know if the exact sort of record is there in the Archives. I also want to know would she need to sift through a few dozen pages, a few hundred pages, etc. This would determine the price of this project, naturally.

I have worked with Julius Billeter's genealogy of the Merz family, but there are some issues with it as it pertains to my exact ancestral line. I compared it against records my researcher found for me in the Reinach parish registers that are in the care of the Aargau Cantonal Archives and noticed some minor discrepancies. My researcher worked from an excellent CD produced by Historische Vereinigung Wynental who have taken the data from the Reinach parish registers and placed it in an MS Excel file.

Thank you, again!

[Peter.D]

Den Umfang der Abzugs-Dokumente sollte dir das Staatsarchiv schon sagen können!

Wenn ein Auswanderer wirklich Vermögen besass, konnte er die Abzugs-Steuer kaum vermeiden, ganz besonders wenn er ein Haus oder einen Haus-Teil hatte. Es kam aber oft vor, dass Personen das Land heimlich verliessen, weil sie überschuldet waren oder weil ein Strafprozess oder eine Vaterschaftsklage drohte. In solchen Fällen verloren sie jedoch das Bürger- bzw. Heimatrecht, konnten also kaum mehr zurückkehren. Ohne Vermögen musste der Emigrant eigentlich nur das Mannrecht verlangen, was aber auch nicht alle machten, da es nicht gratis war.

Es gab auf jeden Fall bei Weitem keine Kontrolle, wie wir sie seit dem letzten Viertel des 19. Jahrhunderts mit der Einwohnerkontrolle oder gar der militärischen Kontrolle kennen.

Peter

[JosephSmith]

I agree entirely, Peter! Given my correspondence with the Archives in Aarau, I cannot say that I am surprised by either their ignorance or unwillingness to help. The Aargau Cantonal Archives is far less helpful than the Bern Cantonal Archives. It is probably a much smaller and less well funded operation.

The Merz family may have had some money and property. I believe they were farmers and cobblers in Switzerland. When they were in Alsace, they were certainly farmers and cobblers. Peter's father was Jacob and he went to Alsace, too. Jacob served as the Mayor of Rosenwiller/Rosenweiler, Alsace in the 1690s. I would guess that the family had some assets and were totally impoverished.

Thank you, again!