Neuschwander in Breitenbach SO

[kathynb]

I am new to searching in Switzerland. I am researching the family of Jacob and Barbara (Vogtli) Neuschwander.
I have found Jacob's birth 28 Feb 1795 in Nuglar, Nuglar-Sankt Pantaleon, Solothurn, but no death record yet. It is possible he went to the USA with his son, Martin but I cannot find anything to support that.
Barbara was born 15 May 1791 in Oberkirch and died 11 Mar 1844 in Breitenbach.
I have their 6 children: Martin B 1823, Catharine B 1824, Barbara B 1826, Lucas B 1827, Barbara B 1830 and Anna Maria B 1831, all born in Breitenbach.
Their son Martin goes to the USA before 1854, marries in NY.
I also found a marriage for Jacob Neuschwander's parents Marci/Martin and Elisabeth Frech. They were married in Seewen and they both died in Oberkirch.
With some of their children's (Jacob 1795, Anna Maria Regina, Anna Maria 1799-1801, Ferdinand Joseph 1797-1847, and Daniel) church records they are described as vagabonds, which explains all the different towns. The different towns I have seen records in are Nuglar, Oberkirch, Seewen, Rohr, Breitenbach, Nunningen, Himmelried, Beinwil, Bärschwil, and Burg. The other spouses I have found are Elisabeth Frech/Trech, Joseph Vogtli (there are a few of them) and Anna Maria Wiss.
Any help or direction you can point me in would be most appreciated.
Thank you.

Kathy

---------------------------
urspr. Titel: Neuschwander Family > zuerst geändert auf Neuschwander in Nuglar-St.Pantaleon SO

[Peter.D]

Hello Kathy,

For further research in Switzerland, it is important to know the family's home municipality (Heimatort) - and not just the places of birth. Can you upload a baptism or marriage entry after 1800 or post the whole text? The entry in Burg would also be interesting.

And two clarifications: Oberkirch was a parish, but not a municipality, covering the two municipalities of Nunningen and Zullwil. Rohr was also not a municipality, but served the municipalities of Breitenbach, Brislach and Fehren, among others, as a parish. The children were thus probably only baptized in these two parishes, but were born elsewhere. And the same for marriages and funerals.

Peter

[kathynb]

Hello Peter,

Thank you so much for responding. I did watch a video on researching in Switzerland and the registration being in the same town/parish. Here is my church birth record for Martin Neuschwander born in 1823, who goes to NY before 1854. It was indexed as Rohr but you can clearly see Breitenbach.

Neuschwander,M-B1823.jpg

All children born to Jacob Neuschwander and Barbara Vogtli are born in Breitenbach. Next is Martin's father, Jacob's church birth record from Nuglar, bottom of the page.

Neuschwander,J-B1795.jpg

That is where it says vagabond. Next is a church birth record from the Oberkirch area for Jacob's sister, Maria and it says from Bourg, unless it is another town.

Neuschwander,M-B1799.jpg

It is not letting add more records, so I will start another reply. Thank you so much in advance for taking a look at these. I really appreciate it.

[kathynb]

Hello Peter again,
I will continue now, the next record is a death record for Jacob's brother, Ferdinand Joseph who dies May 8, bottom half of the page, in Barschwil.

Neuschwander,FJ-D1847.jpg

Next is a church birth record for Jacob son of Marcus/Martin and Anna Maria Boeller, Martin's brother born in Breitenbach.

Neuschwander,J-B1773.jpg

Last, the marriage of Martin Neuschwander and Elisabeth Frech from Seewen.

Neuschwander-Frech,M1794.jpg

As you can see my confusion with all of these towns. Any incite you can give me or point me in the right direction, I would really appreciate it. Thank you so very much.

Kathy

[Wolf]

First of all - Welcome to the Forum, Kathy !

One potential cause of confusion with several attachments to a post is the sequence in which attachments are displayed - in reverse order as compared to the sequence as added. So whenever you talk about first or last, this will not point to the correct attachment.

Solution see viewtopic.php?t=32594 (unfortunately in German only). I hope the second image is self-explanatory: after attaching a new file, place the cursor in the position within the text where you want the image to be displayed, then click on "place inline".

I have done this for you in both posts: please, check if the sequence is ok.

I wish you fun and success with the forum - Wolf

[Peter.D]

@Wolf: vielen Dank für die korrekte Einordnung der Aufnahmen. Der Betreff sollte wohl besser auf Breitenbach hinweisen, da in Nuglar-St.P. nur ein isoliertes Ereignis dokumentiert ist. Vermutlich wurden die heimatlosen Angehörigen der Familie vom Kanton Solothurn den Gemeinden Breitenbach und Bärschwil zugewiesen, eventuell aufgrund des besonderen Einbürgerungsgesetzes von 1817.

Hello Kathy,

How did you get all these records?

According to baptismal records from 1795 and 1799, Martin Neuschwanger's home municipality (Heimatort) was Burg (Burg in Leimental, formerly in the Prince-Bishopric of Basel, later France, thereafter Canton Bern, now Canton Baselland). In fact, I see a Neuschwanger family in the baptisms in Burg before 1800; there was also the surname Schwanger. Later, after 1800, Neuschwanger obviously became Neuschwander. Presumably the family lost their Heimatort Burg sometime after the Revolution and became heimatlos as traveling people (Fahrende). According to the baptismal record of 1828, the family of Martin Neuschwander-Frech was naturalized in Breitenbach before 1828 (quia jus civitatis emerat). His brother Ferdinand Joseph, on the other hand, became a burgher (Ortsbürger) of Bärschwil. There should still be files on these naturalizations in the State Archives, just ask - unfortunately there is still almost nothing online in these archives.

The parents of Martin Neuschwander-Frech were Markus Neuschwander and Maria Anna Beller or Böller. Elisabeth Frech came from Wihr-au-Val in the Münstertal (Alsace).

Have you been able to find Martin junior in the immigration and passenger lists before 1854? Was his father Jakob not listed there? Ask the Solothurn State Archives whether they still have documents about the emigration, especially passport registers. Mention their Heimatort Breitenbach and that you don't live next to the Archives.

Peter

[kathynb]

Hello Peter,

Thank you so very much for looking at this family. I really appreciate it. I started in New York with some census records which indicated he was born in Switzerland. I looked and looked for sometime for a town listed on something and never found anything. Here in the US, there is what is called Findagrave.com. It is actually a very good website. You can put in what you know, i.e. name, town, date of birth, date of death, cemetery (if known) and if you are lucky someone has taken a photo of the gravestone and indexed the information and you are off and running. In my case, the gravestone indicates a birth date. With that I tried what came up on Familysearch.org and a birth record came up for Rohr-Breitenbach and I just kept going with the records and the towns that they mentioned.

I will give the State Archives a try and see what comes up.

Thank you again!

Have a great day!

Kathy

[kathynb]

Wolf,

Thank you for your help doing my records so it is easier and makes more sense. I am new to this community site and not very good with the computer, but you do offer lots of information about posting and such.

Thank you.

Kathy

[Wolf]

Hello Kathy,
How did you get all these records?

... I started in New York with some census records which indicated he was born in Switzerland. ...

Peter might have meant: how have you accessed these records (online or from archives, ...)? I assume online (familysearch) - correct?

[kathynb]

Peter,

Yes, I did get all of these records off of microfilms from familysearch.org. In their website catalog you can put in a town and country and see if they have any records. In my case, they did and some towns where in the records of a neighboring town. It is nice to see such great penmanship. I am really interested to research when they left Switzerland. It is a whole new country for me to learn about. So far, I have really enjoyed researching and learning about the different parishes they attended. Thank you again.

Kathy