M. Ressler Genealogical Database

Martin Meili was baptized as an infant on December 26, 1607 in Birmensdorf. After the death of his first wife, Katharina Wintsch, Martin met and married Anna Bar, an Anabaptist. The 1637 census of Stalikon lists him as an "Anabapist who allowed himself to be carried over by his wife" referring to Anna Bar. They must have been secretly married by the leaders within the Anabaptist movement because the birth of their first child, Elsbeth Meili, it is stated that she was generated by an unconsecrated marriage. Thus their marriage was never recognized by the state church.

On May 3, 1639, Martin Meili was imprisoned at Zurich; he escaped on Good Friday in the year 1641. His wife, Anna Bar, was imprisoned from 1638 to 1641. After her imprisonment, she moved to the Palatinate. All the children were placed in different homes. On March 28, 1649, Martin Meili secretly stole his son, Jakob, from his foster father with knowledge of the foster family. By 1650, Martin lived in Duhren, Germany.

In 1658, he wrote accounts of the persecution of the Zurich Anabaptists that were included in the Martyrs Mirror and the 1742 Ausbund.

Death either in Heidelberg or Sinsheim

Listed in Martyrs Mirror on page 1110.