Shuler Family

The genealogy of our SHULER family has been traced back to the early 1500's, to the village of Bibern, parish of Ferenbalm, in the canton of Bern in northern Switzerland. The name Schuler means "scholar" in German, and interestingly, in a coat of arms registered to a Schuler family (according to RIETSTAP: ARMORIAL GENERAL) in Europe during medieval times, the main feature is a device which is very similar to a Jewish Star of David. Jewish people were widely known as scholars or "people of the book," because they were very well educated and could read and write and recite many passages, especially of their holy books, during the middle ages when most people were illiterate. In various times and places, many Jews were forced to convert to Christianity to avoid being killed. However, it is not known whether or not our Schulers in Switzerland had Jewish origins, or whether this particular coat of arms had any connection whatsoever with our branch of the family. There are several other coats of arms registered to other Schuler families, (and of course most people did not have any right to display a coat of arms at all).

SHULER COAT OF ARMS


The first Schuler in the record of the parish of Ferenbalm, in the village of Bibern, Switzerland, is Hans Schuler, who was born between 1520-1530 and married in 1550 (wife's name unknown).
His son, also named Hans Schuler, was born between 1551-1553, and married Verena Jenfer on 23 March 1572.
The children of Hans and Verena were: 

    Peter
    Steffen
    Hans
   *Bendicht
    Agnes
    Jakob
    Elsbeth
    Ulrich


Their fourth son, Bendicht Schuler, was born 23 Oct 1581 and married Elsbeth Stuffenegger in 1607.
The children of Bendicht and Elsbeth were: 

    Elsbeth
    Anna
    Margreth
    Elsbeth
    Hanna
   *Peter
    Bendicht


The sixth child of Bendicht and Elsbeth, Peter Schuler, was born 8 July 1621 and married Anna Bucher in 1650.
The children of Peter and Anna were: 

    Peter
    Anna
   *Hans Joerg
    Maria
    Barbara
    Madlena


The 3rd child of Peter and Anna, Hans Joerg Schuler, was born 22 April 1655 and married Christina Gotschmann in 1687.
The children of Hans Joerg and Christina were: 

    Abraham (b. 1688)
    Barbara (b. 1689)
    Hans Joerg (b. 1691) -- George
    Hans Jakob (b. 1693) -- Jacob
    Hans Heinrich (b. 1696) -- Henry
    Elsbeth (b. 1701)


Abraham Schuler married Madlena Krattiger on Jan. 17, 1721 in Bibern. His brother Hans Heinrich Schuler married Juditha Rentz "of Wileroltigen" on Jan. 18, 1726 in the parish of Ferenbalm, village of Bibern, Switzerland; and their first child, Hans Nicholas Schuler, was born 16 Oct 1726 in Bibern. After 1726, the Schuler name disappears from the parish registers of Ferenbalm. It is believed that the parents Hans Joerg and Christina Schuler had died by this time, and the others had moved to Germany. We have been unable to trace what became of Abraham Schuler and his two sisters, but it is known that the other three brothers, Hans Joerg (George), Hans Jakob (Jacob), and Hans Heinrich (Henry), lived in Germany for a while before coming to America in the 1730's.
Correspondence from the Archives of Speyer, Germany to Mrs. Beverly Shuler of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina stated that the correct spelling of the surname in German was Schuler, and that the family was of Swiss origin. They had a record that "Hans Jakob Schuler, son of Hans George Schuler, resident of Bibern, Switzerland, married on May 10, 1718, Anna Margretha Lauer, daughter of Mattheus Lauer from Krahenburg (Germany)." Hans Joerg Shuler (Jr.) also married a German girl in about 1723: Catherina Anna Margaretha Hesse, who was born about 1695 in Germany. She was known in the States as just Ann Margaret. The Speyer Archives also sent the names of Jacob's and George's children who were born in Germany, and their baptism dates.
In the Register Zweibrucken III No. 2025, for the year 1737, is the following remark: "Jakob Schuler of Krahenburg (Germany) moved to Carolina with wife and eight children." (Christening records from Germany indicate that Jacob had nine daughters and one son, but two of these died before the family left Germany, and three more died shortly after arriving in America. He had only five daughters who reached adulthood). Another entry from the Register for the year 1736 was, "Hans George Schuler of Waldmohr (Germany) moved to America." (Christening records from Germany indicate that George had four children: two sons and two daughters. There may have been others who were christened elsewhere, and more children were probably born after the family came to America, of which we have no record). George and Jacob Schuler's younger brother, Hans Heinrich (Henry) and his wife Juditha, had also lived in Germany and then moved to America, although no record of their residence in Germany has yet been found, and it is not known what year they came over.

We learn from THE HISTORY OF ORANGEBURG COUNTY by A.E. Salley, that most of the Palatinate (Swiss-German) people belonged to the Reformed (Protestant) Church, and they left Switzerland and Germany in large numbers in the 1700's, because of war in Europe between the Catholics and Protestants, and also the devastation of the Palatine area (along the Rhine river of Germany), after invasion by the French and severe weather destroyed their crops.
Some Germans had emigrated to America in the 1600's by the persuasion of William Penn, but the mass migration began in 1709, as thousands of the Palatine people fled down the Rhine in small boats, made their way to Rotterdam, and from there to England and America. Many settled in Pennsylvania, New York, and the Carolinas. The town of New Bern in North Carolina was settled in 1710 by a group of Swiss and Germans, and was one of the first towns in the state.
Most of the Palatines were very poor. The group that settled in South Carolina was led by a Rev. Giessendanner, who made several trips back and forth from Germany to South Carolina, helping more to come to this new land of opportunity. He paid for their boat passage, with arrangements for the loan to be repaid later.


The Schulers were farmers, and farmers were needed in this country to bring more land under cultivation. Orangeburgh District (or County) was the original home of the Shuler family in South Carolina.
As before mentioned, George and Jacob Schuler arrived in 1736-1737, but the first record of their brother Henry in America was when he bought some land in 1749, near Bowman, in Orangeburg District, South Carolina (where some of his descendants still live today). All three of the Schuler brothers first settled near this same area of South Carolina, near the Four Holes Swamp, with other Swiss immigrants under the leadership of Rev. Giessendanner. There is a town named Shulerville, South Carolina not far away; it was named after some branch of the family.
Henry Schuler's first son, Hans Nicholas or John Nicholas Schuler, as mentioned above, had been born in Oct. 1726 in Switzerland, and (from later marriage records kept by Rev. Giessendanner in Carolina) it is known that Henry had at least four daughters born in Germany: Susan, Ann Elizabeth, N___, and Mary Barbara Schuler. He probably had more sons and daughters, but we do not know their names.
Since there were not very good records kept in Carolina in this early period, we are not certain of the exact family connection between our earliest confirmed ancestor, George Shuler (born about 1756) and the earlier Schulers. Some family researchers have assumed that George was a grandson of either (Hans) George or (Hans) Henry Schuler, and that the intervening link was Phillip Jakob Shuler, who was probably born about 1733 or 1734, in Germany.
Phillip Jakob Schuler was raised in the Orangeburgh District of South Carolina, where some Schuler families originally settled in the New World. After he reached manhood, he moved about 60 miles northwest, to what is now Lexington County, South Carolina. Phillip Jakob Shuler received a land grant there on August 21, 1751. He was the first Shuler known to have settled in this area, so was possibly the father of the family which George Shuler was born into. George was born about 1756, and was possibly a brother of Leonhardt (Leonard) Shuler (born about 1754). One (or both) of them were probably the sons of Phillip Jacob Shuler, although absolute proof has not yet been found, and the names of any other children of Phillip Jacob are not known.
Incidentally, all of our Schulers in South Carolina dropped the "c" from their last name shortly after coming to America, and also changed their first names to Americanized spellings. Some other Schulers in America, who came over later, mostly to Pennsylvania or other northern states, kept the "c" in their name, and some other branches of the family also spell the name "Schuller," "Schuyler," "Shular," or other variations. It is not known whether all of the Schulers originally came from Switzerland, or whether some by that name were German to begin with).

Information Compiled
by Karen Bray Keeley

INTERNET Adaptation
by Sandra Shuler Bray