Ancestry of the Kazmaier

About The Kazmaier Genealogy

The name Kazmaier is most certainly derived from an estate or a grange which either directly was named Kazmaier but more likely Kast(n)maier. It is likely that this farm was a so called "Maierhof" or "Mayerhof" (from Latin: maiores villae), a farm, estate, grange or building which was occupied or had been occupied by the administrator (the "Maier") of a noble or ecclesiastical estate, belonging to the "Hofkastenamt", collecting and administrating the revenue of the territorial lord.

In the centuries after 1600 the name Kazmaier occurs very frequently in the german country of  Wuerttemberg. Before 1600 the name mostly appears, although in different spellings, in Bavaria. In Munich the Katzmairs (http://katzmair.tribalpages.com) are detectable from 1318 being members of  the council. Most famous Georg Katzmair as the author of "Muenchen unter der Vierherzog-Regierung 1397-1403". With Georg III. Katzmair (son of Niklas Katzmair 1480-1523) in 1533 the house Katzmair in Munich dies off. A 1506 born illegitimate son of Jacob II. Katzmair (Niklas' younger brother) did not leave traces. He might have kept the name and carried it forward.

In 1607 the first German-speaking immigrant to America, Dr. Johannes Fleischer, arrived in  Jamestown, Virginia. Five glassmakers and three carpenters or house builders from Germany followed him in 1608. Germantown in Pennsylania, founded on October 6, 1683 became the first permanent German settlement. In the ensuing centuries, nearly 7 million of Fleischer's compatriots would  follow. Incredibly, by the 2000 United States census, more than 40 million Americans, nearly 15 percent, listed German as their primary cultural heritage.

To my knowledge the first Kazmaiers arrived in the US in the early 19th century. Some of their  lines are researched on this website. Today most Kazmaiers in the US live in Ohio, followed by Kansas, Pennsylvania and Missouri. Most famous amongst these are famous family members like William "Bill" Kazmaier, "the strongest man who ever lived" and Richard "Dick" Kazmaier, Heisman Trophy and Maxwell Award winner 1951.

Unfortunately it still remains unknown where the Kazmaier family originally came from and who was the first bearer of this name. At least for all the Kazmaier in Wuerttemberg I am convinced that they all are one big family although even for this I must still owe the proof. The research on this website (http://kazmaier.tribalpages.com) refers to Balthasar Kazmaier (born about 1611 probably in Honau, died 26.04.1685 in Honau). He is the first proven Kazmaier in Wuerttemberg and from him, and from Honau, all Kazmaiers that I have ever met, descend from.