MAURATH Family Home Page

We are researching for anyone with the last name of MAURATH or MAURAT. All persons with the surname "Maurath" (after the year 1600), can find their ancestral roots in the German Black Forest village of "Unzhurst", which is old German for "our forest". This quaint village lies in the valley between the Black Forest mountains and the Rhein River, near Alsace-Lorraine, France. It is situated northeast of Strasbourg, France, and west of the city of Bühl, which is southwest of the famous resort city of Baden-Baden, Germany. It is located within the Landkreis "Rastatt" ("Landkreis" is comparable to our word "county" here in the states), which lies within the southwest German state of Baden-Württemberg. The village is supposedly mentioned in ancient documents, and came into existence just after the time of Our Lord, Jesus Christ! Today, it is one of the "Himbeeregebiet", or raspberry capitols of Europe. Being such a small village, Unzhurst has recently (1980's) been incorporated into the village of Ottersweier. Even those of you who claim your Maurath ancestors came from the Banat area of eastern Europe and from near Odessa,Ukraine,Russia, can trace your origins back to Unzhurst (or, some of the Russian family branch back to Mothern, Alsace, France). The family has been Catholic as far back as we can find.

The theory of the origins of the Maurath name come from the famous Doctor, Prof.Dr.med.Johann "Jean" Maurath, now retired in Lahr/Schwarzwald, and according to him, the name was originally spelled "MAURAT". A Simon MAURAT from France ventured into the Black Forest in the early 1600's to the villages of Neusatz and Sasbach, and eventually to Unzhurst. Before that time, the name can be traced to Le Dorat, near Limouges,France back to about the year 1300, and before that to Spain, and before that to N.Africa. You can still find the name spelled both ways in France, but mostly with the "h" at the end in Germany. Four coat-of-arms exist for the name, one dates from about the year 1546, and another from the 1800's. There are many other interesting facts surrounding the name, it's origins, and this well-known, but little-mentioned family. The first Maurath's coming to America landed at New York and settled in Ohio. One group went to Milwaukee and then Iowa. Other groups settled in Baltimore, Maryland and Peoria, Illinois. And the Maurath group escaping from Russia, settled in Kansas, and some of their family migrated west to Montana and into Canada. One group went to Montivideo, Uruguay, S.America. Bernhardt Maurath and family settled in Newark, Licking County, Ohio. My particular Maurath line first settled in Ohio, then to St.Louis, Mo. and Millstadt, Il.

Please contact John Maurath at the address below for more detailed information or to submit your particular Maurath Family line for inclusion in the Maurath family history book. From old family notoriety, "Bis ein andere Wurst gesagt hat, hat Sie ein Maurath längst gegessen". Tschüß!

Other names being researched are Deken, Eifert, Friedrich (Frierdich), Gude, Hangs, Haengs, Hanks, Haungs, Haunss (Haunß), Hauntz, Hountz, Held, Hoevelkamp (Hövelkamp), Jacob, Roos, Sailer, Sanders, Schuler, Weisrock/Wisrock and others. Copyright 1996 (This site first created in 1996) Ad gloriam DEI!

Related Links

• Other family names from the Black Forest, Germany.
• MAURATH Family Coat-of-Arms (Ahnenforschung)