Subject: [Fwd: More files] Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 17:30:29 -0700 From: Linda Lewis Organization: USGenWeb Archives, VAGenWeb To: jpatter@epix.net -- http://www.usgwarchives.net USGenWeb Archives http://www.vagenweb.org VAGenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~lindakay Home Page http://pw2.netcom.com/~cityslic/index.htm - Antiques Page --------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: More files Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 20:17:57 -0700 From: Thompsons Organization: InfiNet To: cityslic@ix.netcom.com Linda, OOP'S....George just has a mind of his own. I hope your family stays safe. We only had rain and wind and not much of that, here. Thanks for sending the last one on. His mail to me and mine to you passed on the airways. This next one I am sending is really not a Berks County, but about Lancaster County. I will let you make the call on where it should go. This one I found an interesting read, even if my ancestors may not have come from the area. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Some Lancaster County Families from Canton of Berne, Switzerland By Prof. Oscar Kuhns Middletown, Conn. In the conclusion of my article in the October number of THE PENNSYLVANIA-GERMAN on some Lancaster County families from the Canton Zurich, I said I should later write an article on Lancaster families from Berne, Here, as there. I can not give the connecting links between the American and Swiss branches of the various families; I can only point out the fact that certain well-known Lancaster families did originate in the Canton of Berne MŸller, in giving this list, says that the names are "vorzugsweise Bernese". Thus we see the emigrants from both Berne and Zurich settled together in Alsace and the Palatinate; and it is easy to see how when the Catholic princes of these principalities began to persecute the Mennonites, and they emigrated to Pennsylvania, they came together. In the Oberland ship (i.e. from the mountain district of Berne), we find: Christ. Stutzman from Spiez; Christ. Steiner from Diessbach; Elsb. Wenger from Thierachern; Barb. RŸegsegger (Ricksecker) from Diessbach; Elsb. Huber from Frutigen; Peter KrŠhenbŸhl (Graybill) from Diessbach. In the Neuchatel ship we find: Hans ZŸrcher from Frutigen; Anna Trachsee from Frutigen; Anna Bucher from Reichenbach; Elsb. Binggeli fron Schwarzenburg. That all these families were of old Mennonite ancestry can be seen from the fact that as far back as the 16th century we find the same names gives as belonging to TŠufer. Thus in a list of Mennonites put to death in Canton Berne, we find the following list: 1529, Ulrich Schneider of LŸtzelflŸs; 1538, Steffen RŸgsegger; 1539, Lorenz Aeberli from GrŸnau; 1543, WŠlti GŠrber of Signau; 1550, Elsi, wife of Kasper Zaugg of Sumiswald; Christian Bršnnimann; 1554, Kasper Zaugg, Sumiswald. In 1538 a TŠufergesprŠch was held in Berne, and among those present were Uli Neuenschwander, of Eggiwyl; WŠlti Gerber of Ršttenbach; Hans Schellenberg and Hans KrŠbenbŸhl of Signau; Uli Hunziker of Schofftlen and Uli FlŸckiger of Niederhuttwyl. It may be worth while to give a brief description of the places mentioned above. The Emmenthal is the beautiful valley formed by the river Emme. Langnau is its chief town and contains over 7,000 inhabitants. The chief industry of the inhabitants is farming and cattle raising. Signau has nearly 3,000 inhabitants and lies on the road from Berne to Langnau. Sumiswald is on the main road from Berne to Lucerne, and has nearly 6,000 inhabitants. Trachselwald is a small village of 1,600 inhabit LŸtzelflŸh is a very beautiful typical Bernese village of 3,500 inhabitants on the river Emme, not far from Trachselwald; which is itself a small village of 1,600 inhabitants. The places in the Oberland mentioned above, are Spiez, beautiflly situated on Lake Thun (near Interlacken), containing between 2,000 and 3,000 inhabitants; it has a picturesque castle and is the starting point for the new railroad to Montreux through the Simmenthal. Diessbach is a small village on the road from Thun to Burgdorf. Frutigen is a large market town of some 4,000 inhabitants on the road from Thun over the Gemmi Pass. Thierachern is a beautifully situated little dorf of 800 inhabitants, not far from Thun. Reichenbach (2,500 inhabitants) lies at the foot of the Engelberg, opposite the entrance to the Kienthal. Schwarzenburg is on the frontier between Berne and Freiburg, and beautifully located, with an old castle and a church built on an isolated hill, dominating the landscape. This then is the home-land of many of our Lancaster County families; and although it may be difficult to trace the direct connection of the Eshelmans, the Gravers, the Flickingers, the Newcomers, Rohrers, Shallenbergers, Wengers, Rickseckers, Hoovers, etc., to the fatherland yet one thing is certain, they belong to the old Bernese families, and share in the best blood of Switzerland. In a later article I shall mention some of the books and MS. authorities I found in the Town Libraries of Berne and ZŸrich. Here I may menton the Genealogical Lexicon of Leu. in a number of volumes, in which the genealogies of the most important families is given. A copy of this invaluable book is now in the State Library at Harrisburg. =========================================================================== The above article is from a montly magazine , "The Pennsylvania-German", Vol. XI No. 12, December, 1910. Publishers: The Express Printing Co. Editor: H.W. Kriebel, Lititz, Pa. Copyright 1910 by H. W. Kriebel. This copy is in my possession.... Linda Thompson rthompso@flatoday.infi.net Melbourne, Florida