Bas-Rhin (Lower Rhine) is a department in France, located along the German border in an area commonly referred to as Alsace-Lorraine. It is part of Elsass (Alsace).

It is bordered by the French departments of Haut-Rhin & Moselle, as well as the German states of Rheinland-Pfalz & Baden-Württemberg. Today most of its residents speak both French & German, and historically it has gone back & forth as part of France or Germany. Many of its families are ethnically German, though not all – some would identify themselves as French.

My immigrant ancestors from Bas-Rhin:

• Nicolas UEBELHOER, his wife Barbe (STUDI) UEBELHOER & daughter Barbe UEBELHOER
  • Immigrated in 1849, approximate ages 43, 36, and 11
    

Nicolas UEBELHOER & his daughter Barbe were born in Bremmelbach, while his wife Barbe Studi was from a nearby village called Hohwiller. An interesting fact: Nicolas’ father Chretien UEBELHOER was Mayor of Bremmelbach, as was his father before him (Nicolas’ grandfather) Jean-Adam UEBELHOER.

A few interesting notes on these surnames. UEBELHOER is south German in origin, and it literally translates to “evil lord.” It’s typically pronounced either EVIL-hare, or OOBEL-ore. Here’s a fun video on the pronunciation of the surname. Some distant relatives who came to America preferred the spelling Ebelhar in the U.S. STUDI, the family matriarch’s maiden name, is a French variation of the Swiss name STUDER. It is likely the Studers first came to Alsace-Lorraine from Switzerland after the Thirty Years’ War, as the region was being repopulated.

Nicolas UEBELHOER joined his older sister Catherine (UEBELHOER) ZENT & brother-in-law Philippe-Jacques ZENT in America, as they had arrived in Western New York years earlier. The Zents were among the first pioneer families to settle in Williamsville, NY. Nicolas was a Stone Mason. His daughters married into early Williamsville area families, taking on the surnames SAUTER, BEASER, WEHRLE, DAIGLER, and GRABER.

I am a descendant of the following families from Bas-Rhin, Alsace:

Fun fact: Through my Alsatian ancestry, I’m distantly related to American actor Tom CRUISE and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Warren SPAHN.

I have ancestry in Bas-Rhin through my mother’s side of the family.