Baxgen.com

Notes for Martin Häfelfinger:
Martin arrived in Philadelphia Sept. 23, 1740, aboard the ship Friendship, Capt. William Vettery, from Rotterdam last from Cowes. On this trip nearly sixty people from the Canton of Basel died, mostly of hunger. " For they have had a very rough voyage with storm so that they have lost their provisions and cooking-kettles." Martin arrived with 5 motherless children, as his wife died at sea enroute. There are in Switzerland, names of towns and villages ending in "ingen" or "fingen" such as Andelfingen, Konolfingen, Hilterfingen etc. Martin Heffelfinger, whose name in Switzerland was originally Häfelfinger, came from Baselland, records found in the Amt (government office) Farnsburg. Nearby in 1740, records found in Amt Homburg show a village called Häfelfingen. Prof. Albert H. Gerberick, head of the German Dept., Dickinson College, Carlisle PA., a descendand of Martin Heffelfinger wrote in April 1938, " there can be hardly any doubt that the Heffelfingers take their family name from the town of Häfelfingen in Switzreland. There are many place names ending in --ingen and --fingen in southern Germany and Switzerland. These are possessive names and usually mark the ancestral home of a family. Häfel is a south German diminutive of Häfner (potter). So the conclusion must be that " Häfelfingen " means the home of the potter-- the place where pottery is made and doubtless the Häfelfingers were early and well known pottery makers, living near desirable and useful clay pits and kilns to have a village named for them."
"From Martin Häfelfinger of Diegten, ( called Wissen Martin, aged 41 )
Ten precent tax on lb.1100 worth of property.........110.-
Pro manumissione for him and his wife.................. 20.-
Ditto for their 5 children........................................... 25.- 155.-
Anna Maria Gysin, his wife, 40 years of age.
Their children:

1. Elsbeth, bapt.......................................................Oct. 14, 1725
2. Verena, bapt........................................................July 3, 1729
3. Anna, bapt............................................................July 29, 1731
4. Martin, bapt..........................................................Nov. 22, 1733
5. Johannes, bapt.....................................................Dec. 8, 1737
   Lost his wife on the voyage."
   source; German & Swiss. Settlers in America, Vol. II Swiss Emigrants from the Canton of Basel, 1734-94.
   Death date is from IGI (K. Baxter, 2008)