The origins of the family Schalber

The suppositions

In Uberach the elders told that the family SCHALBER came from Germany, Austria or from Hungary. Moreover the name itself reminds as a German origin.
In his book "Uberach, le village et ses habitants", Antoine Wathlé wrote that two SCHALBER, Christian and Jean came from the valley of the Rhine (Saures Extra Rhenum). Everything thus let us think that effectively the SCHALBER had to come from Germany, from the region of the rhine.

The reality

After long hours studying the archives of Uberach, Bitschhoffen, Pfaffenhoffen... we notice that finally all SCHALBER had a common and unique ancestor who is Hans (or Johannes). Hans was listed for the first time in 1722 in the church books of the municipality of Pfaffenhoffen, of whom Uberach was a part.

Further to a passage to the archives in Strasbourg and after consultation of the archives of Uberach over the period 1700-1790, a very interesting document was found there. This document allows us to learn the exact origin of the family SCHALBER (copies of archival documents are at the bottom of this page).

These archives learn us that the first SCHALBER arrived in France was called Hans (or Johannes), that he married Anna-Maria HUWEILER and that four children were born from this union. It is at the page 13 that we learn that his daughter Salomea, wife of Hans-Georg ERB, is the heir of Maria-Theresia and Joseph SCHALBER who died in Tirol and Johannes (Hans) SCHALBER, mason in the castle of Landeck in Tirol. This allows us to know the exact origin of the SCHALBER: Austria.

By looking a little farther and by consulting a map of Austrian Tirol we notice that not far from Landeck there is a village with the name of Saurs. Probably it is the Saures Extra Rhenum of Antoine Wathlé's book.

Today there are still numerous persons wearing the name SCHALBER in this region of Austrian Tirol. There is in particular a famous hotel SCHALBER in Serfaus. It is a five stars ***** hotel, very renowned all over the world. Seen its geographical situation, it is certain that the owner is one of our distant cousins.

The name SCHALBER and its history

The origin of the name SCHALBER is still very uncertain. Nevertheless the name SCHALBER seems to pull its origin of the mountain Schallberg in Switzerland. This summit of the Swiss Alps peaks at 1316m and is situated near the austrian-italian border.
We also find tracks of a Comte Schalber Edle von Schallberg in the list of the German-Austrian noble families.

By looking a little farther, we find in the book of J.B RIETSTAP (which includes a little more than 120 000 family coat of arms) our family coat of arms which you can see on this page.

Archives

Here are the various archival documents of Uberach of the period 1700 to 1790 on which appears the name SCHALBER. Click above to enlarge them.

First page (67 KB)	Abbreviations (72 KB)	Salomea Schalber's inheritance (86 KB)	Michel Schalber (85 KB)
Hans Schalber (77 KB)	Descent of Hans Schalber (84 KB)	Michel Schalber guardian (78 KB)