Immigration records show our European ancestors surname was spelled Bucher. Like with most other surnames, the spelling changed over time mostly because people spelled it the way they pronounced it. This family includes folks who now go by names Booher, Bucher, Booker, Beecher, Becker, Beougher, and Bicher among others.
Between 1700-1750 over 70,000 people immigrated to America from Germany. The area that our Booher ancestors lived was in the Palatine area of west-central Germany along the Rhine River. It was this area that had suffered particular hardship for decades - record cold winters, heavy taxation, wars between France and Germany. Most of the Palatine people were Lutheran or Calvinists. They were surrounded by the French Roman Catholics and the areas of western Germany the French King had 'purged'.
During this time Peter Bucher and his family traveled down the Rhine River from Bad Neuheim, Germany to Rotterdam, Holland. They board the ship “Alexander & Ann” and sailed to America arriving in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1747.
Starting in Philadelphia, the Boohers settled in eastern Pennsylvania first. There seems to be 2 primary migration paths after that: The first group travelled into western Pennsylvania, then into Ohio and beyond. The second group travelled south into Virginia, then eastern Tennessee and finally into Kentucky and beyond. I have so far found the highest concentrations of Boohers in Pennsylvania and eastern Tennessee.
My family comes from the Kentucky line.