Histories

A view of Nottwil from Mittelarig

A complitation of Dr. Joseph Stirnimann’s snippets on our family from Mittelarig along with a few of my conclusions.

In 1697 Joseph Leonz Stirnimann I was born in Etzenerlen which was part of the large family farm outside Ruswil. This farm and Unter Rot, were legally divided later in 1741, after the death of Joseph's father our direct ancestor, Leonz who lived in Unter Rot.

In 1705, Leonz Stirnimann built the large baroque home in Unter Rot. His first son Peter, who is not in our direct line, inherited the Unter Rot house after Leonz died in 1741. (From the Stirnimann ancestry book and newsletters by Dr. J. Stirnimann)

In 1748 our direct ancestor, Joseph Leonz II (son of Joseph Leonz I, who is the second son of Leonz) is born in Roth (another spelling for The Rot) indicating the family is still there. (ibid.)

In 1759 Joseph Leonz I died at a farm in Mittelarig indicating the family moved away from The Rot as Joseph's older brother Peter, was the inheritor of The Rot.(ibid.). 

Mittelarig is a beautiful hamlet a few km north of the Unter Rot farm on a high hill overlooking the Swiss town of Nottwil which is on the coast of the Sempachersee.  This would indicate that our portion of the family bought a farm and moved from Roth to Mittelarig sometime between 1748 and 1759. Help to purchase farms often happened for the second or even third sons of wealthy farmers as a means of caring for the offspring who did not inherit the family farm.

In 1766 Peter Stirnimann (Leonz’ son who inherited Unter Rot and Joseph Leonz I’s older brother by 3 years) bought the first half of a Mittelarig farm and in 1769 bought the other half. The farm was described as having 2 houses so possibly he bought one house first and the other second. No information on the previous owners was given. (ibid.)

I believe these two farms were adjacent to the farm Jospeh Leonz I (our ancestor) bought in Mittelarig and moved to in the 1750s. Today there are still three or four homesteads in Mittelarig.

In 1770 Peter dies and leaves Unter Rot to his son Joseph and his two Mittelarig farms to his son Adam. No mention about what happened to our family line since they were no longer involved in Unter Rot. (ibid.)

In 1798 Napoleon invaded and defeated Switzerland and raided it of its money, etc. The Swiss revolted and in the Nottwil and Ruswil area this revolt became known as the Beetle war. After a battle and decisive win, French soldiers broke into two houses at Mittelarig and shot and killed two of Adam Stirnimann’s sons, Joseph and Xavier. (ibid.) (There is no son of Adam named Xavier listed in Dr. Stirnimann's charts)

During the French occupation of Switzerland (between 1799 and 1810) it was established that communities would take a census of their citizens and establish their residence as the family Heirmatort, or a legal "place of origin" where all subsequent legal records are maintained. Since Mittelarig is in the legal area of Nottwil, the Stirnimann Heirmatort for our line was Nottwil and remains so today.

In 1807 Jost Stirnimann (who is my great-great grandfather and Joseph Leonz II’s son) was born in Mittelarig. His younger brother Kaspar was also born in Mittelarig in 1809. Indicating the family still lived there. Jost married a girl from Neuenkirch and apparently moved there as all of their children were born in Neuenkirch including my grandfather Jakob. (ibid.)

In 1815, the remaining siblings of Joseph and Xavier, Adam’s sons who were shot by the French, had their farms in Mittelarig auctioned off. (ibid.)

In 1817 Joseph Leonz II died in Mittelarig indicating that our family line still lived there at that time. (ibid.)... by Walter Sterneman II