Kreider-Groff-Aeschliman Europe 2022

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...

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...