Zumbrun Genealogy

Life Sketch
Johannes Zumbrunnen was the oldest son of Walter Zumbrunnen and Idda von Bramberg. He was likely born in the early- to mid-1400s.

He followed in his father’s footsteps and was heavily involved in civic life in Uri. He was a representative to the Swiss diet and councilman from 1474-1494. From 1475 to 1478 he lived in Livinen, where he served as the landvogt or bailiff of the valley. From 1481 to 1483 he was elected the Landammann, or chief magistrate, of Uri. He represented Uri on December 22, 1481 at the Diet of Stans, a famous summit at which an agreement was reached to avert a civil war among the different Swiss Cantons.

A chronicle about the Monastery of the Order of St. Lazarus, in the town of Seedorf, is sometimes wrongly attributed to this Johann. In fact, it was written by an ancestor nearly a century earlier, also named Johann Zumbrunnen.

He married Margarita Hofer, a member of another prominent family in Uri. Her father, Arnold Hofer, had been Landammann of Uri in the 1440s. Johann lived to at least 1494. They owned land in both Attinghausen and Schattdorf.

Vital Information

Name: Johann Zumbrunnen
Sex: Male
Birth: Early- to mid-1400s
Residence: Attinghausen and Schattdorf
Offices: Landammann of Uri, 1481-83; Landvogt of Livinen, 1475-78; Swiss diet representative, 1474-1494
Death: After 1494

Family Members

Father: Walter Zumbrunnen
Mother: Idda Von Bramberg
Siblings: Johann Zumbrunnen the younger, Margarita Zumbrunnen

Spouse: Margarita Hofer
Children: Johann Zumbrunnen

Sources

Johann Zumbrunnen entry (translated to English) in the print version of the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.

Johann Zumbrunnen entry (in German) in the online version of the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.

Johann Zumbrunnen entry in the Nobiliaire Militaire Suisse

Johann Zumbrunnen entry at FamilySearch.org (free registration required). His birth year is estimated as 1447.

Johann Zumbrunnen entry at Stammler Genealogie

Johann Zumbrunnen entry at Zumbrunnen-Family.ch genealogy website

Johann Zumbrunnen is included in Bucelin’s genealogy of the Zumbrunnen family from the 1600s. (He is in the ninth generation of people; his name is written in Latin as “Joannes zum Brunnen Landammannus”)