Hello Billie,
have al look: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavaria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franconia
you can ask by them first: https://www.gf-franken.de/de/startseite.html
www.blf-online.de/
Hello,
die in Bayern ansässige Willibald-Pirckheimer-Gesellschaft ist der beste Ansprechpartner, der auch über die Nachfahren der Familie bestens unterrichtet ist.
Bitte wendet euch an die Frau Dr. Gudrun Litz, sie wohnt in der Stadt Ulm, arbeitet im Haus der Stadtgeschichte - Stadtarchiv - die Adresse ist Weinhof 12, 89073 Ulm
Oder eine Email an g.litz [at] ulm.de
Viel Erfolg Manfred Beck
Hello Billie, are you looking for the origin of your ancestor Johann Adam Kiefaber or Kiefhaber, born in 1822?
[ Keaffaber/Kefauver: Name Meaning
Americanized spelling of South German Kiefhaber, probably from Middle High German kifen ‘to gnaw or chew’ + haber ‘oats’ and hence a nickname for a poor person or an oats farmer. An alternative etymology has it as a topographic name, from Middle Low German kif ‘feud’ + haber ‘oats’, denoting an oats field that had been the subject of a dispute.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Pres ]
This last name is found in places like Nuremberg (Nürnberg) in Bavaria or Franconia respectively.
But the historical Bavaria was once much larger than today‘s Federal State of Bavaria, as parts of the modern Federal State of
Rhineland-Palatinate belonged to the kingdom. And here the last name and some name bearers are found, for example in
Katzweiler, Pfalz, Bavaria
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katzweiler
For the details please see Ancestry.com.
and others. Do you have any information about his immigration, e.g. a ship’s list?
Kind regards, Heiko from Frankfurt (Germany)