Kreider-Groff-Aeschliman Europe 2022

Finding the locations where our relatives may have lived, been married or worked as farmers, often meant exploring smaller towns and discovering charming aspects of village life. Sometimes while meandering to cemeteries or down side streets after dinner, we would find pleasant surprises like these.  An earlier blog mentioned the carefully tended cemetery plots. Beside the standard stone water trough gracing most of the cemeteries, one could find neatly hung garden tools and carefully placed watering cans.  I would like to meet the creative and thoughtful artisan who crafted this moveable bench both for family members wanting to sit with their sadness and for those taking on the responsibility of maintaining the lawn. One Sunday afternoon we encountered a community cheering on their local handball teams. The small ball was rapidly dribbled or passed by hand down court to be flung at the goal. In many of the towns and mid-sized cities, mopeds, motorcycles, scooters, roller blade...

The French love to carve their initials and date above doorways. This is at La Fromagerie de Montbéliard . The original building was a farm house/barn built by Joseph Graber in 1834.   We had the opportunity to visit the Guemann ancestral home in Etobon, where Guemann cousins (very distant) of Janice and Sue live. Above one of the windows is the date that ends in 70 and the initials DM. I suspect the date is 1670 and DM stands for Dimanche Marrage. The Guemann ancestor married into the Yoder family who worked for the family Marrage. In 1810, the Guemann family bought the farm.   According to the Guemann descendent who lives at the farm, when the château was destroyed, villagers were allowed to use the stones for building. It is likely that this stone saying 1582 came from the château and was used in this outbuilding. The Guemann cousin found this stone buried in the back yard and brought it up to the house. This young woman was part of a family who met tragedy: one brother was...

Our (Sue and my) great great grandfather, Andreas Vonier was born in Schruns, Austria on October 13, 1822. We were thrilled to be able to locate his birthplace!  How did we find this remote site? It was with the help of Joe Springer of the Mennonite Historical Library in Goshen, Indiana, and the Österreich Voralberger Landesarchiv, which noted the house number, 273, but no street name on Andreas' birth record. An town official in Schruns located an old plan which translated the house number to a current address, Plattsweg 3. Driving up there involved numerous scary hairpin turns. We were finally close but found that our car would not be able to negotiate the steep gravel road, so we had to park and walk. Not too far up the road, we caught sight of a building. The shutters were all closed. This photo shows the separate barn. Marlin noted that there were newish roofs. Probably the owner checks on the place from time to time, but the driveway was overgrown with vegetation. No one had ...

Stucki's abound in Switzerland. "Our" Stuckey/Stucki goes back to 3 Stucki brothers who appeared in France in the early 1700s, but we do not know who their father and mother were or what village they came from. But there is some evidence that it could have been the mountain village of Diemtigen, west of Bern and Thun.    Or they could have originated in neighbouring Wimmis because in that village church, one of the coloured windows' coats of arms is for Stucki. It features a cannon, so perhaps this historic Stucki was a fierce defender of the local castle. From Martyrs' Mirror , we learn that a Peter Stucki from Wimmis was executed in 1538 for being an Anabaptist. He displayed a different sort of courage. It was interesting to note that two woman pastors named Stucki were speaking in their church on Sunday, June 19, Greti Stucki in the Reform church in Wimmis, and 50 kilometres away, Natali Stucki at the Mennonite church in Langnau. We also saw grave markers for a...

We are told that the Alttäufergemeinde in Langnau, Switzerland, is the oldest Anabaptist church that is still active.  For centuries, these people in the Emmental were were allowed to meet only in their homes. There was a map in the foyer showing the locations of these homes in the various local valleys.  Meeting in homes for 300 years would profoundly affect the nature of these small churches.  This is what their homes looked like: Construction for this congregation's church building began in 1880, the year when non-state churches were finally allowed to meet in a public building (even so, it blends in with the local houses and is on the outskirts of Langnau).  The sanctuary was added in 1980, and a new larger meeting hall is being planned.  Before Covid, as many as 160 people attended, but these days the elderly are less able to drive the distances required.  Today's sermon is available by MP3 audio; sermons by some of the other speakers are available as...

  Sue, Janice and I grew up around cows and cattle so this was another interesting theme of our travels. In France, Montibéliarde cattle were developed by two Graber brothers, Mennonites from this region of France. This cow is known for good milk production especially used in cheese making. The location of the Graber farm is now a highly acclaimed cheese plant. Gerald Metzler, a friend of Marlin’s from Christiana, PA was in Switzerland and introduced us to the Dexter breed on the farm he was staying. They are one of the smallest European breeds, one third size of a Holstein and half the size of a Hereford. They are appropriate for small farms,  and town pastures. Here pictured is another small breed grazing next to us at a restaurant in Switzerland.  Some other pictures of cows for your enjoyment. This headband with dangling strings helped keep face flies at bay. I regretted not buying this chocolate cow at the Bäckerforum Aeschlimann in Zollbrück, Switzerland. by Ma...