According to research done by George Turner Hartzell, this is what he found on the Hartzell surname. This info. is from his book " A Book of Life A Hartzell- Hertzel- Hirtzel- Hirzel Family History & Genealogy"
The Hartzell Family is of Swiss origin. The name itself comes from the small mountain village (2000 ft. high) of Hirzel located about 19 miles south of Zurich. According to research, the first appearance of the name Hirzel occured in 1269 in a manuscript fround in the city archives of Zurich. The name isself came from a cintraction of two words, Hirsch and Suhle. Der Hirsch was the large Swiss stag and die Suhle meant the place where the stag rolls in the dirt to dust himself or more briefly, a wallow. It evolved to Hirsel, Hiirschel, Hirschel and finally Hirzel.
The Reformation was introduced by Zwingli in Zurich in 1519 and, after his death in battle, was carried on by John Calvin in Geneva. Most of the urban cantons followed the new doctrine while the rural cantons remained Catholic. Our Reformed church had its beginnings here and out oldest known forebear JACOB HIRZEL, born about 1580, had his name inscribed in the Reformed church records in Pfaffikon near Zurich.
The German Palatinate was not far away and here was land vacant and in quantity--good fertile flat land. Although there are no direct records, CLEMENT HERTZEL, the Reformed pastor, probably was the leader of the Hirtzel family group that emigrated to Germany in 1651. The Hirtzel families now lived near Pfaffikon and Winterthur ( approximately 15 miles apart) having left Hirzel ( town) a generation or so earlier.
From research done by Charles Hartzell Price Jr., we have the names of the family member who emigrated. These names were listed in the Reihen church (Germany) register.
Hirtzel, Jonas --- Carpenter
Hortzel, Hans
Hirzel, Hans Rudolf, Carpenter
Hirtzel ( or Latinized to Hirtzelius) Clemens, from Winterthur, became paster in Reihen from 1651 to 1670
Hirtzel, Christophel
Hirtzel, Hans Heinrich, married Maria Steiner from Batterkingen, Bern district, Switzerland.
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