Ruswwil - October 1987 No. 13
Contents
Foreword 1
New members 2
The progenitors of the Stirnimann from Ruswil and Neuenkirch 2
Visiting the Mark Brandenburg 6
Our board 7
Preface
Dear relatives and cousins
Dear members and friends of our Family association
Let me begin the introduction with a quote from Federal Councilor Alfons Egli, shortly before his return to his home in Lucerne: “The need to be rooted in a place known as home is felt all the more emphatically as the mobility of today's people has increased . Despite the masses of people who are constantly moving around the globe, everyone feels inside that they belong somewhere. Isn't it perhaps the almost addictive desire that many young people encounter to venture inwardly, a search for a geographic location of security? Or is it an unconscious, contradicting escape and fear of a place where one could feel hoarded and integrated? At the same time, home is the place where you don't need to be afraid. But this search for the roots at home is only an external sign of a much deeper human unrest. It's the fear of not being able to find yourself anymore. Our ancestors, who founded this state and built these places of worship, still knew themselves and knew immediately what to do without first starting national research programs. Today we have to clear away some rubble that everyday hectic, consumption, technology, information overload and much more have piled up about ourselves. We need a spiritual home even more than a physical home. It is the knowledge and feeling about our origin, our sense of existence and our self-development ”.
Our priority topic and concern is currently the research and restoration of the 500-year-old farmhouse in the Lower Roth in Ruswil. The members of our family association are aware of the importance of this unique house and its relationship to our family association. In our invitation to the on-site visits on July 4th and 5th, 1987, we reported on the most important findings and discoveries of the building survey carried out under the direction of the Lucerne Cantonal Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archeology. The fact that the late Gothic log building from around 1500 was integrated into the current house built in 1705 in baroque style is what makes the building so unique. Around 1610, Peter Stirnimann, the progenitor of the Stirnimann family from Ruswil, Neuenkirch, Nottwil, Buttisholz, Ohmstal, etc., settled in the block building mentioned, with its four Gothic doors and ribbed ceilings that have been preserved to this day. The first four generations lived in this highly interesting block building. The fourth generation witnessed the new building from 1705. The head office of the Stirnimann family in the Untere Roth saw the coming and going of a total of seven generations from 1610 to 1821. We will keep the members informed of the further results of the building investigation and the progress of the renovation work.
This newsletter continues the series of articles by Prof. Dr. Joseph Stirnimann on the ancestors of the Stirnimann from Ruswil and Neuenkirch. These explanations also shed light on the history of the parent farm in the Lower Roth.
Numerous members have rounded up their last year's contribution by ten or more francs. I would like to thank all these noble donors on behalf of the board. It is very important to us to increase the funds that have been set up since the foundation of the association and thus to secure the continued existence of our family association financially.
The board has decided to hold another family conference next year. For this family reunion we would like to meet in Neuenkirch. The possible date would be September 4 or 11, 1988. May we ask you to make a note of both dates.
I remain with best wishes for the rest of the year and greet everyone in a friendly manner, especially the new members, whom I warmly welcome to our place.
The President:
Josef Stirnimann
New Members
Berta Bösch-Stirnimann, Sonnhof, 6018 Buttisholz
Josy Bösch-Stirnimann, St. Ottilien Dairy, 6018 Buttisholz
Rösy Disler-Stirnimann, Oele, 6205 Eich
Margrith Christen-Stirnimann, Neuenkirchstrasse 7, 6020 Emmenbrücke
Günter Stirnemann-Heinemann, Matthofring 23, 6005 Lucerne
Alois Stirnimann-Bühlmann, Untersiten, 6102 Malters
Ruth Felchlin-Stirnimann, Lommiswilstrasse 23, 4515 Oberdorf
Irene Sommer-Stirnimann, Weissensteinweg 17, 4852 Rothrist
Louise Hüsler-Stirnimann, Klosterstrasse 9, 6210 Sursee
Nelly Friedli-Stirnimann, Flühli, 3472 Wynigen
From the German Democratic Republic:
Jürgen Stirnemann, motor vehicle master, Birkengrund 7, GDR-1950 Neuruppin
Reiner Stirnemann, engineer for agricultural technology, Dorfstrasse 30, GDR-1951 Storbeck ü. Neuruppin
Hans Stirnemann, haulage contractor, GDR-1951 Storbeck Neuruppin
Joachim Stirnemann, engineer for agricultural technology, GDR-1950 Neuruppin
Henri Stirnemann, coachbuilder, GDR 1950 Neuruppin
The progenitors of the Stirnimann von Ruswil and Neuenkirch
(Continuation)
A review of the membership directory of our family association shows that our family is now represented in numerous communities in and outside the canton of Lucerne. A considerable number of these namesake comes from Ruswil or Neuenkirch and is primarily addressed with this series of articles. If there is time and opportunity, other branches of our family (Knutwil, Ettiswil, Gettnau) should also be presented.
The farm in the Roth - Name and Area
In the last two circulars it was explained how Peter Stirnimann, the progenitor of the Ruswil and Neuenkirch families - from which numerous other branches, such as those of Ohmstal, Nottwil, Rothenburg, Buttisholz, Wolhusen, etc., are derived - in 1610 or 1611 moved his family from the Luthern Valley to the Roth in Ruswil.
The hamlet of Lower-Roth in the municipality of Ruswil now has three properties. Together with the two farms in the south-east in Upper-Roth, these formed a single farm for centuries. The church registers, land registers, tax books, etc. call this farm "the Roth". The church registers record the baptism and death of the children or the deceased «in der Roth» or «us der Roth» (Rot, Root, Rodt, Rott).
The field name Roth is derived from the Roth brook, usually called the Roth, which rises in the upper Säliwald on the Ruswil mountain and flows past the hamlet of Lower-Roth to the west. The Rottal in Lucerne also got its name from the Roth brook, which flows into the Wigger below Ettiswil. ‘
The first exact figures regarding the size of the farm give us the tax logs of the Ruswil office from 1691 to 1702. According to this, the Roth at that time 160 Jucharten. We have no reason to doubt that Peter Stirnimann acquired the farm on this scale. In addition, it can be proven that since 1670, Alp Schattsiten in Romoos belonged to the farm.
Peter Stirnimann, the great-grandson of Peter Stirnimann and Adelheid Bircher, was the first to build a castle on the Roth in 1718. According to their information, the farm bordered the farms Geissbach and Upper-Arig to the east and northeast and the Eglisberg and to the north to Lower-Arig, to the west to the Buttisholzer Forest (today Rother- and Graben-Forest), to the Graben farm near today's St. Ottilien in Buttisholz and to the Lochgut, to the south to the Höfe in Etzenerlen.
In the border area of five parishes
The main sources for the history and descent of our rural families are the parish books (baptism, marriage, death, donations and brotherhood books). For centuries the farm in the Roth was situated in the border area of today's parishes of Ruswil, Sursee, Buttisholz, Nottwil and Oberkirch. The parish registers of all these parishes contain entries about the Stirnimann in the Roth. This division made researching our family much more laborious and time-consuming than is the case with a family that always belonged to the same parish.
Originally the farm in the Roth belonged to the parish of Ruswil; this results with certainty from the annual journal there. Since the second half of the 16th century, the residents of the Roth, along with those of the neighboring farms of Upper- and Middle-Arig, Elischwand and Merzenberg, were parishes to Sursee. But because the town church in Sursee was more than 12 kilometers away and the way there was very difficult, the residents of these farms often had their children baptized in the parish church of Buttisholz, only 3 kilometers away, and occasionally in Oberkirch. These believers have always had a closer relationship with the pilgrimage chapel in Nottwil, consecrated to the Mother of God (Assumption of Mary), which was a branch of Sursee. The chapel in Nottwil received a baptismal font and a cemetery in 1697. From this point on, the families in the Roth and the neighboring farms mostly had their children baptized in Nottwil and their dead buried there, but these baptisms and deaths were recorded in the parish registers of Sursee. Since 1734 the chaplain in Nottwil kept a baptismal and death register, in which from then on all baptized and deceased from the Roth and the neighboring farms were entered. The pastor of Sursee was responsible for the weddings until August 4, 1804 (the date on which Nottwil became an independent parish).
The previous owners of the Roth
These were called Bächler (Bechler). The Bächler are considered to be the oldest living family in Ruswil. From the 15th to the 19th century there were a large number of families with this name here. Today not a single Bächler lives in the parish. Ulrich Bechler, who was mentioned in the chamber registry office of the Canons' Monastery of St. Michael in Beromünster from 1346 to 1347 and who lived in Etzenerlen (Hertzenerlon), is the earliest known member of the family; Every year he had to pay the monastery 6 pfennigs from his farm for so-called singing breads, which were distributed (presumably to the singers) on the occasion of an annual fair
On the basis of several annual foundations by the Ruswil parish church and important documents, it is certain that the Bächlers had owned the farm in the Roth from around the middle of the 15th century, but probably before that until after 1600. Three members of this branch of the family located in the Roth were official men. The best known and most respected of them was Hans Uli Bechler; he lost his life between Milan and Pavia in 1515 in the campaigns that the Confederates undertook for the Duke of Milan, Massimiliano Sforza, against the King of France. The slaughter season, which from then on was celebrated every year on September 11th in the parish church in Ruswil, is named below Hans Uli Bechler "in der Rott" who died from the city and countryside of Lucerne . This Hans Uli Bechler, at that time one of the richest farmers in the Twing and as Weibel the highest official of the Ruswil office, was most likely the builder of the artfully designed late Gothic block building in today's Unter-Roth, which Leonz Stirnimann included in the stately home built in 1705.
The last Bächler in the Roth was Bürgi or Burkart Bächler, who had also owned the farm in Merzenberg since 1586, from which he had to pay the annual interest of 5 guilders to the Heilig-GeistSpital in Lucerne on Valentine's Day. ' Everything indicates that Burkart Bächler sold his farm because he had no male offspring; his two sons Hans (* 1598) and Jost (* 1601), who, according to the Ruswil baptismal register, given birth from his wife Margarit Ziswiler, must have died early. According to the death register of the parish of Sursee, "Burchart Bächler ex Merzenberg" passed away on March 16, 1633 after he had confessed and received communion. He would be the last Bächler from the Roth.
Purchase of the Grissenegg property
Peter Stirnimann and his family had been in Roth for a year and a half when he and his eldest son Hans, very likely on September 1, 1612, bought the Grissenegg property to the east of his farm. We found out about this purchase through a mortgage note issued by the well-known Lucerne town clerk Rennward Cysat (1545-1614) on February 5, 1613. This is the earliest document outside of the church registers, that of the relocated family from the Lutherntal to the Roth. As can be seen from the mortgage note, "Peter Stirnimann and Hans his son in Ampt Ruswyl Surseer Kilchgang" established a validity amounting to 250 guilders for a period of 7 years in favor of Jakob Steiner in Emmer Kilchgang and Amt Rothenburg. The mortgage note entered «ufVerenae 1612», i. H. in force on September 1, 1612, so interest had to be paid from this date. It was agreed that 50 guilders would be repaid in the 6th year and 200 guilders in the 7th year.
The pledge was “ir gut gnant Kriseneck” in the amount of 20 Jucharten open land and 2 Jucharten forest, which father and son had probably bought on September 1, 1612 from Jakob Steiner. Jörg Geisseler's goods (in Etzenerlen), Batt Bechler's goods (in Elischwand; the Sursee death book reports on January 21, 1636 the death of Batt Bächler of Ellischwand) and that of Andres Bechler. At annual
The Griessennegg property owed 1 quarter grain of the donation of annual land interest, that is, the welfare of the poor in Ruswil and 7-1/2 GI the chaplain of our lady there. The buyers paid 950 GI in cash for the property. A promissory note was issued for 250 GI. It is very likely that it was not possible to make the same on the occasion of the purchase because of the plague that ravaged the country. Perhaps the owner of the Grissenegg and his whole family were victims of the plague. Jakob Steiner in Emmen, possibly the only heir, then sold the property to the new farmer and his eldest son in nearby Roth.
The purchase of the Grissenegg must be seen in connection with the marriage of the son Hans. The father apparently acquired the property for his eldest, who, it appears, was significantly older than his two brothers Peter and Hans Jakob. On February 9, 1613, Hans Stirnimann got married in the St-Georgs-Kirche in Sursee with Anna Bächler, who was presumably the daughter or sister of Batt or Andres Bächler, who are named in the debt contract as the initiators of Grissenegg . We have reason to believe that the young couple moved to Grissenegg. We don't know how long they stayed there. The Grissenegg farm must have been sold again sooner or later, because it is not mentioned in any division of the estate
The death book of Sursee reports the death of Peter Stirnimann on December 1, 1620, d. H. His funeral should have taken place in Sursee on this day. Adelheid Bircher outlived her husband by more than nine years. According to the Sursee death register, she died on April 3, 1629. In addition to the Sursee year and death register, we encounter the name of Adelheid Bircher in the list of members of the St-Ottilia and Batt brotherhoods of the pilgrimage chapel St Ottilien in Buttisholz. Certainly Peter Stirnimann and his wife died in the original block building within what is now the residential building in Lower-Roth.
Hans Stirnimann and his wife Anna Bächler
It can be assumed that Peter Stirnimann handed over his farm to his eldest son Hans, as was customary. Peter, the second son, had been a farmer in neighboring Etzenerlen since 1624. Hans Jakob, the youngest, had been a farmer in Meienberg in Twing Buttisholz since 1630. So it was even more a given that Hans took over and ran his father's farm. From 1630 he was certainly back in the Roth with his family. This is the date on the validity letter that Melcher Heine set up for "Hans Stirniman in der Rott im ampt Ruswyl" for a loan of 200 guilders granted to him at an annual interest rate of 10 guilders on his Wolfsgruoben property in Rüediswil.
According to the baptismal register of the parish Sursee, Hans Stirnimann and Anna Bächler had 5 children; but it must have been more, as is well known, the early church registers are incomplete. The son of our married couple is very likely to be addressed as "Hans Stirniman us der Rott", registered in Sursee's death register on April 1, 1631, but it can be assumed that one of the sons received the father's name. All of Hans Stirnimann's children died except for Katharina, who married Jakob Süess in Buttisholz in 1638.
Hans Stirnimann and his wife decided to live in the former log cabin in the Roth. The death register of the Sursee parish church, in whose cemetery they were buried, reports the death of "Anna Bächler us der Rott" on May 17, 1636, and the death of "Hans Stirnimann us der Rott" on January 30, 1647
J. St.
(Continued) in the next newsletter)
Remarks
1 For the field name Roth, see Josef Nikl. Küng. The farm names of the municipality of Ruswil. Licentiate thesis of the philosopher. Faculty of the University of Friborg / Switzerland. 1982, p. 48.
2 Lucerne State Archives, files archive I. Subject 7, Sch 866: Steuer-Rödel des Amtes Ruswil.
3 Source work on the creation of the Swiss Confederation, Section 11 Urbare and Rödel. Vol. I (Aarau 1941) p. 173 line 15.
4 This slaughter season is printed in "Geschichtsfreund" 17 (1861) p. 23 f.- Cf. also Emil Dürr. Federal Great Power Policy in the Age of the Milan Wars: Swiss War History. Issue 4 (Bern 1933) 521 ff.
5 Lucerne State Archives. Cod. 377 fol. 40 '. - Meierhof and patronage rights (parish election!) Of the parish of Ruswil belonged to the Heilig-Geist-Spital in Lucerne since 1419.
6 Lucerne State Archives, Sch 579: Landvogtei Ruswil.
Our printed chronicle
"The Stirnimann family in the cantons of Lucerne and Aargau"
can be obtained at the price of CHF 15.- at:
Mrs
Maria Stirnimann-Schenkermayr Murgasse 1
6017 Ruswil
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Visiting the Mark Brandenburg
In 1983 Heinz Stirnemann became a member of our family association in Storbeck in the Mark Brandenburg GDR. Storbeck is 7.5 kilometers west of the district town of Neuruppin. Like most of the approx. 220 residents of this farming community, Heinz Stirnemann is a descendant of the Swiss emigrants from Bernese sovereign territory, especially from today's Aargau, who were settled here in 1691. In decades of work, Heinz Stirnemann has researched the history of his community and, above all, of his ancestors in the meager leisure that the strenuous job of a farmer left him with.
Heinz Stirnemann and his wife Liselotte took part in our family conference on September 9, 1984 in Ruswil: the following week the couple were our guests. Since that first meeting, the friendly correspondence and exchange of ideas between the farmer and genealogist in Storbeck and our board has not broken off. Heinz Stirnemann repeatedly invited the president and the board members of our association to visit his East German homeland. The project, which has been repeatedly considered and postponed, was finally implemented for the first time this autumn. From September 13th to 20th, Prof. Joseph Stirnimann, Lucerne, and Albert Hürlimann-Stirnimann stayed as guests of the Heinz Stirnemann family in Storbeck. Temporal reasons - this circular is about to be dispatched - and spatial reasons unfortunately only allow a few summary information today. The trip to East Germany turned out to be a varied, lasting experience for the two tourists: it gave them an insight into the, in many respects, very different economic and political world in which the people of this area live and work. Storbeck lies in the middle of a wide plain of meadows and fields that stretch to the horizon and are interspersed with extensive forests. The 40 and more hectares extensive farmyards of the community are today built and managed by a cooperative. Heinz Stirnemann led his guests through the meadows and forests of his farm, he and his two sons Jürgen and Reiner drove them by car to the sights of the near and far. The highlights of these excursions were Dresden, the capital of the former state of Saxony, with its world-famous buildings and art collections, as well as the enchanting late baroque Sanssouci Palace of the Prussian King Frederick the Great (1712-1786) in Potsdam. The visitors are full of praise for the warm, tireless hospitality of their hosts, which we sincerely thank at this point.
J. St.
Our Board of Directors
President: Josef Stirnimann-Haas. Realteacher, Unter-Sonnenbergli, 6017 Ruswil
Vice President: Prof. Dr. Joseph Stirnimann, Adligenswilerstrasse 11, 6006 Lucerne
Actuary: Hans Stirnimann-Helfenstein, community clerk, Alpenblick 5, 6206 Neuenkirch
Treasurer: Alois Stirnimann-Zihlmann, managing director, Im Latten 6, 6110 Wolhusen
Material administrator: Maria Stirnimann-Schenkermayr, Murgasse 1, 6017 Ruswil
Members: Othmar Stirnemann, manufacturer, Hubelstrasse, 6204 Sempach
Hans Stirnimann, vocational school teacher, Zugerstrasse 24, 6415 Arth
Heidi Stirnimann, at Reistweg 1 / Kniri, 6370 Stans
Honorary President: Hans Stirnimann-Haupt, teacher i. R., Rüediswilerstrasse 42, 6017 Ruswil
Auditor: Richard Stirnimann-Krieger, authorized signatory, Hubelstrasse 1, 6048 Horw
The President asks for contributions, communications and suggestions for the circular
Enclosure: Payment slip for the 1987 membership fee of CHF 10.‑
With Condolences
After a fulfilled life, Friedrich Stimimann-Frey, a farmer in the Honeriweid in Aesch in Lucerne, passed away on June 29, 1987 at the age of 83. The immortalized was born in Buchrain in 1904, but spent his youth on the Holzhof in Neuenkirch. His father Alois Stirnimann (1877-1909, cc Frieda Müller) came from the front room in Ruswil.
A cousin of the aforementioned was Alois Stirnimann, Ruswil, who died on July 8, 1987 at the age of 77. His father Matthias Stirnimann (1869-1938, Louise Schwander) sold the Saal and Grissenmatt properties with his brother Josef (1873-1923, ccElisabeth Bucher) in 1906. While Josef first moved to Emmen (Gersag) and later to Ebikon, Matthias acquired the Obere Schwärzi. The deceased farmed his father's farm with his siblings all his life. Alois spent his last years with his siblings in the village of Ruswil.
In this context, reference is made to the 4th circular from 1978, which provides information about the former Stirnimann family from the Saal.
In Horw, Kastanienbaumstrasse 5, Ms. Elisabeth Stimimann-Seiler died on August 7, 1987 after an exemplary, fulfilling life at the old age of 88. She was the widow of the former bank clerk Franz Xaver Stirnimann, who died in 1980. who has made a name for himself in founding our family association. The Stimimann-Seiler couple were not absent from any of our family meetings.
Josef Stirnimann-Verdun passed away in Wolhusen Hospital on August 17, 1987 after a serious illness, but unexpectedly at the age of 70. The immortalized was the founder and owner of the widely known and valued shoe store Stimimann AG in Wolhusen and Ruswil.
During a vacation stay in Indonesia, Marlies Stimimann, daughter of Hans Stirnimann-Roos, died at the thriving age of 26 after a brief, serious illness at Saal farm in Ruswil.
In Walchwil, Tonishofstr. 5, died on December 11, 1986 Ms. Maria Stimimann-Meierhans at the age of 63.
At the age of 73, Mrs. Nina Stirnimann-Amrein died in Malters, Untersiten on January 22, 1987.