M. Ressler Genealogical Database

Listed in Martyrs Mirror, p1113-4 in my copy:

Note - A. D. 1639 there was also apprehended the Brother George Weber, an old man, from the county of Kiberg. The same was also taken to Zurich, into the convent Othenbach, and there fed on bread and water.

Finally, through the hardships and long duration of his imprisonment, he became greatly impaired in his body, and fell into a severe sickness, after he had been confined there seventy weeks.

Afterwards, through some of his fellow prisoners, who opened the prison, he was released, but never again recovered his property.

As regards the homestead of this George Weber, as also that of Jacob Egly, the owners of the same must each annually pay therefor to the authorities five hundred guilders.

From https://www.geni.com/people/Klein-Jorg-Waber/6000000004672037525

About "Klein Jorg" (Little George) Waber

DNA evidence suggests that we might consider re-adding Hans Heinrich as the father of Klein Jorg, and that has been done this morning (1-24-15) Scroll down for more or read this https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Weaver_(Weber)_family

One of the earliest reports I have seen was compiled in 1641 by Minister Hartman Heidegger, who was instructed to keep account of the Anabaptists at Bäretswil in Canton Zürich. At the time the Bäretswil Anabaptist congregation was a large and active one which Heidegger claimed was meeting in the attic of a farmhouse belonging to Barbara Peter, the common-law wife of Heinrich Egli. Anabaptist marriages were not recognized by the Reformed Church - hence the use of the term common law." ... Heidegger describes many other Anabaptists in the neighborhood, but he pays particular attention to Klein Jörg (Little George) Weber, aged fifty-five years, who he says moved to Bäretswil in 1639 from Albis across the Lake of Zürich. He is divorced from his wife, who we therefore assume is adamantly not an Anabaptist. She is listed as still living, and he, naturally, has not remarried. The minister notes that Klein Jörg is also the father of two children-Sara, aged sixteen years, and Georg, aged ten years-and owns a large estate called Müikranni, which he may be forced to sell. The reason for this forced sale, we discover, is that he is the Georg Weber mentioned in the Martyrs' Mirror who was imprisoned at Oethenbach for seventy weeks and was fined heavily by the Zürich authorities. The sale of Müikranni is evidently related to the fine he owes the state. His son Georg is evidently the father of the Hans Anton Weber who came to Lancaster County about 1711, died there in 1724, and left the four sons who now very much form a part of local history. Already from this material alone one can perceive that the very nature of the Anabaptist persecution split families and forced people to submit to marital arrangements which today we may not condone. It also scattered families by forcing them to move from place to place, for once they had lost economic security, they were forced like Jacob Egli to live off the goodwill of relatives and friends. Minister Heidegger recorded the information that Georg Weber came from Albis, which is very near Horgen, where the Landis family originates. The report of 1641 is ominous because of its being only a prelude to a further purge of Anabaptists which took place in Zürich in 1651. For the present we do not know what happened to the Anabaptists at Bäretswil, but most likely they were driven out of the canton altogether. The story continues across the Lake of Zürich, where one can see the beginnings of the long trek to Germany.

From Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage, April 1990 Vol XIII No 2: George Weber, Anabaptist of Albis and Baretswil

The earliest known record of George Weber, also called Klei Jörg Weber or Wäber (WB), Anabaptist, is on January 7, 1621, in the church book of Hirzel, Canton Zurich, Switzerland, when he and his wife, Elsbeth Schnebli, had a son, Heinrich (WB2), baptized. There is no further record of this family in Hirzel, where seven years earlier Hans Landis (LS3) had been beheaded for his Anabaptist faith.

In 1633 Klei Jörg Weber, aged fifty-five, was recorded on the list of Anabaptists in Canton Zurich. This is his first record at Müllikraam, now called Mühlekram at Neuthal, in the parish of Bäretswil, in the mountainous Oberland on the east side of Lake Zurich. The pastor noted that he was a widower with children, Sara (WB1), aged sixteen, and Jörg (WB3), aged ten, had been separated from his wife for several years before her death, and had come three years before from Albis, a mountain range west of Lake Zurich.

In 1634 he lived at Mühlekram with son Heinrich, aged fifteen, and a servant from Swabia, Germany. In 1639 he was imprisoned at Oethenbach, a cloister in the city of Zurich, for seventy weeks. The 1640 census of Bäretswil shows he was in Zurich, and his son Heinrich Weber was living in Hinter Gryffenberg, now called Hinterberg, with the Uli Rüegg family, whose daughter, Elsbeth, was married.the next year to Heinrich Weber. In 1649 Jörg Weber, Anabaptist widower, lived in Mühlekram with his son Heini, his son's wife, Elsbeth Ruegg, and their five children.

The birth place of Jörg Weber is unknown. A Weber family is recorded in 1529 at Gemlikon in the parish of Stallikon in the Albis mountains. A Hans Weber, son of Hans Weber of Medikon, Stallikon, moved to Muhen, then in Canton Bern, now in Canton Aargau, to the Anabaptists living there. Later he moved to the Palatinate, and in 1663 lived near Eichtersheim, Angelbachtel, in the Kraichgau region. A Verena Wäber, Anabaptist widow aged 55, lived in 1634 at Unter Ratlisberg, now called Hinteralbis in the parish of Hausen in Albis. She was the widow of Hans Hitz, lived with her son's family, and may have been a sister of Jörg Weber (WB).

The 1621 church record at Hirzel provides proof of the name of the mother of Heinrich Weber (WB2). An Elsbeth Schnebli (SN6127) was baptized May 1, 1593, at Affoltern, Zurich, the daughter of Jacob Schnebli. A sister, Margaret (SN6122), baptized July 12, 1578, may have been the first wife of Oswald Landis (LS22).

Heinrich Weber (WB2) had ten children born between 1641 and 1664. The 1670 census lists Heini Wäber, widower at Mühlikram, mentioning ten children, three of whom were in the Palatinate, two near Sinsheim. Hans Weber (WB28) was baptized at Bäretswil on January 10, 1658, and in 1670 lived with his father at Mühlikram. In the 1682 census of Bäretswil he and his sister Barbara (WB26) are listed at Hamm, near Ibersheim, in the Lower Palatinate, while his brother Jörg (WB27) lived at Neustatt in the Palatinate, now Neustadt in the Weinstrasse. The two youngest children, Rudolf (WB29), aged 20, and Verena (WB20), aged sixteen, lived at Mühlekram with the family of Samuel Weber (WB22) and his wife, Barbara Pfenninger, and their three small children.

The 1689 census of Baretswil shows that Jörg (WB27), Hans (WB28) and Barbeli (WB26) Weber, brothers and sisters, were living at Neustadt, while Rudli Weber (WB29) and Samuel Weber (WB22) lived with their families at Mühlekram. The 1700 census of Bäretswil shows that the wife of Samuel Weber (WB22) was now Verena Meyer, and that he continued to live at Mühlekram with his four youngest children and the family of Rudolff Weber (WB29).

A Hanss Weber with wife and children was recorded with the group of Anabaptists who left the Palatinate in October 1693 for Friedrichstadt in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, by way of Amsterdam. Also in that group was Martin Maÿle, probably the Martin Meilin (ML2331) who came to Pennsylvania in 1710, and who died in Lampeter Township, Lancaster County in 1749. Most of the group returned to the Palatinate in 1698.

On June 30, 1711, Johann Rudolphus Bondeli patented 500 acres of land in the Conestoga section of what was then Chester County, now in West Lampeter Township, Lancaster County. Johann (Anton) Weber (WB28), his sons, and the sons of Jakob Guth (GA) (d. 1730) executed an agreement of lease with Bondeli for this land. On October 31, 1717, Bondeli deeded the land to Hans Weber (WB281) and Ulrich Houser (?HD51), probably brothers-in-law.

In 1716 a Hans Weber is recorded as an Anabaptist living in Oggersheim near Frankenthal in the Neustadt Oberamt. By 1718 the four sons of Hans Weber (WB28) had immigrated to Pennsylvania, and they were naturalized on February 14, 1729.

The nuncupative will of Hans Weber (WB28) was dated December 17, 1724, and proved November 3, 1725, at Philadelphia. The administrative bond was signed on the later date by his oldest son, Hans Weaver (WB281), as well as by Christian Herr (HH2) and John Herr (HH3), who may have been brothers of Maria Margaretha, the widow.

Genealogy from Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage, April 1990 Vol XIII No 2

WB George Weber, b. ca. 1578; d. after 1649; Anabaptist; called Klei Jörg Weber; in 1621 lived in Hirzel; ca. 1630 moved from Albis to Bäretswil; in 1633 aged 55, owned farm at Mühlekram; in 1639 imprisoned at Oethenbach in Zurich for 70 weeks; in 1649 lived at Mühlekram.
m. by 1621, Elsbeth Schnebli [?(SN6127); bap. May 1, 1593, Affoltern], d. between 1621 and 1633

Historic Background and Annals of the Swiss and German Pioneer Settlers ... p 87

The same year (1639) George Weber, an old man of Kiburg (a city 15 miles southeast of Zurich on a branch of the Rhine) was arrested for his faith and taken to Ottenbach dungeon and fed on bread and water. He also became sick and died soon after his release (as had Burkhard Aman and Jacob Egle before him). Besides being imprisoned both Egle and Weber were sentenced to pay 500 guilders annually as fine to the authorities which if not paid was to be levied on their property until it was all consumed, unless they gave up their religion. Webers and the modern Weavers are very numerous in Lancaster County. They first located here about 1711 just 200 years ago, Hans Weber having bought the Rudolph Bundely tract containing 530 acres forming the north eastern section of the original settlement of 6400 acres in our country.