The Minnesota Durrenbergers have their own genealogical mysteries to solve. We have examined all of the usual lists of German immigration sources without finding evidence of our ancestor, Gebhard Ignatius Dürrenberger, entering America. Census data tells us that he arrived in this country in June, 1854 from Württemberg and was naturalized in 1855. His ancestors may have lived in the Aare Valley in Switzerland and may have moved to the Wangen-Primisweiler area during or after the Thirty Years War. We do know that he was born near Wangen-Primisweiler on January 27, 1818.

His family had been living in the area for some time. German records indicate that he may have been married to a woman whose first name was Barbara. Her death may have been the reason that he left Württemberg. Little is know about his life in the Wangen area, but he arrived in this country as a mature individual of 36 years who had sufficient capital and experience to commence farming in the Minnesota River Valley.

The map below shows the location of Wangen-Primiweiler, Germany. A user can change the perspective of the map to a satellite view or focus in or out on the map to obtain a different views of the location.