Table of contents

Greetings

A century of life

Family reunion 2024 Wyher Castle

Project Kinship

Photos Family reunion 2024

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Insert sheet Family tree / Kinship

"Good luck!" the miners say to each other when they enter the mine. They know what awaits them underground, they are aware that working in the shaft is dangerous and they hope for a happy end to the shift. 

"Good luck!" I call out to you for the new year and I know that the world is in disarray, but like the miner I am confident that everything will still turn out well! 

"Good luck!" also on behalf of the board 

Your President Moritz Stirnimann

Dear relatives, valued members and friends of our family association, 

Another year has passed. Was it a big or a small year, asks the winemaker, since his existence depends on how the wine of the previous year will develop. 

For me as association president, it was a successful year. The harvest was good! We celebrated a happy family reunion at Wyher Castle and I was able to see at the general meeting that the association lives even in politically wild times. - This is what we can do: We look at our small circles, we keep our small garden in Order, so from many small flower idylls a little confidence, respect, contentment and peace grows into the world.

The topic of this newsletter is the family, about relatives, about how everything is connected. It is not for nothing that the founders called our group the "Association". We are connected to one another. That is not a small thing! Even if I only know many association members a little, there is something that connects us: a common denominator that can be seen in our ancestry, in our common origins. The value of this connection should be noticeable in what we do.

Then let's take a look back at the family conference on September 8, 2024.

My conclusion: The association is alive!

Difficult things that need to be said

Registered members who did not attend the family reunion without an excuse probably had reasons that we would have understood. The non-cancellations cost the association's coffers CHF 850.00.

According to reports, there were phone calls beforehand telling invited guests that the event would not take place. Is such behavior malicious?

The fact that a company promoting safety recently harassed individual members with advertising for winter walking aids was due to a misjudgment by an association member. The person at fault has apologized.

The cashier cannot give you absolution. The association's coffers are grateful for donations in any case!

You can reach them via

IBAN: CH62 0900 0000 6002 3600 0

Many thanks!

Death of Mario Feurer

The violinist and composer of the song "Grüezi wohl Frau Stirnimaa", Mario Feuer, died on October 16, 2024 at the age of 82. The musician became known through the hit he released with the band Minstrels in the 1960s. The song became a classic of Swiss dialect music. Feurer was the band's violinist. The cult song, which even made it into the German charts and was covered many times, made him famous in Switzerland. The song gave the story decisive impetus to the founding of the association after 1973.

Mario Feuer with CD cover

A century of life: Fritz Stirnemann-Dittli

Our long-standing board member Fritz Stirnemann celebrated his 100th birthday on September 18, 2024 in Zurich-Oerlikon. Born in Thalwil, ZH, Fritz has led a remarkable life, characterized by great work and enthusiasm, but also by family and social dedication.

Early years and career

Fritz began his professional career as a surgical mechanic, an apprenticeship that familiarized him with the intricacies and precision of surgical technology. After 20 years in this demanding profession, he decided to make a change and joined tool sales at another company. This change marked a new phase in his professional life, in which he was able to contribute his skills and experience in a new environment.

Family life

Fritz has been married to Emmj Stirnemann-Dittli for almost 70 years. They have two children together, Renate and Urs. But life also brought challenges, especially the tragic loss of their son Urs, who died at the age of 59. Urs was briefly on the board of our family association as his father's successor. Despite this terrible blow of fate, Fritz and Emmj have retained their strength and solidarity and continue to radiate an incredible zest for life.

Commitment and volunteer work

On March 10, 1991, Fritz was elected to the board of the Stirnimann-Stirnemann family association. Over the next 27 years, he did valuable work on the board and made a significant contribution to strengthening and promoting the family association, especially with regard to the "Stirnemann" namesakes. His long-term involvement and great commitment were valued and admired by many.

A life full of milestones

As I write this, Fritz and Emmj are about to celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary, an impressive milestone that reflects their deep connection and love for each other. Both have definitely found their "roles in life" and complement each other perfectly with a wink and relaxed humor. Fritz's life is a testament to steadfastness, great enthusiasm and family devotion. His story inspires and shows how one can lead a fulfilling and meaningful life with common sense and sporting drive, but also with an interested eye for the constantly changing future.

Congratulations

On behalf of the board and all family association members, I would like to congratulate Fritz on this unique "celebration day" and wish him and Emmj all the best, health and well-being. I look forward to seeing you again.

Beat Stirnimann, former association president

Fritz Stirnemann in his garden

Family reunion 2024 at Wyher Castle, Ettiswil President's review

"You would have to invent it if it didn't already exist," Josef Stirnimann told me a little over a year ago when I spoke to him about our association. On the evening of September 8, 2024, after the meeting had ended, that's exactly what I felt. People from different families (clans, to put it more archaically) come together, you get to know each other, you chat, you exchange ideas. Old and young. Of course, it doesn't just flow into one another, but I had the impression that families had found each other in a larger whole that only came into being because they came together. Our family association only exists because the individual members were there. With your presence, you bring the association to life. Conversely, you get a feeling of belonging from this whole.

The morning's association meeting was lively. I think it's great that we were able to elect two younger women to office. When the statutes were on the agenda, there was some movement in the ranks. Maybe not everything was "perfectly clean", but I sensed a seriousness, an attempt to do things well. The votes gave the meeting life, there were suggestions about what the association could do, what the board should tackle, especially given the fact that associations do not live forever, that the world changes and with it human society, of which the association is a part.

It goes without saying that our association is getting on in years. Nevertheless, I was pleased that younger members were there, that children were there, so that a lively picture was presented across the generations. I am pleased that older, elderly members, women and men, did not shy away from the walk and I hope it was an entertaining day for them too.

For me as the host, the only disappointment was that I didn't have enough time for all the guests; that's probably the fate of the president. For me, it was wonderful to get to know new people. I enjoyed being together, knowing that we somehow belong together. I don't want to exaggerate, but it was nice to be with you and to see that the association is alive.

Kinship Project

The Stirnemann family from Gränichen and Kirchleerau is fairly well documented thanks to the work of Andreas Stirnemann and his son Eric. (I drew attention to this in the last newsletter.) They have systematically evaluated the citizen's records in the archives and can record the family relationships up to people who are still alive today.

How are the members of the association who are currently alive related to each other? I wanted to clarify this question before the family meeting last September. 17 members, all Stirnimann (which makes the task easier), responded to my call. Some were able to prove their ancestry going back several generations, while others had unanswered questions, but in such a way that I was able to identify many things. Thanks to the preliminary work of our family researcher Joseph Stirnimann, the "professor" as many call him, the task was relatively easy to solve for some of the members, while others gave cause for pondering.

To illustrate the solution, I used the FamilySearch* search engine, which can be used to generate family trees quite easily. My approach: In order to be able to make statements about the family relationships and common ancestors, I created a person card for the deceased persons on FamilySearch. Enter Family-Search a name, the search engine will give you an almost endless list of people with this and similar names. This is where the work of selecting the person with the correct life data begins. The more precise data you have, the narrower the choice becomes and you can create identified people in the system, i.e. create a digital index card for them. For example, Heinrich Stirnimann, who died in 1598 (an ancestor to whom all Stirnimanns are related), was assigned the personal code 9M8W-V8Z in the search engine. So if you enter this code in the FamilySearch search field, you will find Heinrich Stirnimann. Select Family Tree, and the program will show you Heinrich's ancestors and descendants, his father Peter, our forefather, and his wife Kunigunde Sinner. If you follow the arrows, Heinrich and Kunigunde's children will be displayed and for the children, each arrow opens a new generation following the family line. Throughout the centuries I have identified eleven branches, eleven lineages, which ultimately show how the 17 people are related to each other. The Stirnimanns living today belong to the 14th, 15th or 16th generation since Peter, depending on their age. This is what my illustration shows.

N.B. I would like to point out that I have not entered any living persons into FamilySearch without their consent, hence the handwriting on the illustration.

• The question of ancestry and origin is an important question for many people in the USA. This is partly due to the fact that the United States of America was born out of a large migration movement. For every American, origin is also a question of the country of origin from which their ancestors emigrated. And this question motivated church organizations in the United States to search for sources in all countries of origin. This is how the church records of Switzerland came into their focus, at a time when data protection was not as important as it is today. In the 1970s, these books were photographed on microfilm in Switzerland. These documents are now all digitized and can be found on the Internet (e.g. familysearch.org). In them you can find every person who was ever baptized, married or died in Switzerland, provided they were entered in the church records by a priest before 1870. In the early modern period, the church fulfilled an important function in recording subjects (today citizens). The quality of the data varies depending on how reliably a priest documented, how beautifully he wrote, how confident he was in spelling the names. There are also quite a few errors because digitization required an intermediate step that had to be done by humans. The microfilms that were created of the books in Switzerland had to be read again in the USA and recorded in table form. I assume that this was not done by computers at the beginning, but by humans. Deciphering Kurrent script (clearly understood: Kurrent is a handwriting; so as many writers, as many handwritings) is not that easy. That is why errors inevitably creep in and a Stirnimann can sometimes be called a Stimann or Sternmann. The vast majority of entries are written correctly, which suggests pedantic priests and meticulous transcribers.

So how are the 17 members related?

Let's follow the description (supplementary sheet):

Cousins ​​Franz Xaver, Isabel, Jean-Pierre and Josef-Theodor

Hans-Jakob Stirnimann (4th generation) dies in 1670 ∞ Barbara Bucher:

The professor writes about him: "Hans Jakob came to Roth from Luthern around 1610 with his parents and siblings. His wife Barbara Bucher probably came from Roth." They married in August 1630. The family seems to have been quite wealthy, as Hans Jakob bought the Upper-Huprächtigen farm "for 6500 guilders as a dowry for his daughter Elisabeth. [...] When his brother Peter died, who left no children, Hans Jakob inherited his Etzenerlen farm." After his death, his sons Hans and Sebastian managed the two farms inherited from their father. Here the family split into the two branches of Roth and Etzenerlen. His third son Peter entered the Benedictine Abbey of Muri under the name Jost (Jodocus).

Hans-Jakob leaves behind three sons (5th generation), of whom:

1. Johann ∞ Elis. Zimmermann ➔ The line of Jean-Pierre and Josef-Theodor, as well as Franz X., and Isabel
2. Sebastian ∞ M. Helfenstein ➔ *Line of the remaining members
3. Father Jodok (Muri Monastery)

1741 Leonz Stirnimann (6th generation), son of Johann, a grandson of Hans-Jakob, dies:

This Leonz is the builder of the double house in the Lower Roth, as the professor writes: "With its interior and exterior furnishings, the house was once one of the most beautiful farmhouses in the surrounding area." He further reports that two "modest rents" were later built on the farm, one for his son Adam, who bought the Rüdel property near Menznau, and another for his daughter Elisabeth, in order to provide for her To make money from the dowry. These were "modest purchases," says the researcher in the family tree, and he asks whether Leonz had taken on too much by building the house?

He leaves behind two sons (7th generation), where the line splits:

1. Joseph ∞ Eva Egli ➔ establishes the line of Franz Xaver, Uttwil.
2. Peter ∞ A.M. Schwegler ➔ establishes the line of the brothers Jean-Pierre, Posieux and Josef Theodor, Ballwil.

Cousin Josef, Andrea

Sebastian Stirnimann ∞ M. Helfenstein (5th generation) ➔ *Line of the remaining members.

1754 Sebastian, a grandson of Hans-Jakobs ∞ Ros. Eggenschwiler, dies.

He leaves behind four sons (8th generation):

1. Moritz Ang. ∞ A.M. Schmidli ➔ founded the line Josef, Hünenberg-See; and Andrea, Immensee
2. Joseph ∞ A. Hüsler ➔ **Line of the remaining members

In the family tree by Josef Stirnimann (Hünenberg-See), the family researcher describes the relationship between the two influential families Schmidli and Stirnimann in Ruswil at the time, whose members married several times in the course of the 17th century, and particularly impressively contains a sequence about the godfather and father-in-law Mauritz Schmidli: "The father-in-law was married four times. His first, short marriage to Anna Maria Meyer remained without issue. The second wife, Anna Maria Stirnimann - almost certainly a daughter of Peter Stirnimann and Anna Maria Steiner in Upper-Roth - died giving birth to her first child. The 6 children recorded in the baptismal register from the marriage to Barbara Amrein, the third wife, are believed to have died young. According to the yearbook of the Ruswil parish church, "the pious and respectable bailiff and church judge Mauritz Schmidli" established an eternal yearbook for his four wives Anna Meyer, Anna Maria Stirnimann, Maria Amrein and Anna Stöckli in 1763 with a foundation capital of 200 guilders.

Cousins ​​Moritz, Beat, Thomas, Marie-Theres, Xaver and Gisela, Raphael, David

1786 Joseph Stirnimann (8th generation) dies ∞ A. Hüsler ➔ **Line of the remaining members.

As the family researcher describes, Anna Hüsler comes from Huprächtigen. She brings an unusual dowry of 9468 guilders into the marriage. Again, things have come full circle, as Hans-Jakob had bought the farm for his daughter Elisabeth as a dowry. Then in 1692 it was sold to the Hüsler family by the still underage heirs of Walter-Meyer-Stirnimann (Elisabeth). Looking at Josef Stirnimann-Hüsler's legacy, it can be said that he managed his life happily. He left behind three properties with a total of 91 hectares of land (including 10 hectares of forest). According to the division protocols, Peter receives the Buchmatt, Mathis takes over Back-Etzenerlen in 1790, Jakob Middle Etzenerlen, Sebastian Front-Etzenerlen, and they buy Joseph out for 5000 guilders.

Joseph Stirnimann Hüsler leaves behind five sons (9th generation):

1. Peter ∞ Barb. Meyer ➔ ***line of the remaining members
2. Matthias ∞ A.M. Bühlmann ➔ establishes the Back Etzenerlen line: Moritz, Kathrin, Beat, Thomas, Marie-Theres (Deckenhonig) and Xaver, Stans
3. Sebastian ∞ A.M. Küng ➔ establishes the Front-Etzenerlen line: Gisela, Ruswil; Raphael, Lucerne; David, Neuenkirch
4. Jakob ∞ Crescenzia Krauer (move to Eschenbach, then to Rothenburg (Ottenrüti)
5. Joseph remains single.

Cousins ​​Gregor, Adelheid, Urs, Paula

1790 Peter Stirnimann (9th generation) dies

∞ Barb. Meyer (➔ ***line of the remaining members)

He leaves behind three sons, of whom Joseph Leo ∞ Elis. Müller founded the Hint. Lochhof line: From this come:

1. Gregor, Nottwil;
2. Adelheid Schenker-Stirnimann, Ebikon;
3. Urs, Geuensee;
4. Paula Roth-Stirnimann, Neuenkirch.

Relationship Stirnemann-Stirnimann

The relationship between the Stirnemann and Stirnimann families is based on the theory of the emergence of the family names and the first mention of the name. The connection between Lucerne and Aargau is created by the historical events in connection with the conquest of parts of Aargau by Lucerne around 1415.

"Heinis Stirnimanns Kind" is what it says in the tax register of the city of Lucerne in 1352 and "Uelli Stirnemann" is mentioned in the citizens' register of 1385, the professor reports. The spelling is coincidental, the similarity of the names obvious. The name subsequently disappears from Lucerne and reappears in a document in Zofingen in 1457: "Werna Stirnemann zu disen ziten kilchen-pfleger der kilchen ze Uirtken" (Ürkheim). This fact leads the professor to suspect that this Werner could have been a descendant of Lucerne mercenaries who settled in Aargau. Are we related now? In my opinion, it makes sense to find the key to the fact that we see ourselves as a family in the similarity of names and in the historical events. However, a family tree that ends in a pair of ancestors will not be found.

On the side of the "Ruswiler" Stirnimann family, I suggested merging the professor's family trees (published in his book in 1973) and commissioned the family tree painter Christine Mathys to create a family tree. This created an overall view of this branch of the family. I presented the work at the conference. It represents the 9 generations researched by the professor since Peter Stirnimann, who bought a farm in Witelingen around 1534.

Family Reunion 2024 - Wyher Castle

It was great that you all attended the 2024 family meeting at Wyher Castle.

➔ More photos can be found on the homepage.

Imprint

Publisher/Association of the Stirnimann/Stirnemann families, Ruswil Contact Moritz Stirnimann, Lindenhausstrasse 4, 6005 Lucerne

E-mail verband.stirnimann.stirnemann@gmail.com

Membership fee unchanged for 2025 at least CHF 15.00. Donations are very welcome.

Payment slip with QR code (below) or IBAN CH62 0900 0000 6002 3600 0