General Notes

Alias:<ALIA> /Sueffert/
From "The Knappenberger Family History In The United States of America" (
http://www.knappenberger.net/)
The Knappenberger Homeland and The Knappenberger Name:
"The Knappenberger family originated in what is today southwest Germany
in a region called Baden-Wurttemberg.  Supposedly, the people of
Wurttemberg are said to take life seriously and are reputed to be careful
how and when they spend their money.  The Mosbach area is located in the
Neckar River Valley known for its orchards and vineyards.  As family land
became filled, younger brothers tended to move upon marrying in order to
have their own land.  Thus, the German Knappenbergers moved not far to
the Widdern area of Jagskreis which is on the Jagst River that flows into
the Neckar River.  Today this area is known as Hohenloher Ebene named
after the princely German family, the House of Hohenlohe.  This is an
area of quiet countryside between the Swabian Forest and the Tauber
River.  Located on the Jagst river is Jagshausen, a Gotzenburg castle
(now a hotel) that was the birth place in 1480 of the knight Gotz von
Berlichingen-the Knight with the Iron Hand.  Goethe wrote a drama about
him.  It is likely the Knappenberger family was associated with the lands
that were linked with this castle.  The earliest known Knappenberger
ancestor is Seuffert Knappenberger who was born about 1569 in
Unterkessach, Mosbach, Baden who married Anna Diepach on February 6, 1588
in Forchenberg, Jagst, Wuerttemberg.  Anna was born about 1573 in
Unterkessach, Mosbach, Baden.  The American Knappenberger families can
trace their ancestry to this couple."  "The German family name
Knappenberger is calssified as being of occupational origin.  The surname
Knappenberger is a transposed variant of the surname Bergknappe which is
composed of the German "berg" meaning "mountain" and the Middle High
German "knappe" denoting "a young man, assistant or apprentice".  Thus,
the surname Knappenberger identifies the initial bearer of the surname as
one who was an assistant or apprentice working perhaps in a mine. 
Interestingly, the oral tradition in the Knappenberger family of current
day Germany is that the Knappenbergers originated in Sweden and then came
down into Germany.  The word "berg" in Swedish also means mountain."
According to ENCARTA ENCYCLOPEDIA: "Baden-Wurttemberg, state in
southwestern Germany, bounded on the North by the states of Hessen and
Bavaria, on the east by Bavaria, on the south by Switzerland, and on the
west by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and by France.  Stuttgart is
the capital and largest city...Within Baden-Wurttemberg are several
mountain regions, including the Black Forest, the Swabian Forest, the
Schwabische Alb, and Odenwald.  Cutting through these uplands are the
Rhine, NEckar, and Danuabe rivers and their tributaries.  Bodensee, the
largest inland body of water in western Europe, lies on the southern
border of the state."