6017 Ruswil - January 1977 No. 3
Dear members and friends of our family association
Two and a half years have passed since our association was founded. In this short time, the association has taken root in its closer homeland and in the other cantons of Central Switzerland. Above all, it is the foreign namesake, the relatives and cousins in the cantons of Zurich, Aargau, Bern, Basel, etc., who express their loyalty and solidarity with our family and their Lucerne homeland. To date, around 140 members have joined the association. The board of directors hopes for an increase in the number of members and has therefore decided to send the 3rd circular again to all those named after it. We would be delighted if a considerable number of people who were undecided so far could muster up to join our association. Everyone is welcome in our association, denomination and political party affiliation play no role with us. To our great joy, some Aargau Stirnemanns joined our association when it was founded, one of them, Mr. ForstIng Roland Stirnemann, formerly in Lachen SZ, now in Piandera Tl, a son of the former Zurich City Councilor Erwin Stirnemann, is also a member of our board.
After all, we took an important step forward in the past club year. Our debt of CHF 1,100 has turned into a fortune of a few hundred francs. We cannot make any big jumps with it. The freedom from debt means, however, a very pleasant feeling of relief for the board of directors. As a reserve, we still have a considerable stock of family chronicles, which can be obtained from our material manager Josef Stirnimann, Eintracht, 6017 Ruswil, at a price of CHF 15.
And now a look ahead to the coming club year.
Our next family conference is to take place in the spring of 1977. It was set by the board for Sunday, May 15th. We gather in the afternoon at half past two in the magnificently renovated pilgrimage church Werthenstein. After a short blessing, Pastor Iten will meet us lead through the historically interesting monastery buildings. We plan to have an aperitif in the atmospheric refectory, so that we can then move by car to Geiss in the municipality of Menznau. There we will hold our family conference in the famous Landgasthof Ochsen. Like the last one, it should be loosened up by vocal and musical performances. The written invitation for this conference will be sent during
Sent to all members of our association in April. The board is already hoping for a lively participation.
Occasionally we would like to compile a membership directory for our association and, if possible, enclose it with the next newsletter. For this purpose we ask you to give us your exact address (property, street) on the next payment slip and to write out your first name.
The dispatch of this newsletter has unfortunately been delayed. We apologize.
The president:
Hans Stirnimann-Haupt
Annotation
A payment slip is enclosed with the circular to pay the annual subscription for 1977.
The Stirnimann of Neuenkirch
Most members of our family, as far as they are Lucerne, have the citizenship of Ruswil, but only a fraction of them have a residence there. In second place is the neighboring municipality of Neuenkirch, of which the same applies to the place of residence. In Ruswil, as in Neuenkirch, people were convinced that the Stirnimann of Ruswil and those of Neuenkirch had nothing to do with each other, as they say, they formed two completely independent clans that could not be traced back to any common tribe.
The parish registers of Ruswil and Neuenkirch prove the opposite. The common origin is actually much closer than was initially assumed. As can be read in our chronicle "The Stirnimann family in the cantons of Lucerne and Aargau", page 25, a Hans Stirnimann from Eppenwil, a hamlet in the municipality of Grossdietwil, bought the Rüeggeringen farm in Neuenkirch in 1600. The view expressed in the chronicle that this Hans Stirnimann was the progenitor of the Neuenkircher family, however, turned out to be untenable. That early bearer of the name or his descendants must have moved away from Neuenkirch very soon. In the Neuenkirch parish registers, which have been preserved since 1620, we only encounter the Stirnimanns from 1775. Within 25 years, three members of the Ruswil family settled in Neuenkirch:
around 1775 Josef Stirnimann (w. Eva Meyer), son of Peter Stirnimann and Anna Maria Ineichen, von Etzenerlen (see family chronicle, panel II). The descendants of this couple have not yet been identified;
around 1776 Augustin Stirnimann (w. Anna Maria Meyer), son of Peter Stirnimann and Anna Maria Schwegler, from the Lower Rot, (see family chronicle, panel IV). The descendants owned the Sitenmoos farm until 1898;
around 1797 Alois Stirnimann (w. Aloisia Bühlmann), most of whom Neuenkircher Stirnimann descend. In the following that Essentials about his origin and his descendants The family tree on the next page - it is the family tree of the industrialist Franz Stirnimann from Olten - will help
as an overview.
Alois Stirnimann was born on the Bleischür farm in Ruswil (2 km southeast of the village, on the right of the road) and baptized on May 2, 1773 in the local parish church. According to the baptismal register, he was given six names: Mauriz Maria Franz Xaver Alois Leonz; of these, Alois was the nickname. The father Mauriz Stirnimann, the fourth son of the long-time office holder Hans Jakob Stirnimann and Rosina Eggenschwiler in Etzenerlen, married into the lead company in 1752. His wife Anna Maria Jakobea Schmidli was the only daughter of the official Mauriz Schmidli, who died in 1763, and Anna Maria Stöckli. Mauriz Schmidli, one of the richest men in the Ruswil office at the time, owned the Bleischür farms, which at that time comprised 109 Jucharten land and 8 Jucharten forest, and the Honig farm with 12 Jucharten. His son-in-law increased this property by buying more land. The neat Lucerne-style house, probably built by Mauriz Schmidli, and the Spyr, which bears his name, still stand in the lead door to this day.
The Mauriz Stirnimann-Schmidli couple had eleven children, but only four of them grew up: Mauriz and Alois, Maria-Anna and Jakobea, who was 18 years younger than him. The latter was married to master Joseph Purtschert from the well-known artist family in Pfaffnau, a brother of the builder Niklaus Purtschert, who was the leading church architect in Central Switzerland for decades and who built today's parish church in Ruswil in 1782-93, which is his most mature and beautiful Construction. Joseph Purtschert was involved in the construction of the Ruswil Church as an art fitter.
After the death of their father in 1793, the brothers Mauriz and Alois bought their two sisters and shared the two farms. Mauriz, married to Anna Maria Meyer since 1780, took over the lead fumigation, Alois the Honig. In 1808, Sebastian Stirnimann von Sahl and Sebastian Stirnimann von Etzenerlen sold the Bleischür farm for 37,700 guilders to Johann Walthert, Löwenwirt in Willisau, as assistants to Mauriz Stirnimann. Mauriz moved to Littau, where he died in 1827.
Alois Stirnimann married Aloisia Bühlmann von Neuenkirch in 1795, according to the Ruswil marriage register, the daughter of Beat Jakob Bühlmann and Katharina Bircher. The father, official wife and official ensign of the Rothenburg Office, sold his new farm building in Neuenkirch to his son-in-law in 1797. Alois Stirnimann is regularly mentioned in the parish registers, however. It is not known when he sold his farm in Honig. In 1804 he sold Johann Grüter im Honig 3 1/1 Jucharten Honig Forest for 900 guilders, a one and a half year old foal and a Louis d'or tip for his wife.
Alois Stirnimann died on January 10, 1825 in Neuenkirch. The death register gives the names of his wife and parents and gives his age at 53, which corresponds to the date of baptism in Ruswil.
The couple Alois Stirnimann-Bühlmann had six sons and three daughters between 1797 and 1815. The eldest of the sons, Alois (0A.M. Fuchs), became a postman. Adam (ccKatharina Staffelbach, von Sursee), a baker and shopkeeper by profession, served the community as bailiff for 13 years. Bernhard (cearbara Schaller) became a miller and in 1834 acquired the mill in Gottsmänigen near Sempach Station. Of the latter's ten sons, four were millers, two bakers and one farmer.
Pedigree
by Franz Stirnimann-Baumgartner from Neuenkirch LU
Industrialist in Olten and his siblings
Hans Jakob
1683-1754
Ruswil (Etzenerlen) official woman
°° Ros. Eggenschwiler
Continuation: Chronicle
"The Stirnimann families in the cantons of Lucerne and Aargau" panels I and II
Joseph
1706-86
Ruswil (Etzenerlen)
Official ensign ooA. Hüsler
Peter
1711-78 Neuenkirch (Sennhöfli) ooA.M. In oak
Anna Maria
1716-59
ooBalthasar Schmidli
Ruswil
Veronica
1717-63
coPeter Sebastian Portmann
Escholzmatt
Sebastian t1796
Ruswil (Sahl) official father coA.M. Buhler
Mauriz 1719-93 Ruswil (lead torch
and Honig)
ooA.M. Schmidli
Mauriz
1755-1827
Ruswil (lead firing)
later Littau
ooA.M. Meyer
Maria Anna
1756-1807
°° Leonz Imbach
Ruswil (Neumühle)
Jacobea Alois
1758-1773-1825
00Josef Purtschert Neuenkirch (new building) Pfaffnau Krämer
ooAloisia Bühlmann
Alois
1797-1837 Neuenkirch Posthalter 00A.M. Fox
Jacob Katharina
1798-1853 1800‑
Neuenkirch housekeeper
Bauer u.Krämer at Kaplan Tanner 00E1. Müller Müswangen
Joseph
1804-80 Neuenkirch
Bernhard
1808-89
Sempach (Gottsmänigen
Müller 00Barb.Schaller
Adam
1813-95 Neuenkirch baker / shopkeeper orphan bailiff 00Kath.Staffelbach
The most important and best-known descendant of Alois Stirnimann-Bühlmann was the great-grandson:
Franz Stirnimann-Baumqartner, industrialist in Olten
His father Franz Stirnimann, a son of the miller Bernhard Stirnimann in Gottsmänigen, had moved to Lucerne with three brothers, all millers by profession, and ran a bakery here, first on Mühlenplatz, then on Hirschengraben. The mother, Elisabeth Forster, came from Muri in Freiamt. Franz Alois, who later became an industrialist, was born as the first of three children on April 25, 1885 at Mühlenplatz. The four siblings were orphans at an early age. The oldest was 15 when his father died and 19 when his mother died. The consideration for his siblings and the self-discipline with which the young man mastered the difficult situation of the family compels admiration. After Franz had completed his commercial apprenticeship at von Moos AG, he lend a hand in the bakery and ran his father's business for two years until it was liquidated and the way was clear for realizing his own plans. The decisions and probations that the early death of his parents demanded of the young man shaped and hardened him for life. Franz Stirnimann began his initially commercial career as head of travel at Brun & Cie in Nebikon. The Second World War 1914/18, during which he served as captain in his homeland, put new obstacles in his way. Nevertheless, during these years he dared to set up his own business in Olten. The modest workshop in Trimbach got off to a good start. With his sure instinct for the developments and opportunities that were emerging in his industry, with prudence, skill and tenacious perseverance, Franz Stirni planned continued and over the years created the now world-famous construction machinery factory Franz Stirnimann AG in Olten-Hammer.
Even at the heights of his amazing success, the Olten industrialist remained a person with heart and soul. He is portrayed as a humane, kind and socially minded principal. In his concern for the well-being of his employees and workers, he created an in-house old-age and disability insurance as early as 1928. He remained connected to his relatives and showed them and his home community Neuenkirch a loyalty and willingness to help that one is otherwise hardly used to with successful natures of his kind. In an obituary ("Vaterland" from January 27, 1961) one could read how he visited distant relatives in the community center and sent them and the whole home his presents. He made the construction of the urgently needed parish hall his personal concern, commissioned the architects of the Magglingen sports school to draw up the plans and, with a donation of CHF 1,001,000, enabled a building that was both practical and generous. The Neuenkirch community, whose associations had an equally generous patron in him, honored their well-deserved benefactor by granting him honorary citizenship.
Our industrialist also made a great contribution to promoting voluntary Swiss shooting. He set himself a permanent monument by building his stately house on Lidostrasse in Lucerne, next to it the Verkehrshaus, when the "House of Swiss Riflemen" was donated to the Swiss rifle community.
Franz Stirnimann had in Johanne Baumgartner from Cham a loyal, understanding partner who gave him a son and two daughters. Franz Stirnimann died in Olten on January 14, 1961 and
found his final resting place in Lucerne in the halls of the Hofkirche, near the Leonhards chapel. His wife, who succeeded him on April 3, 1968, rests next to him.
Franz, his only son, as an industrialist, not only continues his father's work, he has also made a name for himself as a brilliant painter and sculptor. His first exhibition in Olten (1971) was seen as a great discovery and a cultural event.
J. ST.
The Africa researcher P. Dr. Hans Stirnimann
The Mariannhill missionary P. Hans Stirnimann, who was born in Buttisholz - his ancestors lived in the Lower Rot in Ruswil - stayed in Tanzania from 1964 to 1970 to research the language, livelihoods, customs and religion of the shy mountain people of the Pangwa, still untouched by civilization. Last year the first volume was published, which reports on the research results of this expedition. The experts paid undivided appreciation for the admirable achievement. We recommend that you buy the book, which provides valuable information to everyone who is interested in foreign countries and peoples. The author is a member of our association.
Title of the book: Hans Stirnimann, Livelihoods and traditional handicrafts of the Pangwa from SW.-Tanzania. University Press Friborg Switzerland. 311 p. With many photos, CHF 48.00.
Congratulations On January 28, 1976, Mrs. Elisabeth Stirnimann-Habermacher, Grosswangen, Post, celebrated her 90th birthday in good health with her family.
Teacher and church council president Hans Stirnimann-Haupt, Ruswil, president of our association, celebrated his 60th birthday on March 18, 1976. Our association is indebted to him to a great and lasting thanks, for the foundation and the healthy development and consolidation of our association to date is to a large extent his merit.
Moritz Stirnimann, son of master gardener Moritz Stirnimann-Affolter, Lucerne, Lindenstr. 8, successfully passed his exam as a civil engineering draftsman in July 1976, did the RS as a tank grenadier and has been attending the 1st class of the St. Klemens student home in Ebikon since autumn.
Heidy Stirnimann, daughter of Hans Stirnimann-Betschart, Ruswil, Deckenhonig, successfully passed her exam as a ladies' hairdresser in July 1976.
Mrs. Marie Peyer-Stirnimann (from Knutwil), Emmenbrücke, Hillstr. 4, was allowed to celebrate her 98th birthday in good health on October 23, 1976, lovingly cared for by her daughter Mrs. Kaufmann-Peyer.
Adolf Stirnimann, von Buttisholz, was elected as a full-time trade teacher at the Emmen trade school in October 1976.
Our condolences On April 5, 1976 in Ruswil, Hinter Etzenerlen, at the age of 79, Anna Stirnimann-Küng died.
On May 22, 1976, in Muri, Aargau, in the St. Martin retirement home, Ms. Lola Stirnimann-Vergds, widow of Hans Stirnimann, machinist, died from Ruswil.
The President asked for contributions, communications and suggestions for the newsletter.
Enclosed payment slip