What's an Urner?

Background Information

by Barbara L Johnson, Urner Genealogist
Let Barbara hear from you if you have Urner genealogy to share -- she's doing her best to track us all down.

The name Urner, means a "dweller in the land of the Mountain Ox" The original Urners came from the Canton of Uri, which was one of the first three cantons that joined to form the Swiss Federation in 1295. In Switzerland, one arm of Lake Lucerne is called Urner Sea, and supposedly William Tell fled across this sea after shooting the apple off of the head of his son.

Ulrich Urner came to the United States with his three sons, Martin, Jacob and Hans in the year 1708. They had left Switzerland due to religious persecution. and settled in Alsace for some time and then journeyed to London and thence to America. Thus begins the story of the Urners in the United States.

Other Urners on the web

• Urner's (an appliance store in Bakersfield, CA)
• Urner Kantonalbank (a Swiss bank)
• On Learning to Listen by Carol Urner (my mother)

Kirby Urner

kirby@4dsolutions.net