The earliest ancestors resided in the Allgaeu region of southwestern Bavaria, where the resided until the early 1500s. During the Middle Ages, Germany, Austria and Switzerland were part of the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the Hapsburg family of Vienna, and the populace adhered to the Roman Catholic faith. During this time, the German people of noble and influential means began taking on surnames to distinguish one family from another. However, most of the peasants living in rural villages and towns during Medieval times were held in bondage by feudal landlords and vassals, and therefore they did not posses surnames. Such was the case of our ancestors until the late 1300s when our earliest known ancestor cunningly obtained his freedom.
This ancestor, known originally only by his given name of Hans, was born near the Bavarian village of Memmingen around the year 1340. He was a bondsman to the feudal lord or patrician Hainrich Kuntzelmann of Augsburg, who owned vast expanses of land in the Allgaeu. Nothing is know of Hans’ early life, although his childhood occurred during the time of the greatest catastrophe to befall Mankind since the biblical Great Flood, the dreaded Black Death (Bubonic Plague) that eliminated almost half of Europe’s estimated population of 95 million between the years 1347 and 1352. When he became old enough to work in the Patrizier’s fields, Hans’ duties as a peasant serf were to cultivate beans (a bean farmer in German a “ein Bohner”). Beans were the staple crop of Europe before the introduction of potatoes from America around 1600.
One evening in 1369, after a grueling day in the fields, Hans and his overseer Hans Brockhardt decided to celebrate their accomplishments with a beer. The overseer was a freeman being paid by Kuntzelmann to manage the property of both land and men, but he held Hans in high esteem for his hardworking ethics and knowledge of bean cultivating and befriended him. Unknown to Brockhardt was that the serf Hans had been planning his escape. Upon the overseer reaching a state of stupor from drinking and sleeping off the effects, the serf Hans made off to the market town of Kempten on the Iller River, located about 20 miles south of Memmingten. Kempten had obtained status as a free town as the result of a treaty signed by the Emperor Rudolph von Hapsburg in 1289, and thus people living within the town’s walls were free from servitude.
For the next several years, Hans lived in Kempten as a free man working as a paid bean farmer,”bohner” without Kuntzelmann’s knowledge of his whereabouts. Hans soon adopted the surname “der Boner” in honor of his occupation and became a citizen of Kempten in early 1372. Also living in Kempten at that time were some of Kuntzelmann’s relatives, including his brother-in-law Burcken Knopf and a cousin named Jacob Kuntzelmann, who was elected Buergermeister (Mayor) of Kempten in 1389. Burcken Knopf eventually learned of Han’s identity and informed his brother-in-law where Hans was living. Since Hans had earned a solid reputation as a knowledgeable bean farmer, Hainrich Kuntzelmann traveled to Kempten by horseback to fetch his bondsman. Upon entering the town’s market square on Sankt (Saint) Michel’s Day (September 27th) of 1372, Hainrich presented his spear and shield and demanded his bondsman be returned to him. He began calling out “Hans! Hans der Fintboner! Meines Eigenmann gibt sich zu mir!” (Hans! Hans the founded bean farmer! My bondsman give yourself to me!) However, Mayor Jacob Kumtzelmann informed his cousin that under the governing justices for Kempten, Hans was now a free man and a citizen of Kempten. Realizing that he would not get his bondsman back, Hainrich agreed to release any holding he had on Hans in exchange for 35 guilders and signed a document acknowledging this agreement. (The original exists to this day in the Public Office Archives found in Munich).
As a result of the encounter with Hainrich, the townsfolk began to refer to him as Hans “der Fintoner” which he eventually adopted as his surname. Three other men named in Kempten’s records during the late 1300s possessed “der Fintboner” surname; Hainrich, Bentz and jung (young) Hans. It is assumed that these were Hans’ children. Although which of the brothers was the ancestor to our Finkbeiner line is unknown.