Gerold Meyer von Knonau (1804–1858)
Gerold Meyer von Knonau (2 March 1804 - 1 November 1858) was a Swiss geographer and historian whose most enduring contribution to scholarship may well have been his pioneering work between 1837 and 1858 as cantonal archivist for Zürich and the surrounding region. He is often confused, wrongly, with his eponymous son, who was also a Swiss historian: Gerold Meyer von Knonau, the son, was a prolific contributor to the widely respected Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (multi-volume biographical dictionary). Life Gerold Meyer von Knonau was born and grew up, like his father before him, in Zürich. He was the elder of his parents' two recorded sons. There were also two sisters. Ludwig Meyer von Knonau (1769–1841), his father, was a leading politician who, like his son and grandson, had himself acquired a measure of notability as an historian. The Meyer von Knonau family had been part of (or close to) the Zürich oligarchy since at least as far back as 1363. Regula Lavater-Meyer (1773–1834), Gerold's mother, came from a long line of notable Zürich philosophers and physicians. Her father, Johann Jakob Lavater (1750–1807), was a hospital worker and a city judge. He received his schooling in Zürich and then, in 1824,