The following is a translation of the original book, "Die Familie Stirnimann In Den Kantonen Luzern Und Aargau" written by Prof. Joseph Stirnimann in Swiss-German. I have tried to have the translations as accurate as possible. However, there is no guarantee of this accuracy. Walter Sterneman II
THE FAMILY STIRNIMANN
IN THE CANTONS
LUZERN AND AARGAU
by
Joseph Stirnimann
Foreword
This text originated from the lecture the author gave at the first meeting of our family on September 6, 1970, in Ruswil. Before publication, as desired by the participants and numerous other interested parties, could be considered, the initial findings, which focused primarily on the family's beginnings in the Lucerne area and on the Ruswil branch, had to be supplemented by further research. The first step was to include the Canton of Aargau in the investigations. The aim was to determine the family's residences and migrations during the 15th and 16th centuries.
The most important sources consulted were the numerous land registers, which are the inventories of the properties and income of the wealthy former ecclesiastical landowners in what are now the cantons of Lucerne and Aargau, who had been richly endowed since their founding: the collegiate churches of Beromünster and Zofingen (Aarau State Archives), the Benedictine monastery of Muri in the Freiamt (Aarau State Archives and Samen College), and the Cistercian monastery of St. Urban (Lucerne State Archives). The Solothurn State Archives (see list of sources), the city archives of Sursee, Willisau, and Zofingen, and numerous parish archives were also consulted. Research in the Bernese archives had to be postponed.
The results obtained so far exceed all expectations. The most important finding: Since 1531, seven individuals bearing our name—presumably with their families—migrated from the Protestant canton of Aargau to the northern canton of Lucerne within just a few years. This provided belated documentary confirmation to the tradition, still alive in most branches of the Lucerne family, that their ancestors immigrated to the Lucerne region during the Reformation. The common origin of the Lucerne Stirnimann and Aargau Stirnemann families is beyond doubt. However, the question remains open as to when and under what circumstances those bearing the name, documented in Ürkheim, Aargau, since the mid-15th century, arrived there from the Lucerne area.
Among the most gratifying discoveries of recent years are the Latin diary of the Benedictine monk Jost Stirnimann (1654–1706), a member of the Ruswil family, preserved in the archives of Muri Abbey (Samen College). This diary, little known outside specialist circles, is a welcome source for the family's chronicle and genealogy. Also discovered are two magnificent stained-glass windows bearing the monk's coat of arms, also kept in Samen.
The author's aim was to document all the major clans and branches of the cantons of Lucerne and Aargau, including their most prominent representatives (living individuals are not mentioned), and, where possible, to place them within their genealogical context. The author welcomes any further information, additions, and corrections.
The Ruswil branch, the most numerous and best-researched of all, is presented in the most comprehensive manner. Here, the family history expands to encompass the history of their farms and estates. Please refer to the family trees at the end.
The directors and staff of the various archives facilitated my work with their courteous assistance and many valuable suggestions and advice. Librarians, specialists, relatives, and fellow family members supported my research with valuable information. The most welcome service was rendered by Dr. Alfred von Speyr of Hergiswil NW, who included this short family history in the journal "Der Schweizer Familienforscher - Le Généalogiste Suisse," which he edited. The Wallimann printing house in Beromünster did everything possible to ensure the attractive presentation of this special edition. My sincere thanks go to all those, named and unnamed, who contributed to the success and publication of this work.
Lucerne, December 1973 The Author
Table of Contents
Preface
Table of Contents
The Stirnimann Family in the Cantons of Lucerne and Aargau
In the Lucerne Area
Guests, Foreigners, and Citizens of the City of Lucerne
Tenant Farmers of the Monastery of St. Leodegar
In the Service of Lucerne
In Sempach
In Southern Aargau
Ürkheim
Safenwil
Zofingen
Zetzwil
Gränichen
Aarburg
Immigrated to the Lucerne Region at the Time of the Re-enactment
The Fleeing Cross
In the Wigger Valley and Surroundings
Buchs
Uffikon
Kätzigen
Langnau
Triengen
Witelingen
Schütz
Descendants of the Immigrants
Reiden
Knutwil
Neuenkirch
Pfaffnau, Altbüron, Großdietwil, Ettiswil, Gettnau
The Ruswil Family
Most Important Unpublished Sources
Published Sources and Literature
Symbols and Abbreviations
? before 1834 = baptized
after 1834 = born
8 married
Anniversary Book
The Stirnimann Family
in the Cantons of Lucerne and Aargau
With special consideration of the Ruswil branch
It is a beautiful thing to trace one's lineage; for a family's genealogy is to the individual what the history of the fatherland is to the entire nation.
Esaias Tegnor
In the Lucerne Region
The origins of the family discussed below lie in the Lucerne region. The first records of them date back to the middle of the 14th century. This was the time when the burgeoning young city was situated at the outflow of the Reuss river, under the leadership of its far-sighted mayor, Peter von Gundoldingen, focused all its efforts on a single goal: to break free from the rule of the House of Austria and achieve full political independence. Initially, Lucerne aligned itself more closely with the three Forest Cantons, with whom it swore an eternal alliance in 1332. Beyond that, the city itself had to find ways and means to realize its political plans. The most important of these means was that Lucerne, like Bern and Zurich, granted citizenship to the inhabitants of neighboring and distant communities, thus binding these communities to itself. Because these citizens lived outside the city walls, they were called "Ausburger" (outsiders); contemporary imperial law refers to them as "Pfahlburger" (literally "post citizens"). The non-citizens belonged to the city, were members of the urban community, and enjoyed its advantages: they lived under the city's protection and were exempt from tolls.
On the other hand, the non-citizens were partly subject to the city's jurisdiction; they had to fight alongside the citizens in military conflicts and contribute to special taxes. Originally, the non-citizens differed from the established citizens only in their place of residence and the special rights that resulted from it; however, they were allowed to move to the city at any time and become established citizens.
Through the naturalization of rural residents, the city gained a foothold in the countryside. The non-citizens promoted the city's political goals and laid the foundations for the formation of the later city-state. The inclusion of Austrian subjects from the surrounding area in the citizenship system, and the intention thereby expressed to wrest the city and its lucrative tolls from Austrian rule, led Lucerne into incessant conflict with its sovereigns, the Dukes of Austria, from 1332 onward, culminating in the Sempach War (July 9, 1386). The political significance of the citizens only diminished when the city became a free imperial city in 1418.1
Legally, guests (hospites) were in a worse position than citizens. A guest was someone who was staying in the city without acquiring citizenship. The relationship between guests and citizens in Lucerne was regulated by old statutes. Guests did not enjoy the same advantages as citizens and citizens.2
Guests, Residents, and Citizens of the City of Lucerne
The Lucerne State Archives preserve a city tax register from 1352, the oldest surviving one. The register lists the names of the citizens, residents, guests, and properties from which an extraordinary wealth tax (2 pfennigs per pound) was levied in June 1352 to cover war expenses.
Each name is accompanied by the tax due, and in some cases, the amount paid. We have before us the oldest known list of Lucerne's citizens, residents, and guests. Among the guests and properties of the parish of Horw, the following is listed:
Heini Stirnimann's child, 16 shillings, 9 shillings 5
Heini Stirnimann died, presumably not too long before, perhaps from the plague of 1349. Therefore, the tax is levied on his child, likely a son. The tax register lists a large number of children, sons and daughters, who are liable for taxes in place of their parents. Heini Stirnimann is among the four wealthiest of Horw's 53 taxpayers. His tax liability amounts to 16 shillings, which is 192 pfennigs (1 shilling = 12 pfennigs). Of this, 9 shillings have already been paid. Since 2 pfennigs are levied per pound of assets, Heini's assets are estimated at 96 pounds. Two examples may illustrate the purchasing power of money at that time: in the 14th century, a cow cost 12 to 20 shillings, and a steer about 12 shillings.
Our attention is also drawn to another name in the tax register. Among the inhabitants of Lucerne, specifically under the heading "These are the people of Moos and Tribschen," the following is mentioned:
Ueli von Stirnrüti, 12 schillings, dedit7
The people of Moos were those who inhabited the wide, flat area southeast of today's Lucerne main train station, bordered by the lake, Tribschen, and the Geißenstein mountain, and extending into the area known as Breitlachen. This area, now largely built over, was commonly known as Moos until very recently. Just as numerous individuals in the tax register are named after well-known places in this region, e.g., in Horw: Ueli von Winkel, Heini von Langensand; in Tribschen: Werne ze Geißenstein, Ueli von Schönenbül, so too is the name of Ueli von Stirnrüti derived from a field name in the municipality of Horw that has survived to this day. Stirnrüti refers to an area cleared of game or a recently abandoned farmstead on the southwestern slope of the Bireggwald forest above present-day Blindenlieim.
The Germanist and onomastician Guntram Saladin suggested that the surname Stirnimann, which first appears in Horw, originated from the Horw field name Stirnrüti. "The Stirne," he writes, "is the upper, treeless edge of the hillside."8 Ueli von Stirnrüti no longer lived in Horw in 1352, unlike Heini Stirnimann's child, but rather in neighboring Moos or perhaps in Tribschen.
In 1385, we encounter a Uelli Stirnemann in the oldest register of citizens of Lucerne.9 He is a guarantor for a Heini Seiler in Littau, who is admitted to the Lucerne citizenship system.10 This Uelli Stirnemann therefore already possessed the citizenship of Lucerne, meaning he was a resident citizen. Whether he is the same person as the aforementioned Ueli von Stirnrüti is of course no longer possible to determine.
Tenant Farmers of the Monastery of St. Leodegar
Horw, along with Moos and Tribschen, was one of the 16 manor farms or estates belonging to the oldest holdings of the Alsatian Benedictine monastery of Murbach, to which the Lucerne monastery of St. Leodegar—the predecessor of today's collegiate church—was subordinate. The farmers who inhabited and cultivated these Murbach estates were so-called "church servants"—a form of mitigated serfdom. They paid the monastery an annual rent in kind.11 In the 13th century, the services and personal dues owed to the monastic lord were transformed into real property obligations and were considered interest on a repayable capital. The monks became fully free owners of the land, which remained subject to the land rent (the former feudal rent).12 Otherwise, the owner could freely dispose of his property, bequeath it, mortgage it with the lord's permission, or sell it. However, the heir, as well as the buyer in the case of a sale, had to obtain the transfer from the monastery (receive the "fief") and pay a transfer fee, called the "honorary tax."
In the area of the Murbach monks' courts, there was also freehold property belonging to free farmers who surrendered it to the monastery and received it back as a hereditary fief, without thereby completely forfeiting their personal freedom.13
In 1291, the Abbot of Murbach ceded the city of Lucerne, along with the other monks' courts, to Austria. In most of the manorial estates, the people's inheritance no longer belonged to the church itself, but rather to either the provostry or one of the monastic offices as their own property.14 The provost of the Benedictine monastery in the estate henceforth granted and revoked the fiefs.
By a fortunate turn of events, a document from the year 1361 has been preserved, according to which a Heinrich Stirnimann relinquished his hereditary fief in the moor that year, i.e., returned it to the provost of the Benedictine monastery, or rather, to his deputy. The document, which is kept in the Am Rhyn family archive at Geißenstein Castle, reads as follows:
To all who see or hear this letter, I, Andres von Mörsberg, chamberlain of the monastery in Lucerne and steward of my honorable Lord Hugo von Signouwe, provost of the same monastery of the Order of Saint Benedict, announce that Heinrich Stirniman came for me and gave me a prayer of the land. Lit in the Moses behind the barn of Gundoldin and behind the meadow, which is called the Strelarrun, in the name of the fact that I, Ulrich Fönnen, citizen of Lucerne, had purchased the aforementioned property from him rightfully and honestly and paid for it in full, as both of them were publicly acknowledged and sworn to before me, and that I, too, have granted and ceded to the aforementioned property, the provost Ulrich Fönnen, as rightful heir according to the law and custom of our church, with the annual rent that shall be paid to our church.
There before me was Ruodolf von Fruenbach, a member of our church, and Heinrich Stanners, bailiff of Lucerne, State citizen, official, according to our God's law and custom. This happened in Lucerne in the city at the fish market, where the following procession was present: Lord Wilhelm Schultbeiß, monastery head of our God's house, Claus and Peter von Gundoldin, and other honorable people. And since this happened before me and with my hand to the aforementioned, my lord the provost, as previously decreed, I have also affixed his seal to this letter as a true document of this matter, which was given on the twentieth day of April after the birth of God, in the year sixty-one. 17
The property (Gebett = Land) that is the subject of the legal transaction, and for which two adjacent landowners are named, is expressly designated as a hereditary lease.
Heinrich Stirnimann therefore very likely inherited the property from his father, who in turn inherited it from his father, and so on. Heinrich's father may be the same as Ueli von Stirnrüti, mentioned in the tax register of 1352, who also resided in this area. It is possible that Heinrich and his ancestors were free farmers. Heinrich sold his hereditary lease to the Lucerne citizen Ulrich, who is presumably identical with the citizen Ulrich Föno mentioned in the tax register of 1352, who resided in the small town. 18 Heinrich Stirnimann probably left his father's land permanently and settled in the city. In any case, the family is documented there in the years 1384 and 1394. In the year 1400, a woman named Verena Stirnimann lived in Obern Grund.21
In the Service of Lucerne
Towards the end of June 1422, Lucerne troops under the command of Mayor Ulrich Walker marched into the Livinental valley to come to the aid of the people of Uri and Obwalden, who were under pressure from the Duke of Milan near Bellinzona. This reckless undertaking ended in a crushing defeat. One of the 93 Lucerne mercenaries who died a hero's death in Arbedo on June 30, 1422, and whose name is commemorated in Lucerne's anniversary of the battle, was Heini Stirnimann.22 He was therefore certainly a resident of Lucerne, if not a citizen, and thus liable for military service.
The family can be traced back to Sempach in 1408, specifically in connection with the lake bailiwick. In 1434, Jenni (=Hans) Stirnimann, who presumably worked as a fisherman, testified twice in court that he had fished at Winkel 50 years earlier.1 This refers to the bay of Lake Lucerne south of Horw, known as Winkel. The Stirnimann family of Sempach in the 15th century certainly originated in Horw, where Heini Stirnimann and his child are documented as the first bearers of the name in 1352.
In 1441 and 1447, Henzmann (= Heinrich) Stirnimann held the office of Schultheiß (mayor) in Sempach. 2 He could, as the identical name suggests, have been a descendant of that Heini Stirnimann documented in Horw in 1352. The Schultheiß, who was primarily an administrator and judge, had lost considerable importance in Sempach since the town's incorporation into Lucerne's citizenship law (1386). Lucerne granted Sempach the right to nominate four suitable men for the election of the Schultheiß, from whom Lucerne would then choose "the one who pleases us and is well-disposed towards us." 3. On January 29, 1441, Mayor Heinrich Stirnimann certified the donation of an annual measure of oil or an equivalent amount of money by a married couple from Sempach to the Chapel of Our Lady in Nottwil. It is worth noting the mayor's remark that he had no seal of his own and had therefore requested Kuonz von Egerswil to use his seal (which shows a peg in a shield). The document is kept in the archives of the parish church of Nottwil. 4.
In Southern Aargau
The surname Stirnimann disappears from the Canton of Lucerne in the mid-15th century. From the same period onward, it reappears, initially sporadically, then with increasing frequency, in the southwestern part of Aargau, bordering the Canton of Lucerne. The earliest document from this region, and likely outside the Canton of Lucerne altogether, that mentions our name is a deed from the Collegiate Church of St. Mauritius in Zofingen, dated February 25, 1457. It concerns the parish church of Ürkheim, also called Ürken, located northeast of Zofingen. On the aforementioned date, Werna Stirneman, churchwarden of Ürkheim on this date, made a purchase of 16 Rhenish guilders on behalf of this church. Since Werna (= Werner) was a churchwarden—or, in Lucerne dialect, a Kirehmeier—his family must have been settled in Urkheim for some time. It was never customary, least of all in small communities, to entrust newcomers with public office. Presumably, Werner's father or grandfather had settled in Ürkheim. This could have occurred in connection with the conquest of Aargau (1415), where Lucerne extended its territory to its present-day northern border. It should be remembered that the citizens of Aargau, and especially those of a city, were liable for military service. Just as Heini Stirnimann was among the Lucerne mercenaries led by Mayor Ulrich Walker before Bellinzona and at the Battle of Arbedo in 1422, a member of the family may have participated in the campaign into Austrian Aargau in April 1415, to which King Sigismund had summoned the neighbors of the outlawed Austrian Duke Frederick IV. It is conceivable that he was assigned to a Lucerne border garrison, perhaps in Wikon, where the Lucerne forces captured one of the three castles, and in whose vicinity Ürkheim lies.
Let us not overlook the fact that the new northern border of the city-state of Lucerne was an artificial one. While it certainly divided the land and people of the Wigger Valley and the adjacent areas, which had always formed a geographical and ethnic unit, into a southern and northern half, it could not possibly erase the familial, legal, and economic ties, relationships, and institutions that had been rooted for centuries. For example, the common pasture between Zofingen, Bottenwil, and Ürkheim on the one hand, and Wikon, which had become part of Lucerne, on the other—a practice undoubtedly dating back to the Alemannic migrations—continued to exist, only being abolished in the years 1788–1790.
Finally, it should be remembered that the Gotthard route from Lucerne northward led through Sempach, Sursee, and Zofingen, resulting in lively contact between these towns and their hinterland.
It can be considered certain that the Stirnimann family in Ürkheim and other Aargau municipalities mentioned later originally came from the canton of Lucerne, as the name is documented in the entire present-day German-speaking part of Switzerland only in the canton of Lucerne before the mid-15th century. Furthermore, new family names only exceptionally arose in our region after 1400.
The descendants of the churchwarden Werner Stirnimann can be traced in Ürkheim to approximately 1530, based on a rent roll and three land registers from the lordships of Gösgen and Wartenfels, to which four farms in Ürkheim owed dues.
The rent roll of 1481 lists Hanns Stirnenman as the owner of the first farm and Werli Stirnenman as the owner of the second. The first owes 14 quarters of spelt (also called SpeIt, a type of wheat), 14 quarters of oats, 1 pound of money, 1 malter of oats, 1 Mütt of oats, and 1 Mütt of spelt annually from his farmstead; the second owes 1 malter of spelt and 14 shillings annually.
Hans and Werli (a diminutive of Werner) were likely brothers and, as such, sons of the churchwarden Werner; they probably divided their father's farm. Unfortunately, we lack the most important source for this period, which could provide us with more detailed information about the family's genealogy: the Urkheim Book of Anniversaries; like those of most of the parishes in Aargau that are now Reformed, was destroyed or lost during the Reformation.
The land register does not list the names of the two farms and their individual meadows and fields; these are only revealed in the land registers of 1528 4 and 1536 5. Among other unnamed properties belonging to the first farm were:
the Teaffenthal, the Hofacker
the Buchmatt, the Banacker
the Rolirmatt, the Fluoacker
the Bilgersacker
the Teaffenthal, the farm field
the Buchmatt, the Banacker
the Rolirmatt, the Fluoacker
the Bilgersacker
The second farm, called Wilhelmshof, includes:
The Mockenmatt, the Grabmatten
a meadow called Gesslerin
a field by Weinlis Brünnen (presumably named after Wernli Stirnemann)
a field in the Stampfental, the Hofacker
the Blöwacker, the Langacker
the Moosacker, the Grünächerli
the Mockenmatt, the grave mats
a field called Gesslerin
a field by Weinlis Brünnen (presumably named after Wernli Stirnemann)
a field in the valley, the farm field
the Bloewacker, the long field
the MOO field the Gruenaecherli
The name Stirnimann no longer appears in the land registers of 1528, 1536, and 1540.6 However, the 1540 land register notes that Stirneman owned the first farmstead on the outskirts: Hans (above: Ulrich) Lienhart, also called Kleinbuob, gives an annual payment from his trade, which Stirneman received. 7a
Before the Reformation, Stirnimanns also resided in Safenwil, located north of Urkheim, cultivating land subject to dues to the Zofingen Abbey; they left Safenwil around 1531. 7b
It is very likely that one or more Stirnimann families from Urkheim and Safenwil migrated to the Wiggertal valley in the canton of Lucerne at the time of the Reformation. More on this in the next section. Before that, the earliest documented bearers of the name in the other Aargau municipalities will be listed.
The Stirnimann family became established in Zofingen at the end of the 15th century; whether they came from Ürkheim or directly from the Lucerne region is uncertain.
The oldest guild book of the town, dating from 1528, a revised version of an earlier draft and continued until 1608, mentions the following in its membership list, which also includes the millers and bakers, after 1484:
f. 8v: Henntz (= Heinz) Stirnenman
Hanns Stirnenman, miller
f. 8v: Henntz (= Heinz) Stirnenman
Hanns Stirnenman, miller
The latter is documented in a charter dated December 23, 1513, as the head miller and a citizen of Zofingen, and was a member of the council; he drowned in 1519 on a pilgrimage to the Marian shrine of Schöntal in Basel-Landschaft, which was frequently visited, especially during times of plague. 11
The riflemen's guild book also lists the following from the period before the introduction of the Reformation:
p. 9v: Hans Stirneman 1520 Rudolf Stirnenman
p. 9v: Hans Stirneman 1520 Rudolf Stirnenman
Shortly after these names, the membership list includes the first preacher of the new faith, appointed by Bern, and the true reformer of Zofingen: Toctor Sebastian Hofmeister, preacher of this time, who came to Zofingen in May 1528 and died there on June 26, 1533. 12 The tax register of 1534 13 mentions:
Hanns Stirnenman, turner: 8 shillings.
Hanns Stirnenman, miller: 20 shillings.
Hanns Stirnenman, turner: 8 shillings.
Hanns Stirnenman, Mueller: 20 Plappart.
On October 30, 1533, Friedli Stirnemann renewed his citizenship; 14 this is likely the same Fridolin Stirneman mentioned in a document dated June 2, 1566. 15 The baptismal register 16 of Zofingen records ten children of the married couple Fridlin Stirnemann and Elisabeth Rubi between 1575 and 1601.
The Zofingen city charter book further mentions: on July 25, 1556, Bartlin Stirneman. 17
His orchard is located on the road to Brittnau.
According to the Zofingen family registers, the family would have died out in Zofingen in the 16th century. 18 However, it is also possible that they moved away from Zofingen.
The family is documented in the first half of the 16th century in the municipalities of Zetzwil and Gränichen:
Zetzwil: ? ? 1523 Stirnenman, the miller of Zetzwil. 19
Gränichen: January 16, 1540 Hanns Stirnenman, at that time bailiff of Gränichen. 20
Erwin Stirnemann (1885-1970), engineer, Zurich city councilor and head of the Building Department from 1935 to 1946, first vice president of the city council from 1942, member of the National Council from 1943 to 1946, and founder of "Pro Sihltal," came from the Stirnemann family of Gränichen—today the largest in the municipality. 20a
From 1589 until the mid-17th century, the Stirnemann family held mills in Aarburg. 21
During the Reformation
Immigrated to the Lucerne region
After years of wavering and palpable uncertainty, expressed in several religious edicts, the Bernese Grand Council held the famous Colloquy of the Christian Faith in the Franciscan Church from January 6 to 26, 1528. This colloquy ultimately led to the triumph of the Reformation in the Bernese lands, including Aargau. The Protestant Richard Feller, one of the most important Bernese historians of recent times, describes without embellishment the arbitrariness and one-sidedness with which the authorities directed the Colloquy and subsequently enforced the Reformation in both urban and rural areas.1 Feller speaks, particularly regarding the state's claim to ecclesiastical authority, of an "arbitrariness that broke with the unity of the Christian world."2 The abolition of the Mass was generally felt, even in the Bernese countryside, as the most painful loss, in addition to the ruthless destruction of images and church decorations. The authorities therefore initially kept their subjects in the dark about their true intentions regarding the Mass, as their actions were generally calculated and tactical. Depending on the circumstances, they either exercised leniency and restraint at first, or they ruthlessly suppressed resistance, if necessary with weapons, as in the Bernese Oberland. 3a The actions of Bernese authorities towards Zofingen were particularly telling. In a letter dated July 20, 1528, to the mayor, council, and citizens of Zofingen, the Bernese council demanded the punishment of those who still remained resistant and defiant towards the new doctrine, adding: "But if anyone refuses to comply and bear the punishment, we will help you." 3b
Only by knowing what actually happened back then can we, today, begin to grasp the spiritual distress of those many who, wishing to remain true to their church and convictions, resorted to the ultimate and most difficult decision: to leave their ancestral homeland and relocate to Catholic territory. Soon after 1528, Catholics emigrated from the areas that had converted to the Reformation, 4 because they evidently realized that all resistance was futile, would have detrimental consequences for them, and that no change could be hoped for. Emigration reached a greater scale after the Battle of Kappel, or rather, after the Second Peace of Kappel. The defeat of the Zurichers at Kappel (October 11, 1531), where Zwingli fell, brought the spread of the Reformation in the Swiss Confederation to a standstill. The Second Peace of Kappel, concluded in November 1531, allowed the individual cantons to retain their faith. Those who rejected the confession of faith that was the only one permitted in the canton in question had to emigrate. Joseph Schacher has documented a surprisingly large number of individuals and entire families who immigrated from present-day Aargau to Lucerne during the Reformation.5 Among these—though not mentioned by Schacher—are the Stirnimann family, who settled in the northern part of the canton of Lucerne during those years.
The Fleeing Cross
In March 1528, the paintings in the collegiate church of St. Mauritius in Zofingen were publicly burned. The town's chroniclers recount how a Catholic named Stirnimann saved one painting from destruction. Dean Johann Jakob Frickhardt writes:
In the church, the common people took down three of the largest relics and burned them to ashes in the stilt house. The remaining relics and ornaments were carried out to the gate of the church, behind the churchyard, where the same thing happened to them.
One of these relics is said to have been rescued undamaged from the fire by a local citizen, Stirnemann, and carried to Reiden, where he subsequently became a citizen.6
This is undoubtedly the same event that the Lucerne native Hans Salat recorded in his well-known Reformation chronicle as follows:
"Item, when the relics were stormed and burned at Zofin, a good, honorable man took a beautiful, very large crucifix upon himself and his good sword in hand, and carried the faces of all the attackers away from them to the gate in Reiden, up the hill to the church of Saint Banns." 7
The two accounts complement each other. Frickhardt knows only of a painting that came to Reiden, Salat specifies that it was a crucifix that was brought to Reiden to the church of the Knights Hospitaller commandery on the mountain of what was then Reiden's main parish church; Salat either does not know the name of the man who saved the cross or it is of secondary importance to him, he is only interested in the fact; but it is understandable that the name of the man whose courageous deed became widely known was not so quickly forgotten in Zofingen. 8
The aforementioned cross is most likely located today in the Wikon Castle Chapel. The impressive late Gothic corpus, 115 cm high and attached to a Baroque cross, was—according to an inscribed cartouche—thrown into a fire in vain "in one place" during the Reformation and later, during the time of the Landvogt (governor) Jost Rüttimann (1699–1705), brought to Wikon. 9
The Stirnimann family is documented in Reiden from the mid-16th century. It probably descends from one of the immigrants discussed below.
In the Wigger Valley and Surrounding Area
Within the short period of about four years, six individuals bearing the surname Stirnimann—presumably with their families—settled in six different locations in the northern part of the Canton of Lucerne, primarily in the Wigger Valley. A seventh followed approximately three years later. We know the full name of each of the seven from contemporary sources, and for six of them, the exact or approximate date of their settlement in their new homeland. It is noteworthy that all seven emigrant families settled within a narrowly defined area. They were therefore likely members of a closely connected clan who planned and carried out their emigration together. With the exception of the last immigrant, all settled in communities or on farms belonging to, or obligated to pay dues to, the long-established and powerful church of St. Michael in Beromünster (Langnau, Triengen, Kätzigen) and the Cistercian monastery of St. Urban (Buchs, Uffikon, Witelingen). The churches and monasteries of the Catholic cantons were bulwarks in the defense against the new doctrine, and religious refugees could expect understanding and assistance from them first and foremost. The land registers, the tax records, and the lists of honorary dues from Beromünster and St. Urban, as well as the archives of the Zofingen church, which was dissolved by Bern in 1528, are, along with the parish registers, the main sources that provide us with information about the first immigrants, their descendants, their property, and their fates. Let us now turn to the first immigrants and their descendants in the respective localities.
Buchs
The earliest immigrants we encounter are in Buchs, which until 1809 belonged to Altishofen, the largest parish in the Wigger Valley. The parish was owned by the Teutonic Knights' commandery of Hitzkirch, which provided the parish priest—a Teutonic priest—and the administrators of the order's house. The abbeys of Beromünster and Zofingen also owned property in Buchs. The land rent and account register of Zofingen Abbey, compiled around 1530, whose income—as with other dissolved monasteries and abbeys—was subsequently claimed by Bern, much to the disappointment of the farmers, lists Buchs as the second tenant farmer:
f. 90 r: Stirneman shall pay 2 malter of grain and 15 shillings from 1 farmstead in Duchs 13
f. 90 r: Stirneman shall pay 2 malter of grain and 15 shillings from 1 farmstead in Duchs 13
The presumed first name of this tenant farmer is recorded in the Altishofen Book of Anniversaries: Vester, i.e., Silvester. According to a note in the Book of Anniversaries, Vester Stirnimann redeemed the land rent owed to an anniversary foundation on the Hardere Rüti field above the Zügholz near Buchs in 1536. The book of remembrance undoubtedly refers to the same Vester Stirnimann on October 16th, stating that he redeemed the land rent owed to a remembrance foundation on Hochfuren, an estate in Buchs, and used the proceeds for the large bell. In the relevant remembrance entry, the churchwarden is explicitly authorized to levy and redeem the land in question, on which the pledge was secured. This Vester Stirnimann was therefore the churchwarden, i.e., the administrator of the church property. This finding fits well with the situation in Altishofen at that time. Around 1535, the Lucerne authorities intervened in Altishofen—as they did in Hitzkirch—dismissing the newly Catholic pastor, Hans Hüßler, and appointing Damian Egli, who came from Lucerne. Until 1542, Lucerne administered the parish and the Teutonic Order's settlement in Altishofen—as in Hitzkirch—through its own stewards and officials. In those years of confusion and mistrust, a religious refugee might have offered the assurance of unconditional loyalty and reliability for the position of churchwarden.
Silvester Stirnimann is also mentioned in the 1555 rent roll of the parish church of Knutwil. Based on this document and the land registers of St. Urban, we know the extent of Silvester's landholdings, which included the mill in Buchs, and the names of his four sons who shared his inheritance: Lorenz, Lenz (married to Anna Mangolt), Hans (married to Anna Thuner), and Bartholomäus or Bartil (married to Elisabeth Gut). The latter was the bailiff of Altishofen in 1559, and in that capacity, he was responsible for collecting the revenues due to the Teutonic Order commandery of Hitzkirch.
The Stirnimann family in Buchs and Uffikon likely originated from Ürkheim. This is indicated by the given name Silvester, which was popular among the Stirnimann family of the Wiggertal valley until around 1700, whereas it was rare in this area before then. Saint Sylvester (314-355), the Pope, was the patron saint of the parish church in Ürkheim 22 – incidentally, the only parish church with this patronage in all of Central Switzerland, 23 which in turn explains the rarity of this given name. It has always been, and remains to this day, a custom in Catholic areas to name one of the children after the patron saint of the local church. 24
During the 17th century, the Stirnimann family left Buchs. In 1687, one of them acquired the mill at Burgrain near Alberswil. 26
Uffikon
From 1531 to 1544, Stephan Stirnimann is documented as a tenant farmer of the Zofingen and St. Urban churches in Uffikon, a village near Buchs and the neighboring parish of Mitshofen. 26 He was likely a brother of Silvester of Buchs. The Zofingen land registers 27 indicate that Stephan purchased the farm of Hans Vogt in Uffikon around 1530/31. According to another land register, 28 he also acquired land in Buchs; both properties were apparently located close to each other in the border region between the municipalities of Uffikon and Buchs. A son of Stephan may have been Jon (married to Anna Suter), who is documented from 1562 onwards and died on January 13, 1565. 29 According to the Uffikon book of anniversaries, his son Jakob (married to Ottilia Gut) was the deputy bailiff. 30a The latter's son, Gabriel (born April 4, 1608), moved to Knutwil and became the progenitor of the local family. Silvester Stirnimann was a judge in Uffikon in 1662. 30b
Kätzigen
Among the oldest possessions of the collegiate churches of Beromünster and Zofingen was the Kätzigen (Kätzingen) farmstead, situated on a wooded slope southwest of the village of Buchs. The present-day hamlets of Oberkätzigen and Unterkätzigen belong to the municipality of Dagmersellen. The Zofingen collegiate church's share was ceded by Bern to St. Urban in 1570 in exchange for St. Urban's properties located in the Canton of Bern. In the Zofingen collegiate church's rent register of 1531, Jakob Stirnemann is mentioned as a previous owner 31; he could therefore be the first member of the family to immigrate.
Kätzigen was located on a slope enclosed by forests southwest of the village of Buchs. Owners of the goods subject to Beromünster taxes were:
Owners of the goods subject to Beromünster taxes were:
1542-72 Andres Stirnimann (married to Maria Kleeb), who in 1572 bought the farm of Uh Fischer in Uffikon.
1572-90 Heini Trochsler on behalf of Melchior Stirnimann.
1590-95 Bartlin Stirnimann on behalf of his constable daughter Anna Stirnimann (probably daughter of Andres).
1595-1603 Wolfgang Hunkeler.
1542-72 Andres Stirnimann (married to Maria Kleeb), who in 1572 bought the farm of Uh Fischer in Uffikon. 1572-90 Heini Trochsler in the name of Melchior Stirniman 33 1590-95 Bartlin Stirnimann in the name of his Vogt daughter Anna Stirnimann (probably daughter of Andres) 34 1595-1603 Wolfgang Hunkeler 35
Langnau
In Langnau, which, along with Richenthal and Melsecken, formed part of Beromünster's largest holdings in the Wiggertal valley, extending to the cantonal border, the family can be traced back to 1532. The chamber book, the abbey's register of income, lists a Häflinger as the first tenant farmer in Langnau in 1532, with the same hand writing underneath: gytt jetz Stirnimann. 36 The first name is recorded in the minutes of the tithe settlement of 1536: Klaus 37; in the chamber book of 1542/43 he is called Kläwy Stirniman. 38 He owned a cottage with an orchard and granary, 5.5 Mannwerk of meadowland, and around 16 Jucharten of arable land, which, according to the medieval three-field system, was divided into three Zelgen. 39 Klaus was succeeded in 1557 by Jakob, 40 undoubtedly his son. In 1570, Klaus Stirnimann's heirs sold their farm to Heini Widmer. Around 1571, a Klaus Stirnimann (married to Agatha Schmid), presumably a son of Jakob and grandson of Klaus, acquired an estate in neighboring Melsecken, where the Schmid family, also called Welnauer, held property.
Triengen
Between 1534 and 1538, the chamber books of the Beromünster provostry in Triengen record a Heiny Stirnimann. He was the second of the three tenant farmers there and had taken over his farm from Daniel Kesler, who is still listed in his place in the chamber book of 1532. Since no chamber book exists between 1532 and 1534, it is possible that Heiny Stirnimann had already arrived in Triengen during this intervening period. The name Stirnimann no longer appears in the 1542 register of accounts, the next one after 1538.
Witelingen
The Witelingen (Witteldingen) farm, located 3 km south of the village of Pfaffnau, was a fief of St. Urban Monastery and, until the 16th century, also owed rent to the Lower Hospital in Burgdorf. It comprised 30 Mannwerk (approximately 10 hectares) of meadowland and 150 Jucharten (approximately 15 hectares) of arable land and pasture. The farm bordered Roggliswil and the farms of Hertmelingen, Eppenwil, Renzligen, and Linegg. 45 The White Register (mid-15th century) records the order of the tenant farmers:
Hentz von Badachtal, Peter Stirnenman
Mathis Knüsel, Uoli Bluom (d. after 1562)
From a court decision by the mayor and council of Willisau dated December 5, 1548, we learn that Peter Stirnimann acquired the Witelingen farm on the Tuesday before St. Nicholas' Day in 1534. The subject of the lawsuit was the hay tithe claimed by St. Urban. The tenant farmer explained to the court how the Witelingen farm had come into his possession and that he had thus far paid the tithe as his seller had indicated, hoping to continue paying it in the same manner and no longer being obligated to do so. Among the documents he presented to the judges was the aforementioned deed of execution from 1534. 46
Peter Stirnimann was the only tenant farmer of his lineage in Witelingen. His buyer was Uoli Bluom, who was succeeded between 1662 and 1693 by Hans Bluom, undoubtedly his son. It can be considered almost certain that Peter Stirnimann had two sons named Heinrich and Ulrich. Heinrich (married to Kunigunde Sinner, probably from the long-established family of Pfaffnau) moved to Luthern, Ulrich is considered the progenitor of the family of Eppenwil; two of his sons were named Klaus, a farmer in Eppenwil, and Andres, presumably a miller in Melsecken. 47
Schötz
The last immigrant, Sebastian, settled in Schötz. According to the Altishofen Book of Anniversaries, he owned two properties there from 1537 onwards, on which the land rents of two anniversaries were attached: the Banholz and the ufgend Acker. 48 In the margins of both anniversaries, it is noted that Bastian Stirnimann had the estate in Schötz in the 37th year. The exact location of the two properties can no longer be determined; all that is certain is that they were situated in the northern half of what is now the parish of Schötz, which belonged to the parish of Altishofen until 1867.
Descendants of the Immigrants
Most of the Stirnimann families who settled in the Canton of Lucerne before 1800 are likely descended from the immigrants documented here during the Reformation era. From their original ancestral homes, the families spread out in the 16th and 17th centuries, primarily to the following communities: Reiden, Knutwil, Pfaffnau, Altbüron, Großdietwil, Ettiswil, Neuenkirch, and Ruswil. Of the families in these communities, most of which still exist today, only those from Knutwil and Ruswil have been studied in detail.
Reiden
The Stirnimann family is documented in Reiden since 1558. Peter Stirnimann, residing in Wikon, located 2 km north of the village, was the deputy bailiff of the bailiwick or district of Wikon from 1558 to 1586. In 1569, he is also documented as a district assessor. The position and authority of the deputy bailiff of a district were the same as those of the bailiff. The position and authority of these offices are discussed in the last section. Peter Stirnimann established a perpetual memorial service on November 4th at the lower, i.e., present-day, parish church in Reiden, to which Wikon belonged until recently. This service was for himself, his three wives Anna Murer, Barbara Kastler, and Katharina Lenner, and for all their parents, ancestors, and descendants. His son Gabriel was also deputy bailiff of Wikon (1596–1622) and a district assessor. He too established a perpetual memorial in Reiden (erected April 4, 1623) for himself, his two wives Magdalena Kaufmann and Barbel Schürmann, his parents Peter and Barbel Murin, his children Magdalena, Elisabeth, Jakob, Anna, Katharina, and Verena, as well as for his ancestors and descendants. The former official, who evidently appreciated a convivial gathering, stipulated—uniquely among memorial foundations—that 3.5 guilders of the annual interest income be "awarded for a proper drink.” 53
Sources from the 16th century mention other bearers of the name:
In 1564, Jakob Stirnimann received two Mannwerk (a unit of land measurement) from the Beromünster Abbey, called the Moßmatten, for which he paid 8 shillings in interest.
In 1571, this estate passed to his son Peter. 54
In 1567, Uoli Stirnimann of Reiden sold his estate to Hans Fischer of Triengen. 55
1577 - Andres Stirnimann sells his mill in Melsecken near Reiden to Heini Trocheler. 56
1578/79 - Peter Stirnimann is documented as the innkeeper of the Leuen. 57
1582 - Vester Stirnimann, deputy bailiff of Reiden, is a negotiator and arbitrator in a dispute between the inhabitants of Melsecken and Brittnau. 58
The most prominent member of the Reiden family in the 18th/19th century is Anton Stirnimann (1771-1831), court clerk, governor of the Altishofen district 1801-1802, member of the Federal Diet in 1802, district judge in Willisau 1805-11, member of the Grand Council 1814-32, and steward of the Knights Hospitaller commandery in Reiden. 59
Knutwil
The progenitor of the numerous Knutwil families 60 is, as noted above under Uffikon, Gabriel, baptized in Uffikon on April 4, 1608, the son of the local bailiff Jakob Stirnimann and Ottilia Gut. Gabriel (married to Barbara Kaufmann) acquired the farm in Knutwil below the smithy in 1657, later called Gäbelihus (after Gabriel). Gabriel had four sons: Hans, Jost, Jakob, and Gabriel. Among the descendants of the last, the following are mentioned:
Joseph (born 1777, died 1842, married to Christina Fries), farmer, innkeeper of the Kreuz inn, last court clerk of the Knutwil district, and chief judge. Of his ten sons were:
Joseph Anton (1804-83), priest, chaplain in Lucerne 1830-39, parish priest in Romoos 1839-59, canon in Beromünster 1859, and curator there in 1869.
Franz Xaver (1812-82), teacher, town clerk, mayor, mayor, advocate, and innkeeper of the Kreuz.
Bernhard (1816-63), district veterinarian.
Neuenkirch
In 1600, Hans Stirnimann from the Willisau district purchased the Rüeggeringen farm, located 2 km south of the village of Neuenkirch, from Georg and Ulrich Hiltbrand for 3,500 guilders. 61 The buyer, whose descendants remained in Rüeggeringen until the 19th century and spread widely, certainly came from Eppenwil. 62
The industrialist Franz Stirnimann (1885–1961), founder of the world-renowned construction machinery factory Franz Stirnimann AG in Olten, came from Neuenkirch. He lives on in the memory of his hometown as its greatest patron and benefactor.
The Pfaffnau family is not directly related to that of Witelingen. It appears in the church records from 1618 onward. The Lucerne pediatrician Dr. med. Fritz Stirnimann came from Pfaffnau. (1877-1947), who distinguished himself as a medical writer.
The Stirnimann family in Altbüron and Großdietwil, whose members now mostly reside elsewhere, likely originated in Eppenwil.
The Stirnimanns of Ettiswil and Gettnau came from Schötz and Buchs, branching out to places including Menznau, Sempach, Lucerne, and Winterthur. One Ettiswil native was the painter Friedrich Stirnimann (born 1841 in Ettiswil, died 1901 in Lucerne), whom connoisseurs describe as a prolific and brilliant artist. The Lucerne Art Museum twice held exhibitions of his diverse work, in which portraiture and genre painting predominate, in 1901 and 1945. The painter trained in Karlsruhe, Munich, and Paris and was a kindred spirit and friend of Arnold Böcklin and Hans Thoma. The work of the master, sometimes called the Lucerne anchor, has not yet received the recognition it deserves. In Ruswil, the artist painted the image of the Virgin Mary in the Aesch Chapel.
The Ruswil Family
By far the largest family, bound together to this day by strong ties of friendship and solidarity, has had its ancestral seats on the hills of Ruswil for three and a half centuries. The second book of anniversaries in the parish church of St. George in Sursee provides information about the origins of the Ruswil family, which was thoroughly researched among its peers. The memorial service, established around 1610 and recorded on April 16th, reads as follows:
Künigund Sinnerin of the Root family and her son Peter Stirnimann, by their last will and testament, as well as Adelheit Bircherin, his wife, Hans, Peter, Hans Jacob, Maria, Barbara, and their children, contributed 60 guilders in principal, so that the family priest and the schoolmaster may begin their year with a prayer service in the evening and a sung vigil in the morning, with two holy offices as usual. Therefore, one gives each priest 12 shillings, the school 6 shillings, the sacristan 4 shillings, the patron 20 shillings, and the parish priest 1.18 shillings.
In this group of people, we encounter three generations – a rather rare occurrence in our region: The progenitor of the Ruswil family: Peter Stirnimann, his wife: Adelheid Bircher, their children: Hans, Peter, Hans Jakob, Maria and Barbara, the mother of Peter Stirnimann: Kunigund Sinner; her husband is not named for reasons unknown to us.
The stipulations of the foundation are those customary for solemn anniversaries: the six priests of the parish church are to begin the anniversary on the eve of April 16th with Vespers (Placebo Domino) and in the morning celebrate Lauds, the morning prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours, followed by two Masses, first a Requiem Mass, then the Mass (Salve sancta parens) in honor of the Virgin Mary. The anniversary celebration usually concluded with a visit to the graves.
From the interest on the foundation's capital of 60 guilders, all those who participated in the memorial service received their customary share: each priest 12 shillings, the schoolmaster who played the organ or conducted the choirboys 6, and the sexton 4 shillings. The largest contributions, as was generally the case, went to the patron of the church, i.e., the church itself, and to the poor, namely 20 and 18 shillings respectively.
According to the memorial service, the founding family came from Roth. This is the hamlet of Roth, located 2 km southeast of the village of Buttisholz in a fertile valley of the Ruswil mountain, which even then comprised several farms. The place takes its name from the Rothbach stream, which rises on the heights of the Ruswil mountain in the lower Sällwald forest and flows through the hamlet of Roth in the direction of Großwangen. The hamlet of Roth, today divided into Lower and Upper Roth, belonged to the parish of Sursee until 1819.
Where did the donors of the memorial service come from? The family name of Adelheid Bircher provides the answer. The Bircher family (now Birrer), originally from Roggliswil near Pfaffnau, has been settled in Luthern since the beginning of the 15th century. Indeed, the baptismal register of the Luthern parish church records the following three sons of Peter Stirnimann and Adelheid Bircher:
January 19, 1588: Jakob
April 2, 1590: Melchior
June 3, 1605: Jakob
The baptismal register has a gap from October 15, 1593, to January 1, 1605. Three more children of the same couple are recorded in the baptismal register of the Willisau parish church:
August 28, 1596 Anna
August 12, 1598 Johann Jakob
November 3, 1600 Peter
Of the five sons mentioned in both baptismal registers, only Hans Jakob is definitively listed in the Sursee memorial service. The births of Hans and Peter, and the two daughters listed in the memorial service, likely occurred during the years when the baptismal register in Luthern was either not kept or the entries were neglected.
Together with the existing records, and using the previously mentioned register of farms and landed estates compiled in 1583, the name of Kunigunde Sinner's husband can now be determined. This register lists, among others, the following for the parish and the Luthern quarter: 3:
Heini Stirnemann, Hans and Peter, sons
This is undoubtedly the same Heini Stirnemann who appears in the register of the St. Elogius Brotherhood of the parish of Luthern, established in 1569—this time under the name Heinrich—among the first members and donors. A later hand placed a cross before his name, as before most of the others, indicating his death, which we may assume occurred in Luthern. This must have taken place in the spring of 1592, as can be seen from a legal complaint in which a Wilhelm Müller appears as Vogt, i.e., the representative of Heini Stirnemann's wife.4
It is highly probable that Heinrich Stirnimann came to Luthern from Witelingen near Pfaffnau and is likely a son of Peter, who purchased the aforementioned farm in 1534. The Stirnimann family has no memorial service in Luthern, nor are they represented in the Brotherhood of Our Lady, whose membership list was compiled in 1511. This suggests that the family remained in Luthern only briefly. After 1607, the family disappears from the church records.
The reasons that prompted Peter Stirnimann and his family to move from Luthern or Willisau to Ruswil remain unknown. It is quite possible that this relocation was connected to the plague that ravaged Switzerland between 1608 and 1615, depopulating towns, villages, and vast swathes of land, and wiping out entire families and clans. Large farms, whose owners had been wiped out, could be acquired at bargain prices. The Black Death also took a heavy toll in Ruswil, particularly in the years 1611 and 1612. Perhaps Peter Stirnimann and his mother erected their memorial chapel under the impression of this mass death.
The earliest document outside the church records that mentions the family settled in Roth is a promissory note dated February 5, 1613. According to this note, Peter Stirnimann and Hans, son, in the district of Rußwyl, Sursee parish, granted Jakob Steiner in Emmer parish, Rothenburg district, a seven-year annuity for a debt of 250 guilders. Their estate, Grissenegg, served as collateral. The father and son had purchased it from Jakob Steiner for 950 guilders, presumably on September 1, 1612, which likely explains why the promissory note was drawn up with effect from that date. It is likely that the execution of the promissory note at the time of the purchase was not possible due to the plague. The Grissenegg estate, whose extent the deed specifies as 20 Jucharten (approximately 10 hectares) of open land and 2 Jucharten of forest, borders Roth to the east. It is unclear which estate Peter Stirnimann acquired first, Roth or Grisseneggg. What is certain is that the residence of the progenitor of the Ruswil family was located on the site where the Muff-Sidier family home now stands in Untern Roth. In the northern wing of the imposing double house that Leonz Stirnimann built in 1705, an ancient log house built on rock is visible. This log house, which was incorporated into the new building of 1705, was almost certainly the residence of the first three generations.
According to the Sursee parish marriage register, Peter Stirnimann's three sons married in the same order as listed in the parish memorial book:
February 9, 1613: Hans Stirnimann married Anna Bächler
February 18, 1624: Peter Stirnimann married Maria Süeß
August 18, 1630: Hans Jakob Stirnimann married Barbara Bucher
The Sursee baptismal register records four children of Hans Stirnimann-Bächler between 1614 and 1622. The family is documented in Roth in 1630, after which their trail disappears. They presumably moved away from Ruswil.
Peter Stirnimann-Süeß, whose marriage remained childless, distinguished himself through his exceptional social conscience and charitable work. He donated 1,000 guilders to the parish's poor relief fund. 7 He was—a compelling example of spiritual fatherhood—godfather to around one hundred children, either alone or together with his wife. Apart from the children of his relatives, these were mostly children of homeless parents or from illegitimate unions. All of this must be seen against the backdrop of an impoverished era shaken by severe political and religious tensions and turmoil. The Thirty Years' War (1618–48) raged in Germany, and its effects, particularly economic, extended to Switzerland. The church records of the Lucerne countryside also document a large number of beggars and itinerant people during these years. Added to this, also awakened by the Thirty Years' War and exacerbated by the unsympathetic representatives of the aristocratic urban establishment, was the ferment and discontent among the rural population, which erupted in the Peasants' War of 1653.
Peter Stirnimann contributed a further 1,000 guilders as endowment capital to a perpetual memorial service, which he established in 1653 for himself, his wife Maria Süeß, his parents, and all his descendants. The memorial service was to be celebrated by four priests. The proceeds of this ecclesiastical foundation, which the Goldschrüti estate was obligated to pay, also primarily benefited the community, especially the parish and the needy. Of the annual interest, which amounted to 50 guilders, 20 guilders were designated for the church, and 30 guilders had to be used for the celebration of three different memorial services. All participants were generously compensated, but the poor received the largest share at each memorial service, amounting to 3 guilders. The Peter Stirnimann memorial service, the most generous foundation ever established in Ruswil, remained the family's primary memorial service for many generations until, in the 19th century, they resigned themselves to its merger with other memorial services whose endowments had become worthless. Peter Stirnimann was the chairman of the village court (Twinggericht). He lived in Etzenerlen, where he is documented as having resided since 1640. Etzenerlen (formerly Herzenerlen) is the name given to the area stretching for approximately 2 km along the northern slope of the Ruswil mountain between the Sahl farm and the Hintern Lochhof farm. To the south, on the hilltop, the Etzenerlen farms border Buchmatt, the Wießtannen farm, and Kropfmatt; to the north, down the valley, Etzenerlen borders Obere Roth, Grissenegg, and the Ehschwand farm. Peter Stirnimann likely came to Etzenerlen through marriage. After his death (January 8, 1668), the farm passed to his brother, Hans Jakob in the Roth, as his sole heir.
The Etzenerlen farm had long been a hereditary fief of the Beromünster Collegiate Church. Its owners were obligated to pay the church land rents and, upon a change of ownership, a special tax. The church also demanded this payment from Hans Jakob Stirnimann upon his inheritance. However, he refused, arguing that no such tax had ever been demanded in their family upon death or inheritance, and that the church's demand was a new practice for the entire Ruswil district, thus affecting not only him but also other members of the district. The legal dispute, in which the bailiff and the churchwarden of Ruswil, representing the Ruswil district, supported the farmer from Etzenerlen in court, was decided by the mayor and council of the city of Lucerne on April 17, 1670, by a Solomon-like judgment: the land tax was, in principle, also payable in cases of death or inheritance, but to a reduced extent. According to the records of the monastery's land registers, the descendants of Hans Jakob, who divided the Etzenerlen farm several times, held the office of tax collector until the abolition of the land rents in the 19th century. The monastery's land tax registers meticulously recorded the successive owners of the individual farms.
In 1668, Hans Jakob also acquired the Huprächtigen farm in what is now the municipality of Nottwil for 6,500 guilders, probably as a buyout for his daughter Elisabeth (married to Walter Meyer, Huprächtigen).
Hans Jakob Stirnimann-Bucher died on May 1, 1670, in Roth. At his express request, he was not buried in Sursee, where he belonged to the parish, but in Ruswil. This led to a heated dispute between the then pastor and dean, Johann Fridolin Lindacher of Ruswil, and the four gentlemen who presided over the parish of Sursee. The Ruswil death register contains a detailed, indignant account of the events, written in Latin. The deceased is described as a pious, charitable, and highly respected man who, in a secret location but with the knowledge of his heirs, left behind a rather large inheritance and a treasure. The register invokes the provision of canon law that allows every believer the free choice of burial, etc.
Hans Jakob Stirnimann left behind three daughters and three sons: Sebastian, Hans, and Peter. The first two divided the property they inherited from their father. Sebastian took over the Etzenerlen farm, while Hans remained in Roth. With the two brothers, the family divided into two branches, one in Etzenerlen and the other in Roth. The third son, Peter, became a monk of Muri Abbey under the name Jost.
1. Sebastian (born c. 1635, died 1679, married January 1655 to Maria Helfenstein, of Neuenkirch, married November 1673 to Rosina Wüest, of Ruswil) appears in deeds and purchase agreements of the Ruswil district as a juror and member of the court; from 1673 until his death, he is referred to as a judge. The jurors, also called advocates, were the judges who, together with the bailiff or his deputy, the bailiff, made final decisions on matters not exceeding 99 guilders. They were also the official appraisers of properties and were personally liable for the accuracy of the appraisals. The jurors were elected by the district community at the swearing-in ceremonies held every two years. 14 The judge was the presiding judge of the village court. On March 10th or 11th, 1675, Sebastian undertook a pilgrimage to Rome, as his brother P. Jost recounts in his diary. Sebastian increased his landholdings in Etzenerlen through several purchases of adjacent properties. At his death, the Etzenerlen estate comprised 231.5 Jucharten (approximately 1638 hectares) of land and 24 Jucharten of forest. Sebastian left behind two sons: Peter and Walter, who will be discussed later.
2. Hans (born c. 1638, died 1675, married in 1661 to Elisabeth Zimmermann, from Schenkon) took over the estate in Roth. At that time, it comprised a total of 238 Jucharten of land and 19 Jucharten of forest. Like numerous estates in the area, it was a fief of Muri Abbey. After their father's early death, the two sons, Leonz and Peter, divided the farm:
Leonz (born November 1, 1671, died November 7, 1715, married Elisabeth Bühlmann in 1691) took over the Untere (Lower) Roth farm. The name Leonz is explained by the connection to Muri Abbey, where the veneration of the martyr Leontin arose and spread widely in the mid-17th century. In 1705, Leonz built the aforementioned Lucerne farmhouse, comprising about thirty rooms, which incorporated the original log house, perhaps dating from around 1600, if not earlier.15 In 1821, the builder's descendants left the Untere Roth farm. The stately building, with its rich carved ornamentation, painted doors, and gables—once a masterpiece of Lucerne craftsmanship and rural culture—is today only a shadow of its former self. 16 (Editor’s note: This was written before the restoration of the house which was done with the help of the Stirnimann Family Association which came about as a result of Dr. Stirnimann’s research documented here.)
Peter (born after 1667, died unknown, married Anna Maria Steiner in 1688) settled in Obern Roth, also known as the upper farm. Like several members of his family, Peter was a tax assessor for the Ruswil district. The tax assessor, also called a tax juror, was responsible for assessing official taxes and public expenses. 17 Peter built the present-day house in Obern Roth, which bears a strong resemblance to the one in Untern Roth, but is considerably smaller. Around the middle of the 19th century, this farm was also abandoned by his descendants. Peter was a tax assessor for the Ruswil district.
3. Peter (born February 25, 1654, died December 28, 1706), the third son of Hans Jakob, took his vows as a monk in 1673 at the Benedictine monastery of Muri in the Freiamt region under the name Jost (Jodocus). He was ordained a priest by the papal nuncio in Lucerne on June 4, 1678, and celebrated his first Mass in Muri on June 29 of the following year. Father Jost served as granary (Granarius) at the monastery, a position he held during the age of bartering, collecting tithes and dues from the tenant farms and overseeing the granaries. Father Jost left behind a diary—a rarity for the time—written in pleasing Latin under the title Annale breve; only small sections are in German. 18 The diary is considered one of the main sources for the construction history of the present-day monastery church, built between 1695 and 1698. It contains a wealth of historically and culturally interesting events and observations.
Last but not least, the diary is of great value for the history of the family with whom the monk remained closely connected. 11
Let us return to Sebastian Stirnimann's two sons: Peter and Walter. In 1684, they divided the Etzenerlen estate. Peter (born February 8, 1660, died January 9, 1709, married in 1682 to Anna Brunner of Rothenburg) took over the upper part, roughly the present-day Hinter-Etzenerlen (115 Juch. of land and 9.5 Juch. of forest). Peter held numerous offices. Among other things, he was:
Juror and member of the court
Tax collector, church judge
1694-96 Churchwarden
1696-98 Caretaker of the Chapel of Our Lady
From 1696 Bailiff (probably until his death).
The bailiff, also called the deputy bailiff, was the permanent representative of the governor in administration and the judiciary. With the exception of the governor of Willisau, the castle bailiff of Wikon, and the lake bailiff of Sempach, all governors—until 1798 members of the urban patriciate—resided in Lucerne, appearing at their offices only on oath-taking and court days. The bailiff handled minor day-to-day business and represented the governor in regular court sessions. The clerk assisted him in administration. The bailiff personally sealed official documents. Although the bailiff's duties demanded a great deal of his time and responsibility, he received only modest compensation. The bailiff appointed the bailiff for a two-year term, either upon the recommendation of the outgoing bailiff or the voting members of the district. Under the absolutist and exclusive rule by which the 28 families of the Lucerne patriciate governed the canton of Lucerne, the office of bailiff was the highest and most coveted position to which members of rural families could ascend.
Of the thirteen children of the bailiff Peter Stirnimann, his son Peter fell at the age of 21 in the Battle of Villmergen (1712). His eldest son, Hans Jakob, was also elected bailiff in 1736 and 1747. He and his two brothers, Johann Sebastian and Johann Augustin, divided the family farm once again in 1725: the first two received the farm at Etzenerlen, while Johann Augustin took over the Neu-Sahl farm, which their father had acquired in 1700 for 5,900 guilders.
Walter (born June 16, 1676, died March 13, 1735, married in January 1696 to Magdalena Marbacher of Krumbach, married in November 1732 to Elisabeth Erni), Peter's considerably younger stepbrother, took over the lower part of his father's farm, the area of present-day Vorder-Etzenerlen. Walter was a juror and judge, as well as a bailiff entrusted with guardianship matters. His farm was divided again in 1738 by his two sons, Adam and Joseph. The Stirnimann family of Ohmstal and Schipfheim descended from Joseph.
From the Sahl family, Sebastian (born October 22, 1796) deserves mention; he was a judge and bailiff and belonged to the... In 1781, the parish council appointed a four-member commission to prepare the construction of the present parish church and called in the two master builders, Jakob Purtschert from Pfaffnau and Jakob Singer from Tyrol.
To this day, three families in Etzenerlen cultivate the land they have inherited from their fathers over three centuries. The Sahl farm, after a brief interruption, has also remained in the family's possession.
The following farms in the municipality of Ruswil, in addition to those already mentioned, were owned by the family for a shorter or longer period, or are still owned today: Bleischür, Buchmatt, Deckenhonig, Geißbach, Kastlergut, Ober-Merzenherg, Musegg, Nellenhüsli, Ober-Eichig, Obere Schwärzi, Paradiesli, Sonnenrain, Strick, Than, Hinterer Lochhof, Vorderer Lochhof, and Windbühl.
From Ruswil, the family spread to numerous municipalities in the canton of Lucerne and beyond. Today, members of the Ruswil family can be found in all major cities in Switzerland, as well as in Germany, France, and overseas.
Besides the aforementioned Father Jost, the following are known to have served as priests and members of religious orders:
Father Fortunat (Leonz), born November 5, 1733, in Untere Roth, a monk of the Franciscan monastery in Werthenstein; he served for 18 years as a preacher in the parishes assigned to the monastery and for the same period as spiritual director in Bremgarten and Muotathal; he died in Werthenstein on August 12, 1808.
The following three brothers came from a family that migrated from Ruswil via Mittelarig to Neuenkirch:
Father Karl (Klemens), born December 13, 1842, Capuchin friar, professed in 1862, ordained a priest in 1865, preacher, Guardian in Schüpfheim and Näfels, died in Zug on June 2, 1897.
Father Sigismund (Anton), born August 18, 1844, Capuchin friar, professed in 1867, ordained a priest in 1870, preacher and confessor, died in Arth on January 18, 1904.
Father Leodegar (Pius), born December 4, 1855, monk of the Benedictine monastery of Einsiedeln, professed in 1876, ordained a priest in 1882, teacher at the Gymnasium (high school), curate in Groß in 1888, parish priest in Feusisberg in 1896, died there on April 7, 1904.
Eduard, born June 10, 1865, came from Etzenerlen. He was a secular priest, ordained in 1893, and served as vicar in Pfaffnau from 1893 to 1895, in Malters from 1895 to 1896, as chaplain in Buttisholz from 1896 to 1917, and as a canon in Beromünster in 1917. He was a member of the monastery's governing board from 1933 until his death in Beromünster on December 9, 1937.
* * *
The 19th and 20th centuries, with their profound changes, the rise of industry, and developments in technology and the economy, opened up new tasks and opportunities for the Ruswil family. The division of farms also eventually reached its limits. Numerous young people left their father's land or their immediate homeland and turned to other professions. Today, members of the family are active in most of the professions that support the modern work process, its economy, and technology.
A sociological study of the Ruswil family would identify three predominant professions: farmers, civil servants, and social workers. To this day, a considerable number of families have remained loyal to farming. Throughout history, the family has produced a remarkably high number of civil servants. From the 17th century to the present day, members of the family have held most of the offices available to the municipality, parish, church community, and district of Ruswil. As representatives of the numerous civil servants who serve the public today, three men who enjoyed the undivided trust and respect of their fellow citizens in Ruswil over the past decades are mentioned:
Johann Stirnimann-Meier (1868-1930), member of the Grand Council, Mayor, and Poor Relief Administrator, Managing Director;
his brother: Jost Stirnimann-Hodel (1875-1947), a highly esteemed teacher at the boys' secondary school for 40 years;
the first's son: Hans Stirnimann-Grüter (1905-1968), Mayor, member of the Grand Council for one term, Managing Director, President and board member of numerous agricultural associations.
Finally, the family's affinity for social work is unmistakable. Several members of the family served as lay ministers in the 18th and 19th centuries, a position comparable to today's poor relief officer, caring for orphans and the disadvantaged. They were joined by numerous nuns, nurses, caregivers, medical assistants, social workers, and kindergarten teachers who selflessly dedicated themselves to serving their fellow human beings. And let us not forget the many teachers who devoted themselves to the education and upbringing of our youth.
On September 6, 1970, a meticulously prepared meeting of the Stirnimann family took place in Ruswil. In addition to the Ruswil members of the family, all those bearing the name in the Canton of Lucerne were invited. Around 250 people from across German-speaking Switzerland gathered in Ruswil. The conference began with a church service in the parish church. Afterwards, the participants assembled at the Landgasthof Eintracht in Rüediswil, whose spacious hall had been decorated with paintings by three members of the family (Marie Stirnimann, Lucerne; Alois Stirnimann, Dättlikon-Zurich; Werner Stirnimann, Männedorf), including depictions of the family's ancestral homes and farmhouses. A display case contained documents, records, and pictures—originals and photocopies—relating to the family's history. An artistically designed family tree attracted considerable attention. Mayor Adolf Bühler addressed the assembly. The author of this article gave a presentation on "The Stirnimann Family in the Canton of Lucerne." The esteemed onomastician and genealogist Dr. Alfred Helfenstein, also from Lucerne, offered an interpretation of the family name's origin.
Key unpublished sources
FaA Familienarchiv PrA Propsteiarchiv
KlA Klosterarchiv StA Staatsarchiv
PfA Pfarrarchiv StiA Stiftsarchiv
Plarrarchive Altishofen, Buttisholz, Ettiswil, Luthern, Neuenkirch, Nottwil, Oberkirch, Pfaffnau, Reiden, Ruswil, St. Urban, Sursee, Uffikon, Willisau, Wolhusen: Tauf-, Ehe-, Sterbe-, Jahrzeitbücher, Bruderschaftsrödel und, soweit vorhanden, Urbare.
FaA Am Rhyn, Geißenstein, Luzern
Perg.-Urkunde vom 20. 4. 1361: Heinrich Stirnimann gibt Moos dem Propst des Benediktinerklosters zu Luzern zurück.
PrA Beromünster
Nr. 95-106: Kammerbücher 1514-57.
Nr. 193: Urbar Amt Willisau 1588-1690.
Nr. 506: Kammerbuch 1535.
Nr. 716: Kammerbuch 1552.
Nr. 749: Altes Protokoll über Fall und Ehrschatz 1570-1648.
Nr. 1053: Register der Gülten und Zinsleute 1544-98.
StiA Beromünster
Bd. 45: Bereinigung etwelcher Stüftsgüetter 1536.
Bd. 192: Urbar 1683.
StA Luzern
Ratsprotokolle
Cod. 590: Verzeichnis der bodenzinse, so einem pfarrer zu Ruswil fällig sind.
1640.
Cod. 795: Zehenden Buech aller 26 zehen den eines hochfürstlichen Gottshaus
Mury 1724-1741.
Cod. 2100: Register der höff und landsässen in der statt Lucern landtschaft
angfangen anno 1583.
Cod. 2700: Urbar der bodenzinse und ehrschätzigen güter eines pfarrherrn in
Ruswil, bereinigt 23. und 24. März 1640.
Cod. 4115: Kaufsprotokoll der in den Luzerner Landvogteien getätigten Käufe
und Verkäufe während der Jahre 1596-1621.
Cod. 4135: Gerichtsprotokoll der Landvogtei Ruswil 1676-92.
Cod. 4140: Gerichtsprotokoll der Landvogtei Ruswil 1692-1715.
PA 18293/885 Erkanntnis von Schultheiß und Rat der Stadt Luzern im Rechtsstreit zwischen dem Stift Beromünster und den Erben des Peter Stirnimann zu Etzenerlen (Hertzen-Erlach) im Amt Ruswil (17.4.1670) - Abschrift der im StiA St. Leodegar, Luzern, aufbewahrten Urkunde.
KIA Muri-Gries (StA Aarau)
Nr. 6084 Verzeichnis der Gülten, die Sebastian und Hans Stirnimann dem lobl. Gotteshaus Muri an ihres Bruders Jost Auskauf übergaben (1673).
KIA Muri-Gries (Kollegium Samen)
Ms 399, Pp 40: P. Jodocus Stirnemann, Annale breve (Tagebuch des P. Jost Stirnemann OSB)
Auskaufsbrief des Fr. Jost Stirnemann (20.3.1673).
P. Leodegar Mayer (1687-1761), Wappenbuch des Klosters Muri.
PfA RuswiL
Rechnungsbuch der Pfarrei 1636-1744 (Enthält die alle zwei Jahre erfolgten Abrechnungen der Kirchmeier, Kapellen- und Btuderschaftspfleger mit vollständigem Namensverzeichnis derselben).
GemeindeA Ruswil
Teilungen der Gemeinde Ruswil: seit 1673.
KLA 5:. Urban (StA Luzern)
Urk. 603/12043: Gerichtlicher Entscheid von Schultheiß und Rat zu Willisan betr. den Heuzehnten des Peter Stirnimann zu Witelingen bei Pfaffnau (5. 12.
1548).
Nr. 4a: Weißes Urbar, sog. Weißbuch (Mitte 15. Jahrh.).
Nr. 4b: Schwarzes Urbar, sog. Schwarzbuch.
Nr.59: Urbar Luzerner Gebietes 1562.
Nr.60: Urbar Luzerner Gebietes 1593.
Nr.85: Knuwiler Urbar 1570.
Nr.106: Bursariat, Ehrschatz summarisch verzeichnet, 1443-1680.
Nr. 107a: Bursariat, Ehrschatzrodel 1650-1700.
Nr.606: Zinsrodel der Pfarrkirche Knutwil 1555.
Nr.716: Rechnungen der Schaffnerei Sursee-Knutwil 1521-77.
Nr.720: Zins-Zehnten-Rodel von Knutwil 1588.
StA Solothurn
Zinsrodel der Herrschaft Gösken und Wartenfeis 1484.
Urbar Gösgen 1528.
Urbar der Herrschaft Gösken 1536.
Urbar Gösgen 1540.
StadtA Sursee
1. Archiv der Hypothekarkanzlei Ruswil:
Käufe der Gemeinde Ruswil, von 1668 bis 1938.
Gülten der Gemeinde Ruswil, von 1677 bis 1939.
2. Gerichtsprotokoll der Landvogtei Ruswil 1715-58.
Gerichtsprotokoll der Landvogtci Ruswil 1759-c. 1880. (Die zwei ersten Bände im StA Luzern).
3. Kaufsprotokoll aus dem Amt Ruswil 1755-90.
StadtA Wiliisau (PfA Willisau)
Ratsbuch, seit 1567 (Band 1559-67 scheint verloren).
Amtsrechnungsbuch, seit 1569.
Gerichtsprotokoll der Landvogtei Willisau, seit 1590.
Handänderungsprotokoll, seit 1629.
StiA Zolin gen (StA Aarau)
Nr.1697: Zins-Urbar, c. 1531.
Nr.1739: Bodenzins- und Rechnungsrodel 1501-30.
Nr.1740: Bodenzinsbuch 1, c. 1521.
Nr.1741: Bodenzinsbuch II, 1523 und 1531 (= Grundstock), 1531-36, 1543,
1550-51, 1557.
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