When Barbara Burkhalter was born on 5 July 1668, in Hasle bei Burgdorf, Bern, Switzerland, her father, Christen Burkhalter, was 31 and her mother, Magdalena Aeberhard, was 22. She married Johannes Iseli in 1691. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 3 daughters. She died on 7 April 1739, at the age of 70.
Swiss German: from Middle High German elements burc ‘castle’ (originally also ‘protection’) + halter from halde ‘slope’, hence a topographic name for someone living by a castle or fortified town. Compare Borkholder , Burckhalter , and Burkholder .
History: This is the name of a Swiss Mennonite and Amish family, originating from the canton of Bern, Switzerland, which in the 17th century, because of religious persecution, spread to the Palatinate, Germany, where it was altered to Burkholder and Borkholder . To North America it was brought, mostly in the form Burkholder, in the 18th and 19th centuries by several Mennonite immigrants from the Palatinate and Switzerland. One of the earliest immigrants was Hans Burkhalter or Burkholder, from Bern canton, Switzerland, who settled in Lancaster County, PA, in 1717.
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