The name Mosser had its origin in an old German language word, Moos, which meant a meadow, especially a marshy meadow. It is still found in some German dialects and means swampy land. The original spelling was Mooser, meaning one who lived in or near such a place, and in which he did some farming. In time one of the 0’s was dropped and it became Moser. Still later some of the Mosers added another S and it became Mosser. from which finally evolved the present Musser Mosser and Mosher witch are encountered occasionally, are also forms of this name. The modern form of the word “Moos,” in both English and German, is “Moor,” which means an open tract of marshy wetlands.

Many centuries ago, a considerable number of the ancestors of the present day Mussers lived in the Emmenthal Valley in Switzerland. This valley is located in the eastern part of Bern, the second largest of the Swiss contons. This canton. or state, is about three times the size of Lancaster County. Before the French Revolution it was a territory with more than 400,000 inhabitants. The land was administered by 250 ruling families, which were divided into so-called great and small families. The rural districts were governed by land-vogts, and it was in these districts that most of the discontent with the Bernese government existed. The peasants, for the most part subjects or bondsmen of the nobles, lived under the weight of oppression, poverty and neglected culture. The canton of Bern was one of several states that had rejected the Catholic religion early in the 16th century.

Because of difficulties encountered in the practice of their religion, some of the Mossers (Mosers), along with numerous other Mennonite families. fled from the Emmenthal Valley to Alsace, the Palatinate and other states. Others moved into the remote northwestern part of Bern, known as the Bernese Jura, where the Jura Mountains cross the canton. The Juras are the chain of mountains which divides Switzerland from France. The ancestors of the Brecknock Mussers settled in the eastern foothills of these mountains.

These were still feudal times in Switzerland, and in the Jura region too, most of the land was in possession of rich nobles. The peasants had no land of their own, but worked parcels of land for the barons who allowed them enough for a bare subsistence from the products of their labors. The language spoken was German, with dialectic variations, Bern was in earlier years a part of Germany and the German language prevails in that region to this day.

In time the forebears of the Musser family here concerned, moved from the restrictions and the poor land of the Bernese Jura to the richer land of the Canton of Basel. Other Mennonite families also settled in Basel. The Mossers were assigned a parcel of land which they were permitted to cultivate, located just a few miles from the German border and close to the Rhine River. Again they had to work for a land-owner who belonged to the minor nobility. They were now in a Catholic canton, also a bishopric, where the bishop not only governed the affairs of the church, but also ruled over the temporal affairs of the state. In 1734 an edict was issued ordering all Mennonites out of the state. This edict was never carried out because of the protests of the nobles, who wanted to keep the Mennonites because they were good farmers.

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The Mennonites usually had large families, and this in time brought about a scarcity of land in relation to the ever increasing population. Eventually many of the young people had to go elsewhere to find land on which to subsist. The news of American land and opportunity reached them, and many of them somehow found the means to emigrate to this country.

It has been said that the Mossers moved into Germany a few years before the young men of the family decided to come to America. It is claimed that they lived in the Palatinate (a region in Southern Germany) just a few miles from the Swiss border. Be that as it may, they were still a Swiss family with a long Swiss ancestry whose history has faded into the mists of time.

One need not go far in Lancaster County among persons with the family name or Musser (Mosser), to find someone who has heard from his or her forebears, the story of the three brother with that name who came to America in the mid-eighteenth century, and settled in different parts of Lancaster County.

They were all young single men, and had come to this country, either directly or indirectly, from Switzerland. One settled in Hempfield Township, somewhere between Mountville and Mount Joy; another settled in Strasburg Township, and the third first lived near Groffdale in Earl Township, then later established a home somewhere north of New Holland. This is the essence of the often repeated tradition, and research has proven it to be substantially accurate.

Two of the brothers were Jacob and Peter, who along with their cousin of about the same age also named Peter, arrived in Philadelphia in 1747 on the ship Restauration. The third and youngest brother, Henry, came to Philadelphia in 1752 on the ship Richard and Mary. Note: Saved ship info for (1747 on ship Restauration and 1752 ship Richard and Mary).

Following are the immigration records of Jacob and the two Peters, made on their arrival in Philadelphia, as found in Pennsylvania German Pioneers published by Ralph B. Strassburger, LL.D., Vol. 1, Page 365:
“(List 114C) At the State House at Philadelphia the 9th 8ber (October) 1747.
Present: Abraham Taylor, Robert Strittel, Thomas Hopkinson and Joseph Turner, Esq’rs.
The foreigners whose names, are underwritten, imported on the ship Restauration, Captain James Hall, from Rotterdam, and last from Leith. Inhabitants of the Palatinate and Places adjacent, did this day take the forgoing oaths to the government.

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There were 137 men and 67 women passengers on the ship. Forty ninth on the list is “Petter Moser.” This is how it is printed in Volume 1, but in Volume 3 the facsimile of his signature looks more like “Mosser.” This, it appears, is the way he intended to spell his name.

Fiftieth on the list is Jacob (X) Mosser. He was unable to write his name, so he made an X as his mark, and the clerk at the desk filled in his name for him.

Fifty-first on the list is the other Peter Moser. It is difficult to tell whether he intended one or two S’s in the spelling of his name. Facsimile of all three signatures can be seen in Strassburger’s Pennsylvania German Pioneers Volume 3, Page 392.

Following is a transcript of the record of Henry Mosser’s. arrival in Philadelphia

“(List 183C) The Foreigners whose names are underwritten, Imported on the ship Richard and Mary, John Moore, Master, from Rotterdam, and last from Portsmouth, took the usual Qualifications to the Government, Before Joshua Maddox, Esquire. The Twenty Sixth Day of September 1752. No. 91.”

No. 91 means there were 91 passengers on the ship. Sixty-first on the list is Henrich Moser. A facsimile of his signature appears in Strassburger, Vol. 3, Page 580. His name is actually written Mosser. Among all of the immigrants from 1727 to 1775, he is the only Henry Mosser listed.

The point of departure from Switzerland was often the city or Basel, where the long journey down the Rhine to Rotterdam began.

The foregoing paragraphs are a compilation of data gathered in fragments from many sources, including family traditions, notes in family bibles, the Mennonite Encyclopedia and other Mennonite publications, the Encyclopedia Brittanica, several histories of Switzerland, other Mennonite family histories, histories of Lancaster County, The Historians History of the World and others.

According to the Palatine Pamphlet, published by Charles M. Hall (Heritage International), 157 North State Street, Salt Lake City, Utah, 8403, the Mussers who arrived on the ships Restauration and Richard and Mary, emigrated to the American Colonies from Wuerttemberg, Germany. The Schwarzwald and Waiblingen areas are mentioned specifically as the place of origin or the passengers (those who could be traced) who arrived on the foregoing ships. A large percentage of the Mennonite people who settled in Lancaster County came from this German state, located in the Palatinate. The Mussers (Mosers) who arrived on the ship Molly, in 1727, are recorded as having come directly from “Baselland,” the region Around Basel, Switzerland. Relatives or the latter apparently migrated to Germany about this time, or a little later, and some of their descendant eventually also came to America. The Hempfield, Strasburg and Brecknook Mussers are among the latter.

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This Peter Mosser was one of the three brothers along with Jacob of Strasburg Township and Henry of Brecknock Township. He settled in Hempfield Township near the Chickies Creek, then known as the Chickasolongo Creek. After arriving in this country in 1747, he apparently remained single about five years, since his first son was born in 1754. His name does not appear on the township tax list until 1756.

In the beginning he operated a farm which he rented from, a man by the name of Ulrich Road. It contained 150 acres of land, but still was not much of a farm, since only 15 acres were sown in grain. Most of the remainder was still woodland. He owned two horses, two mares and six cows, and in 1756 paid 8 shillings and 6 pence tax to the King or England.

Two years later, in 1758, he still rented the farm, but the number of acres on which he paid taxes had now increased to 200. Both the owner and the tenant paid a share of the taxes directly to the tax collector in those days.

It is not until 1769 that Peter appears on the tax lists as the owner of the farm, which now was reduced in size to 135 acres.

In 1777 he paid the Non-Associator’s tax of three pounds and ten shillings, which levied on all men between the ages of 18 and 53 who in conscience were opposed to the war then in progress against England.

In Ellis and Evans’ History of Lancaster County we read that Peter Musser, who was of Swiss parentage, married a young woman by the name of Dietz, and they had five children- John, Christian, Henry, Peter and Anna. There is no conflict between this statement and what the old tax records have disclosed.

Peter Mosser’s eldest son, John, apparently was born in 1754, since his name shows up on the regular tax records in 1788 as a freeman. In those days some young men did not become tax payers until they reached the age of 24.

His second son, Christian, accordingly was born in l762, since his name first appears on the tax assessor’s list in 1786. Christian Married Maria Nissley (1763-1811), daughter of Martin Nissley, of Mount Joy.

The third son, Henry, was born in 1764 as determined from the tax records of 1788. This is veritied by the inscription on his grave stone, which records the date of his birth as March 3, 1764, and his death as April 10, 1826. He is buried in the little private Musser cemetery located on the farm of his descendant Henry S. Musser. The inscriptions on his grave stone are still clearly legible.

Peter’s youngest son, Peter Junior, appears on the tax list the first time in 1800. He was a carpenter by trade. A biographical sketch in Ellis and Eyans’ History of Lancaster County says that he was born April 29, 1776, and died July 2, 1849. His children were Peter, Henry, Mary, Annie, Joseph and Elizabeth (Betsy).

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Anna (Annie) was born about 1758, but we do not know the exact year since women did not appear on the tax lists unless they were widows. In 1783 there were five inhabitants in the Peter Mosser home, which shows that two of the Children had married and moved away. They were John and Anna. John had purchased a tract of land to the south of his father’s farm. In addition, Peter transferred 46 acres of his land to John about 1785. In that year John is listed as the owner of 270 acres of land. The remaining 104 acres of Peter’s land eventually descended to his son Christian.

It appears that Peter’s brother Jacob of Strasburg Township died in 1788. It may be a coincidence, but in the following year the number of persons in Peter’s household increased from three to six. Another year later, 1790, the name of Christian Mosser- inmate, appears on the tax list and Peter is missing. This Christian was not Peter’s son, since he had married and moved away, owned a 70 acre farm of his own and operated a “stilling” business. Only one explanation stands up, and that is that Peter’s brother Jacob’s widow, and her son Christian and his wife, moved from their farm in Strasburg Township to Peter’s house in Hempfield in 1789. Also, prior to this year Peter had been listed by the tax collector as “poor,” and since all of his children except 13 year old Peter Junior gone, with increasing age and declining health taking their toll, Peter needed someone to help operate the farm. This help apparently was supplied by his nephew Christian.

The first United States census, taken in 1790, also shows six persons living in the Peter Mosser home. There were only three of Peter’s own family left- John, Anna, Christian and Henry were gone. According to the census there were two males (Peter Senior and Christian), one male under 16 (Peter Junior), and three females (Peter’s wife, Jacob’s widow and Christian’s wife). Peter did not appear on the tax lists the next several years probably because Christian paid the taxes.

Peter Mosser lived in a log house and had a log barn until the end of his days. In 1796 his sons still lived in log houses and had log barns on their farms.

In 1793 the tax collector recorded Peter Mosser’s name the last time. He probably died in 1794. Twenty years later all of Peter’s sons Were still residents of Hempfield Township- John, Christian, Henry and Peter.

There is no deed to Peter Moeser’s land on record in the Recorder’s Office, nor is there a copy of his will in the Register’s Office. There is on record a deed by Christian in 1795.

An oddity is that when Peter Mosser came to this country he spelled his name “Petter” on the immigration records, and the same spelling is later repeated on one, of the tax lists.

The location of Peter Musser’s land can be seen on the West Hempfield Township Warrant Map, in the Recorder’s Office, Lancaster County Courthouse. It is in the area of Location No. 6. Ulrich Road, from Peter Musser I rented his land initially (c. 1752), received a warrant for 250 acres on a branch of the “Cheekesalunga,” on November 25, 1735. (Taylor Survey Papers, Lancaster County Historical Society.)

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Taken directly from the original tax lists now in possession of the
Lancaster County Historical Society.