56. Zweisimmen folks knew all about New Bern, North Carolina

Why do I dwell on the circumstances of the 1710-11 settlement in North Carolina?   First, to show that migrations from Europe, specifically Switzerland, were taking place early in U.S. history.

Second, to point out that communications went back and forth between Europe and America.   People all around Switzerland were aware of the American colony's beginnings -- for these letters of the settlers were posted home (certainly through Mr. Ritter of Bern!) and distributed.   These letters requested money, supplies, equipment, knives and axes, among other things.  Don't you know that the distribution of these letters was widespread among Swiss as well as Germans.   The English were already there, having arrived in 1705.   One Swiss man wrote,

We live along a stream called Neuse.   There six years ago the first [people], English, until two years ago [when] the Swiss people [came], began the cultivation.   They are, as it seems to me, rather rich in cattle, all sorts of crops, the finest tree-fruit, and that, the whole year [except for] two months.   From the nature of things we were behind in that regard, so that we do not have it yet;  but we hope, through God's blessings to get it.   We came shortly before Christmas and we have by God's blessings ... much stronger houses than the English; have also cleared land in addition, and the most have put fences around."(Note:  the writer of the letter says the Swiss people came "two years ago," and it is possible that there were early Swiss experimenters in this project of attempting to settle an American shore.)

News that brilliant and full of dreams could not be hidden in Europe.   The hope of a new beginning of life in the Americas was tempting, especially to those who were not among the rich and ruling classes.

Third, this relates directly to  Zweisimmen.   One of the letter writers, Samuel Jacob Gabley, writes that he married Margreth Pfund of Zweysimmen.   Another one, Jacob Waehre, writes that he is "of Zweysimmen."   Their letters certainly would have found their way to Zweisimmen and been read by all who could read!   The Treuthardts read the letters from people who were their friends and acquaintances.    

Fourth, similar names to Treuthardt are mentioned in the letters.   Jacob Waehre sends greetings to "Truwhart and their whole house";  and "Heinrich Egender of St. Stephan's Court and his whole house for his sons Jacob and Peter Treuthart."

Another writer identified only as "V. H. T." sends greetings to several. 

I am delivering the greeting of us all to our dear and faithful pastor, to the whole number of honored persons, especially Godfather Kilchmeyer Dreuthart and Andreas Aescher, Christen Jantz.   

There are in these letters three variant spellings of Treuthardt -- Truwhart, Treuthart, and Dreuthart.   ("D" was a precursor to "T", notably at a time before spellings were standarized.)   Because Dreuthart was Godfather to V. H. T., it might be that V. H. too was a Treuthardt.   

Because I cannot see the original letter, I don't know whether Kilchmeyer is transcribed correctly.  It may be that the word is actually Kirchmeyer.   When I googled for "Kilchmeyer" it directed me first to "Kirchmeyer," so my theory is not unrealistic.  However, Kilchmeyer is actually a name that was prominent in Reformation Switzerland, and it might have been an unusual first name?   I doubt it though.   The Swiss did not try to be creative with first names.     It must remain unknown whether the word is Kilchmeyer or Kirchmeyer.   If it turns out to be Kirchmeyer, you can guess what I would say about that.   (See Post #35)    As for whether any of these Truwharts, Treutharts or Dreutharts are persons of interest to our family history, you can probably guess what I would say about that too.  
  

55. Swiss colony in North Carolina, the end of it in 1711

From this website,
ncpedia.org/german-settlers
we learn the frightful end of the Swiss colony at New Bern.

The largest influx of German people to North Carolina occurred in the eighteenth century, beginning with a joint effort between a Swiss land company and the British Crown to settle 100 families of German Palatines in the town of New Bern on the Neuse and Trent River in 1710.   The colony flourished and prospered for 18 months, but in 1711 the colony was virtually destroyed after suffering an attack by Tusacarora Indians.    

54. Swiss migration to colonial North Carolina in 1711: hopes and dreams

The following is quoted directly from "The Colonial Records Project," of the Historical Publications Section in Raleigh, NC.

The Colonial Records Project

Jan-Michael Poff, Editor 

Historical Publications Section 

4622 Mail Service Center

Raleigh, NC 27699-4622 

These letters of 1711, written by the successful original Swiss settlers to New Bern, North Carolina, were translated by The Colonial Records Project from German into English, in a collection called, "Christoph von Graffenried's Account of the Founding of New Bern," edited by Vincent H. Todd, Ph.D., "Copies of Various Letters from North Carolina."   The website is at

http://www.ncpublications.com/colonial/Bookshelf/Graff/Letters.htm

In their letters to home, the Swiss colonists to New Bern, North Carolina in 1711 wrote about their impressions and experiences.

We are in a very good and fat land.   I am in hopes that within a year I shall have over a hundred head of horses, cattle, swine.

Regarding the land in general.   It is almost wholly forest, with indescribably beautiful cedar wood, poplars, oaks, beech, walnut and chestnut trees... and so many other fragrant trees that I cannot describe the hundredth part.

I am in hopes that if I stay well to provide five or six households with food and drink for possibly a year long.

I live well and happy and would not wish to have remained at home... [A colonist] can get land as much as he needs.  He can keep as much stock as he is able.  Swine cost nothing to keep.  Cattle go the whole year on pasture, become fat and good to butcher by themselves.

I will soon take up a plantation which comprises toward three hundred acres. 

One can have as much swine and cattle as he wants without labor and expense.

No one has any desire to be back in Switzerland, for one can eat but little meat in Switzerland, but here in Carolina I need have no anxiety from this year on, that every year I should not butcher thirty or forty to fifty swine, more if I wish.

... we went about a hundred hours by water and land, yet always guided and fed, and the people everywhere have done us much kindness and there is in this country no innkeeper.  All go from one place to another for nothing...

If one would present me with the whole lowland, in order that I should go back again to Switzerland and take up the former service I would not do it on account of the freedom of conscience.

The place and the country, the rivers where we now live and dwell is a good soil, and cattle raising also good and safe, and there is freedom in North Carolina.

But there are those other things which suggest hardship --

The land is good, but the beginning is hard, the journey dangerous.  My two children, Maria and Hansli died at Rotterdam in Holland and were buried in the common burial place.

The land is uncultivated, yet is to be hoped tolerably fruitful; but yet I would not cause any one to come here, nor would I advise it, because of the costly and difficult journey over the fearful and wild sea.  Yet we arrived safely and suffered little sickness, and for my part, did not get here so badly.   For old and young it is hard...  The great God has kept all.   To be sure it has cost much and gone slowly in these expensive, hard, war times.

Of vermin, snakes, and such like, there is not so much as they tell of in Europe.  I have seen crocodiles by the water, but they soon fled.  One should not trust to supporting himself with game, for there are no wild oxen or swine.

I do not lack food nor clothes, but money is rather scarce in this country.

We have no minister but we hope soon to get one.

But one thing lies heavy on us which I a cannot write without weeping, namely the lack of a true and a zealous pastor.   We have, indeed, prayers in our houses every Sunday, but the zeal to cleanse away the canker of our old sins is so small that it is to be feared it will consume everything to the foundation, if the pitying God does not come to our help.

We have no women folks that wash and mend for us.

The greatest failing and lack here in Carolina is that too few people are here, and no good mills.   There is one being built by us people who are in Carolina.

There is a great lack of German women folks.

No one else of us Siebentaler people has died, but of the others though, three Palatines.  Of the people among whom we live, however, a good many have died.

This place has been entirely uninhabited, for we have not seen any signs nor heard that anything else ever was here except the so-called wild and naked Indians.   But they are not wild, for they come to us often and like to get clothes of us... they guide the Christians through the forest and show new ways...  Some also can speak English well.   They have an idol and hold festivals at certain times.   But I am sorry to say, of the true God they do not want to know anything.

Brought here hale and hearty, the shoemaker Moritz did not die till he was on his farm.  He was well on the whole journey. 

53. Early Swiss migration to the U.S. - 1710, North Carolina

In days long before Texas was imagined or the United States was established, in 1710 a group of Swiss people made a voyage across the ocean and colonized themselves in [present-day] North Carolina.   The city where they settled, still in existence today, is New Bern.   An Internet website dedicated to recording the efforts of these first colonists is called "The Colonial Records Project," of the Historical Publications Section in Raleigh, NC.

The Colonial Records Project

Jan-Michael Poff, Editor 

Historical Publications Section 

4622 Mail Service Center

Raleigh, NC 27699-4622 

The original settlers -- the successful ones -- wrote letters back home in the following year, 1711.   These letters, translated by The Colonial Records Project from German into English, are in a collection called, "Christoph von Graffenried's Account of the Founding of New Bern," edited by Vincent H. Todd, Ph.D., "Copies of Various Letters from North Carolina."   The website is at

http://www.ncpublications.com/colonial/Bookshelf/Graff/Letters.htm

A detailed reading of these letters (12 pages single-spaced) written by various people, reveals quite a few interesting circumstances concerning this settlement dating to 1711.   I have extracted from the entirety of the letters concise instructions to Swiss people for a move to the colonies.
   

1)  Make arrangements with Mr. Ritter of Bern, to sail to the colonies.
   "Those who intend to go must call upon Mr. Ritter, so that when the other people wish to go they may travel together."

2)  Upon arrival in the colony, plan to lease/purchase land, a venture overseen by the Governor, Christoph von Graffenried, "citizen of Bern, formerly mayor, now landgrave in Carolina."    Von Graffenried distributed lands to the tenants/settlers under certain conditions. 

3)  The conditions were as follows:

Our Count von Graffenried will supply them with good land; after this he will give them a four-year lease, supply them with stock and furniture, so that they can thenceforth be well supplied their life long, if they have luck.

This intriguing notation in a certain booklet printed before this time, about 1709 (or earlier?) in Frankfurt, Germany, advertised a colony.    "With regard to the rearing of cattle.  It costs almost nothing for the raising, as the booklet printed at Frankfurt says, for all stock pastures in the winter as well as in the summer.   And I know of nothing to find fault with in the booklet mentioned regarding these two items, although it writes of South Carolina."  

With such promises, about a hundred persons spoke to Mr. Ritter, made arrangements to travel, departed Bern on March 8, 1710, made their way across to the coast of England and set sail on the 24th of July for Virginia.   They cast anchor in Virginia on September 10th.

Not all of the colonial letter writers stated where in Switzerland they were from.   I was especially interested in two references to "Zweysimmen."   Remember, Zweisimmen is the Heimat of the Treuthardts. 

52. Review of my blog

In this 52nd post, I review what has been posted since January, 2013.   My introductory posts wandered from topic to topic, the way it was when I started working on family history, with no idea what to expect or whether the venture would be a worthwhile attempt.  Beginning in 1977 with the interview of my Aunt Anna in west Texas, the Switzerland history of the Treuthardts unfolded at last in 2008, when I located a man in Switzerland who worked extensively and generously to help me to expand this history.    

The album of Aunt Anna contained the picture of the Swiss immigrants of Vaud Canton.   They were gathered for a double-Baptism day of two infant granddaughters of Friedrich and Anna Treuthardt in Walburg, Texas.   [See Post #15]  The people in the picture were unknown to me.   Years later, discovery of the book of St. Peter Lutheran Church, Williamson County, Texas commemorating the church's 100th  anniversary introduced me to the French-speaking Swiss community* of 1890 to early 1900's.  Listings of Marriages, Births, and Baptisms indicate that the Swiss immigrants married each other and had families.  

The families had their children baptized into the church.   The Christian acts speak through the ages.   That the Baptisms occurred in the Lutheran church rather than Methodist or other, was due to the diligence, persistence and determination of the early Lutheran missionaries to Texas, from 1854 on.   They did not take lightly that the European immigrants to Texas were without means of divine service and worship, teaching and preaching of doctrine.   [My Grandfather Gottlieb Walter was one of those early Lutheran missionaries, but that is the subject of another family history blog.]   One of many ways that church membership was important, was orderly record-keeping;   this side benefit enabled me, more than 100 years later, to learn how the Swiss immigrants became interrelated through marriage.    
  
In February and March I posted briefly on specific birthdays and deaths of three ancestors, Friedrich and Anna Treuthardt, and their daughter Ida.    I incorporated a few memories from annual family reunions of the 1980's through 1990's.   Our most recent and final large-scale family reunion was held in 2008, with an attendance of 89, at Christ Lutheran Church in Georgetown, TX.   

Sneakily and rather quickly (starting with Post #23) I "departed" from Texas into Switzerland, and we have been there ever since.   We went back to the 1400's and that White Book which originated in Sarnen.   We investigated briefly the legend of William Tell, the iconic Swiss folk hero.   In order to apprehend rural Swiss culture in the early 1800's, I quoted good Swiss literature of author Gottfried Keller, who describes a community theatre "performance" of William Tell, presented in the Zurich area around 1840's.   

With only a few facts to go on, we have been introduced to Treuthardt relatives in Switzerland, beginning with the Kirchmeyer Bartolome and his wife Katharina (married ca. 1770 - only a guess) in Zweisimmen, and continuing with the family of the carpenter and Musikant Jakob and his wife Barbara (married in 1800) in the area of Thun.   The legends of ancient Switzerland could have been related in detail by our distant ancestors;   and perhaps they participated in or observed community events similar to that described by Keller.     

This blog is a mere start to tell the history of the Treuthardt family in Switzerland.   If God is willing, then I am too, to continue relating family facts and events which have come to me over the years.   What I have not learned is to be discovered by some future family historian.  

My Audience -- you may be interested to know that since the beginning, this blog has gotten over 1800 "hits" (as of May 26) most of them coming from the U.S.   I have barely advertised this blog, only to a few key family members in Texas.   Additionally, other countries have discovered this blog.   More than 10% of the hits have come from Russia.   Germany is next, and then Columbia, Switzerland, Pakistan.  Other countries that have checked in are France, Brazil, Canada, Lithuania, Ukraine, Greece, Italy, United Kingdom, Ireland, Morocco, Vietnam, South Korea and China.    The post which has gotten the most hits is #40, the "White Book of Sarnen."   Most of those hits were received in one day.    At times I felt a little overwhelmed about this global publicity, but I won't stop now.   Welcome to newcomers to my blog!   
 

*Note:  the Treuthardts spoke, read and wrote German as well as French and Swiss.  

51. Gottfried Keller, William Tell (the actor) shoots the apple off his son's head

The community performance of Schiller's William Tell drew a great crowd, and everybody awaited this unforgettable, exciting scene, William Tell's shooting the apple off his son's head.  Tell was played by a serious and sober actor who in real life was an innkeeper.  Several generations of his family had managed the inn before him, and most likely, more generations succeeded him.   Thus, he himself was an icon.   Altdorf is where the original event took place.   Mr. Gessler is the enemy.

This is my final installment of passages from Gottfried Keller's Green Henry, though this is not the finale in the play.      


[Note: Permission to quote from Gottfried Keller's book was granted to me on May 2, 2013 from Alma Books / Alma Classics, London House, 243-253 Lower Mortlake Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 2LL, United Kingdom.]
    

Excerpt from Chapter 14

Tell

by Gottfried Keller

Then quite unexpectedly, Tell appeared, going on his way alone with his boy.  He was a competent, solid innkeeper, and a marksman, a respected and dependable man of about forty years old, who had been spontaneously and unanimously chosen for Tell.  He had dressed himself just as the people had always imagined the old Swiss to be dressed -- in red and white with a great deal of puffing and braiding, red and white feathers in his little crenellated red and white hat.   In addition, he wore a silk scarf across his breast, and even if all this were anything but appropriate for the simple huntsman, yet the seriousness of the man showed how greatly he was honouring the conception of the hero, as he understood it, by this pomp;  for in this sense, Tell was not merely a plain huntsman, but was also a political protector and a saint, who could not be imagined otherwise than in the colours of his country, in velvet and silk, with waving plumes.   But in his honest simplicity, our Tell had no suspicion of the irony of his splendid attire;  he walked composedly on... with his young son who was decked out like a kind of little god...

At last we arrived at the small market town which for today was our Altdorf.   When we rode through the ancient gateway, we found the little town which consisted simply of one rather large square, quite lively already, full of music and banners, and all the houses decorated with branches of fir.   Mr. Gessler was just riding out to commit a few evil deeds in the surrounding neighbourhood... 

[People] soon streamed in at the gateway;  for... the majority of them did want very much to see the chief events which were so venerated and so full of significance, and above all, Tell's shot.   Already, from the window of the town-hall, we could see the pikemen arriving with their detested pole, setting it up in the middle of the market-place, and proclaiming the decree to the beating of drums.   Now the square was cleared, all the people, in costume and otherwise, were made to stand aside, and the crowds swarmed at all the windows, on the steps, on the wooden balconies, on the roofs.   The two guards were marching up and down near the pole; now came Tell, walking across the market square with his boy, greeted by roaring applause;  he did not hold the conversation with the child but at once engaged in the sinister dispute with the officers, which the people followed in tense excitement...

Now we rode in, to the sound of the trumpets, and found the scene in full swing, Tell in great distress, and the people all agog, and only too much disposed to snatch their hero away from his oppressors.   But when the Governor began his speech, there was quiet.   The speeches were not delivered theatrically and with gesture, but more in the manner of a public reading, sonorously, monotonously, and in rather a singsong tone, because after all, it was poetry;  they were audible to the whole market-place and if someone, being over-awed, failed to make himself understood, the people called out:  "Louder, louder!"  they were greatly delighted to hear the passage once again, and did not allow the repetition to destroy their illusion... But the national humour asserted itself in the very kernel of the play, when it came to Tell's shot. 

At this point, whenever Tell's deed was enacted in the old fashion, it had from time immemorial been the customary joke for the boy to take the apple off his head during the altercation and coolly to begin to eat it, to the huge delight of the people.   This diversion was smuggled into today's performance too, and when Gessler furiously demanded of the boy what he meant by it, the boy returned impudently:  "Sir!  My father is such a good marksman that he would be ashamed to shoot at an apple as big as this one!   Put an apple on my head that is no bigger than your mercy and my father will be all the better able to hit it!"

When Tell shot, he seemed almost to regret that he had not his rifle in his hand but had to content himself with a "stage shot."  He really did tremble involuntarily as he took aim, so keenly did he feel the honour of being allowed to enact this sacred scene.  And when he held the second arrow threateningly under the tyrant's eyes, while all the people looked on in breathless anxiety, then the hand holding the arrow trembled again, his eyes gave Gessler a piercing look, and for a moment his voice raised to such a pitch of passion that Gessler turned pale, and a shiver of terror went through the whole market-place.  Then a glad, deep-voiced murmur arose, they all shook hands and said the innkeeper was a real man, and so long as we had such men as he, we were in no danger.   

[excerpts from pp. 268-272]

50. Gottfried Keller, The Merrymaking begins at dawn on Shrove Tuesday

[Note: Permission to quote from Gottfried Keller's book was granted to me on May 2, 2013 from Alma Books / Alma Classics, London House, 243-253 Lower Mortlake Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 2LL, United Kingdom.]

Excerpt from Chapter 13

The Carnival Play

by Gottfried Keller

The dawn of the momentous, eagerly-longed-for day came, bringing the loveliest morning;  the sky was bright and cloudless, and this February it was already so warm that the trees were in bud and the meadows were growing green.  At sunrise, just as the white horse was standing beside the sparkling little river being washed, there was the sound of Alpine horns and cow-bells coming down through the village, and a procession of more than a hundred magnificent cows, wearing garlands and bells, came along, accompanied by a great crowd of young men and girls, going up the valley into the villages, giving the impression of a ceremonial escorting of the cattle to their mountain pasturage.   The people had only needed to don their ancient traditional Sunday costume, excluding any novelties that had come into use, and with the addition of some choice ornaments belonging to parents or grandparents, to look perfectly splendid and very picturesque... 

Then they stopped in front of our house and the mill next door, and as they greeted each other, and vociferously called for drinks, there was a sudden joyous confusion of singing, shouting and laughter, and we got up from the abundant breakfast..   Quickly we went into the crowd with the wine jars and number of glasses that had been put ready beforehand, my uncle and his wife coming after with great baskets full of the local confectionery.   This preliminary merrymaking, far from being an indication that everybody would be tired out very early, was the sure herald of a long day of pleasure... My aunt inspected the beautiful cattle and pronounced them to be fine, stroked and softly scratched famous cows that were well known to her, and cracked a thousand jokes with the young people;  my uncle poured out wine incessantly... 

In the middle of the crowd we ran into the people from the mill who had attacked the enemy from the other side, led by the young miller who, in the person of an armour-clad knight, was ponderously clattering around, and allowing his ancient iron garment to be looked at and fingered with respectful veneration.   

At last, however, the procession moved on.. Outside the village, we saw masses of bright, glittering colour on all sides, moving towards us, and [in] a quarter of an hour, we came to a tavern at a cross-roads... In the next village... came a procession with drum and fife, bearing the Hat on the pole, to proclaim the insulting law in the surrounding neighbourhood.   For this was the beauty of it all, that none of the theatrical limitations were kept to, they did not aim at surprise, but went about freely hither and thither, as they might in real life, and met, as if of their own accord, where the action was to take place.  There was something to see and laugh at everywhere, though at the same time, where the serious acting was going on, everybody turned up and was reverently attentive.   

Our procession had already grown considerably, augmented further by the addition of a number of men on horseback, and pedestrians too, all belonging to the knightly retinue.  

[excerpts from pp. 265-267]

49. Gottfried Keller, Narrative describing the choice of costumes and clothing for the play William Tell

If you ever had to design a costume for Halloween, you will enjoy Green Henry's description of how he designed and prepared the "historical" clothing and costumes for himself and Anna, a real teenager who was just younger than Green Henry.  Anna was shy and had to be coaxed into the actress mode.  

As a youngster Green Henry wore green garments ("a suit for Sundays and one for week-days").   That is how he got his name.   His mother made these clothes out of his (deceased) father's uniforms and civilian clothes -- which were all green.   Henry got a reputation for wearing renewed green garments and he states,  "... I made use of my green popularity..." 

In this passage, the character Gessler was the enemy the tyrant.   Green Henry acted the role Rudenz, a less important character (whose role had few speaking parts).   Anna was playing a girl's part and had no lines to recite.  

[Permission to quote from Gottfried Keller's book was granted to me on May 2, 2013 by Alma Books / Alma Classics, London House, 243-253 Lower Mortlake Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 2LL, United Kingdom.]     

Excerpt from Chapter 13

The Carnival Play

by Gottfried Keller

In my uncle's house I was a veritable factotum, trying hard to make the clothing of the sons as historical as possible, and to restrain the daughters in their desire to dress themselves up in very modern fashion...  All my uncle's children wanted to take part, and they tried too to persuade Anna...  But she absolutely refused to consent... until the schoolmaster, who had for a long time been enthusiastic over this matter of making the old crude buffoonery into something more dignified, definitely desired her to do her share too...  She could easily grace Gessler's knightly train as a silent character.   Gessler's train had formerly been presented, in accordance with the popular sense of humour, as rather shoddy and uncouth-looking, the tyrant in particular being very grotesque and ridiculous; but I had now carried my point that the governor's procession must be most brilliant and lordly, because there was nothing striking in a victory over an abject-looking foe...  The most difficult thing was to make [Anna] ride;  in my uncle's stable there was a white horse, round as a ball and easy-tempered, which had never hurt a hair of anybody's head, and which my uncle used to ride across the country.  In the loft there was a lady's saddle, forgotten relic of the old times;  this was covered afresh with red plush taken from a venerable armchair, and the first time Anna was in the saddle everything went splendidly, especially as the miller, our neighbour and an expert rider, gave her a few lessons, and in the end Anna had a good deal of pleasure from the old horse.   A great curtain of bright green Damask which had once been the hangings of a four-poster bed was cut up and transformed into a riding-habit, and the schoolmaster possessed as an old heirloom a crown made of plaited silver filigree, such as brides used to wear.   Anna's bright golden hair was delicately braided about the temples, but below it was spread out and hung down its full length, and then the crown was set on it;  she wore a broad gold necklace too, and on my advice some rings, put on over her white gloves, and when she tried on this whole costume for the first time, she looked not only like a knight's lady, but like a Queen of the Fairies too, and the whole household was lost in admiration of her loveliness...  Meanwhile I had not been idle; I and my cousins had been dabbling in the saddler's craft, and had covered my uncle's not over-clean bridle reins with some red silk stuff that we had bought cheap... for it would not do for Anna's hands to come into contact with the old leather.  

I had long since made the arrangements for my own costume, choosing one that was green and sportsmanlike, and on account of its extreme simplicity within reach of my moderate means.   Yet it was still tolerably true to period;  a big cinnamon-brown quilt was, without being injured, turned into a cloak with voluminous folds and it covered the deficiencies; on my back I carried a crossbow, and on my head I wore a grey felt hat.   But, since there is a weak side to everybody, I buckled around me the long sword of Toledo [Spain] steel from the attic;  I had admonished all the rest to be historically correct, had myself fetched from the armouries quantities of weapons of the right period, and yet I chose this Spanish spit, and I cannot to this day imagine what my idea was!   

[excerpts from pp. 263-265] 

48. Gottfried Keller, How arms and armour were chosen for the play, William Tell

Gottfried Keller's Green Henry describes a Swiss community pageant that took place sometime in the early 1800's.   The story of William Tell was performed by the whole community, with important speaking roles going to prominent individuals.   The actors and spectators proceeded from town to town enacting the story as they went along.   In order to tell Tell's story in an authentic way, the most important props are ancient arms and armour!   

Reflect for a minute and imagine how many individual pieces were forged over the centuries for the many wars in Europe (and elsewhere).  Thousands of arms and suits of armour have survived and may be viewed in museums all over the world.    Large collections exist of swords and shields, spears, clubs, crossbows, halberds, helmets, guns, and all manner of iron and steel accessories.   Suits of armour may come in whole body or half, and parts of the body can be enclosed by steel and iron (without sacrificing movements of parts).     These items are available at auctions all over the world.   For instance, you might obtain a complete set of armour at auction for $30,000, though it may be a little beat up from use and the passage of time.     

So it was over the centuries that the towns and villages inherited their own collections of arms and armour, and it was to those armouries (in this case, Swiss) that the man Green Henry trudged with his sponsors to borrow hardware to furnish the village actors with props.    

Here is another selection from Green Henry the semi-autobiography of Gottfried Keller.  
[Note:  Permission to quote from Gottfried Keller's book was granted to me on May 2, 2013 from Alma Books / Alma Classics, London House, 243-253 Lower Mortlake Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 2LL, United Kingdom.] 

Excerpt from Chapter 13,

The Carnival Play

by Gottfried Keller

I proved useful during the preparations and was entrusted with several matters which had to be attended to in the town.  I rummaged through all the shops where there was likely to be mock jewelry and fancy costumes, and tried to recommend whatever was most fit for the purpose...   I even came into contact with the officials of the Republic, and had occasion to prove myself a valiant champion of my district, for I was given the choice and charge of the old weapons which the authorities conceded to us on condition that every care was taken of them.   But as there were several similar festivals taking place just at this time, nearly all the supplies had to be given out, and only the most valuable trophies, those associated with certain definite memories, were left.   Besides this, the delegates of the various communities disputed over the weapons; they all wanted the same thing, although the same thing was not suitable for all; a number of great broadswords, and cudgels with iron spikes, which I had selected for my company, were on the point of being absolutely wrested from me by a rival, in spite of my pointing out to him that for the period from which his people had chosen their scene, he ought to have something altogether different.  In the end I appealed to the man in charge of the weapons who said I was right, and the sturdy innkeeper from the village, who was standing behind me to carry the things away, was triumphant and gave me his friendly approval.   But my rivals now thought I was a dangerous fellow who seized the best before anyone else had a chance, and they dogged my footsteps into all the old armouries, picking out just what I had my eye on, so that it was only by dint of the greatest persistence that I was able to get hold of one more load of iron helmets and halberds for my tyrant's mounted troops.   So I felt very important as I settled with the curators the inventory of the things they were handing over to us, although the innkeeper was the real guarantor, and had to sign it.   

[excerpts from pp. 262-263]

47. Gottfried Keller, Description of a Swiss village production of the play William Tell

Gottfried Keller (1819-1890) was a Swiss author.   His short stories and novels are from the 19th century German-language literature of the "realistic school."   His semi-autobiographical book Green Henry which portrays life around Zurich, Switzerland during the early 1800's, is considered by some critics to be among the greatest Swiss literature.   The first edition of Green Henry was published about 1854-55.  It was translated into English in 1960.
 

Keller, Gottfried, Green Henry, Translator A.M. Holt:   

John Calder, London, England, 

This English translation of 'Der Gruene Heinrich' by Gottfried Keller 

first published in 1960 by 

 John Calder (Publishers) Ltd, 

17 Sackville Street,  London, w.1

Printed in Great Britain by the Ditchling Press, Hassocks, Sussex.

c 1960. 

When I came upon these chapters in Green Henry, I was enthralled.   I hope you too like this account.  In the next posts, I quote some selections from Keller's book.   Keller describes how a "neighborhood" (a collection of small villages) in a region around Zurich, Switzerland, collaborated to present a theatrical production for the celebration of Shrove Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent leading up to Easter Sunday).   "Henry" was invited to help organize this performance for his village.   This event (or others like it) occurred around the 1840's. 

Previous to becoming Reformed territory, this former Catholic region celebrated the day with "buffoonery."   After the buffoonery was abandoned, the people wanted to commemorate the end of winter and to celebrate a form of "Carnival" in February, but with more dignity.    They opted for the theme of patriotism, and a retelling of the story of our favorite Swiss hero, William Tell from the play by Schiller.

[Note: Permission to quote from Gottfried Keller's book was granted to me on May 2, 2013 from Alma Books / Alma Classics, London House, 243-253 Lower Mortlake Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 2LL, United Kingdom.]
      
The following is a passage from the book.  

Excerpt from Chapter 13 

"The Carnival Play"

by Gottfried Keller

Some weeks after the New Year... several places in the neighbourhood were going to join... and make the Shrove-tide celebrations more splendid by holding a grand dramatic pageant.   The Catholic Carnival fun of olden days had been preserved by us in the form of a general Spring festival, and in recent years the previous uncouth buffoonery had gradually given way to patriotic theatrical performances in the open air...  Sometimes a Swiss battle would be enacted, sometimes an episode in the life of a famous hero, and these performances were rehearsed and carried out with more or less seriousness and display according to the measure of the culture and wealth of the district...  My own village... had been invited by a neighbouring small market town to join in a great performance of "William Tell," so my relations invited me back to the village to take part in the preparations, because I was credited with some experience and skill, especially in painting... I did not have to be asked twice, but went out there for a day or two every week, and these regular expeditions in the early part of the year, when the fields and forests were often thick with snow, were the greatest delight to me.   I was able to see the country in winter now, and the country people's winter work and recreation, and how they get ready for the coming of Spring. 

As a foundation for their play, they took Schiller's "Tell" of which there were a great many copies to be had, in a school edition... It is a book that the people are very familiar with, because it admirably expresses their opinions and everything they hold for truth; and of course a mortal will seldom take it amiss if [Tell] is idealized a little, or even a great deal, poetically.

By far the greater part of the mass of actors were to represent the people, in the form of shepherds, peasants, fishermen and hunters, and had to go in a crowd from one stage to another, wherever the action was taking place, carried on by those who considered themselves qualified to play a prominent part.   There were young girls in the crowd too, mostly there in order to take part in the general singing, the individual female parts being played by boys.   The scenes of the real action were allotted variously to the different localities... so that both those who were in costume, and the crowds of spectators, had to progress solemnly from one spot to another.

[excerpts from pp. 261-262]

46. Treuthardt, Bartolome, how old was he in 1810?

Harkening back for a moment to the Kirchmeyer Bartolome, whose birth and death dates are unknown to me, let's consider a note on the 1810 birth record of his granddaughter Elizabeth Magdalena.    Her father Jakob I is listed as the "Alt Kirchmeyers Sohn," which is the "son of the old Kirchmeyer."   By 1810 Bartolome had impressively acquired the adjective "Alt," which certainly did not apply to most people in those days.   It is a title of respect and honor.

How old is "Alt" in 1810 in Zweisimmen?    It makes me wonder whether Bartolome had recently died, and that this was one last fond reference to him as the Kirchmeyer of Zweisimmen.   An ordinary gravedigger would not have been immortalized this way.   If he was born circa 1740 and died circa 1810, which are my tentative guesses, he would have been about 70 years old.

Bartolome was a dedicated father to give opportunities for his children to receive educations.   As the Kirchmeyer it would have been important to Bartolome to teach his children to read and write.   Bartolome and Katharina taught their own children, either by themselves or by sending them to school.   His three sons would have apprenticed for vocations, whether in Zweisimmen or some other place, as for instance, Jakob I apprenticed in carpentry work.    Jakob I received an adequate music education to have earned the title "Musikant" by 1830, only twenty years later.   I maintain that a music education would have required an early childhood start, previous to the apprenticeship.   That could only have been accomplished by parents, whether taught by them or others.    Jakob's siblings had the opportunity to train in music as well, if they were talented and interested.

Was Bartolome's death the precipitating factor that encouraged Jakob I and Barbara to move to Thun?   If Jakob I were responsible for his parents in their old age, and if Katharina, Bartolome's wife, had already died, and if Bartolome died around the time of Elizabeth's birth, Jakob I may have decided to depart from Zweisimmen after the death of his parents, after his sixth child was born.

These are points for future research.  

(See also my post #35.)   

45. Treuthardt, Jakob I and Barbara, their family and his profession

   (Continued from post 44)

Jakob I and Barbara lived at Zweisimmen and their six children were born there, between 1801 and 1810.   Their children were Jakob II [who is our ancestor], Johannes, Barbara I, Barbara II, Samuel, and Elizabeth Magdalena.    The first Barbara died, either at birth or within her first year.   Another daughter followed, and she was named Barbara to retain the name in the family.  Thus, they had five living children (born between 1801 and 1810) including three sons and two daughters.    At Elizabeth's birth her father was 31 and her mother was 33 years old.   

Since the father of Jakob I was the Kirchmeyer, and Barbara's father was the town scribe, I surmise that the Treuthardt and Hutzli children including Jakob I and Barbara, were literate.   Their five children too would have learned to read and write.  It is not far-fetched to say that basic education was important even in these early times.

Sometime after the birth of their sixth child Elizabeth Magdalena, Jakob I and Barbara moved to Thun, a large, bustling and industrious place with a long history.   Apparently he found better work and better pay in Thun.  This theme of "better opportunity someplace else" is how families disperse.

Jakob I and Barbara lived at "Schertzligen" (a district[?] of Thun) on Frutigenstrasse, a long, wide street nowadays.    Today this is a center of traffic and activity, near Lake Thun, where the River Aare flows into the lake at the far eastern end of Thun.

Jakob I lived in the Thun area only about twenty years.   On the 1830 death record of Jakob I are two notations, where we learn his profession.  

Jakob I was a Schreiner, which by definition is "Carpenter, woodworker, one who makes things out of wood, joiner, craftsman who works with wood."    Maybe Jakob was employed building boats, or maybe he handcrafted furniture or built cabinetry or houses.   

A Schreiner would certainly have apprenticed in his vocation, beginning about age 12-14 years old.   Was Jakob I apprenticed in Zweisimmen, or was he sent to Thun to apprentice with a relative or friend?   We don't know how Jakob I learned his trade.    

Jakob I was also a "Musikant," which by definition is "Musician, performer, one who plays a musical instrument professionally."   (Jakob I might have crafted his own wood instrument, or perhaps he was an organist.)   From an infant who perhaps cried at his Baptism to impress his Baptismal sponsor the choir director, Jakob I earned and deserved a concise descriptor on his death record.   We may believe that he was taught music well from his early childhood, considering the connection with the church through his father Bartolome the Kirchmeyer.   

Jakob I barely lived to be middle aged.   He died on January 19, 1830 at the age of 49.

The Treuthardts of our branch never returned to Zweisimmen, other than Jakob I's wife Barbara who moved back to Zweisimmen after her husband's death.    Barbara died at the age of 72 on March 22, 1850.

[Grandfather] Jakob I died four years before his grandson Friedrich Treuthardt was born.  Barbara lived in Zweisimmen and would have known Friedrich, who was 16 years old when his grandmother died.    


You can find Frutigenstrasse on Google maps.   The exciting way is to search first for Lake Thun, to view the beautiful expansive lake.    Find the city of Thun, at the northern end of the lake.    Zoom in right at that tip where the lake narrows.    Look to the left of the lake, and you will see the big street Frutigenstrasse.   Around Frutigenstrasse are also the Eisenbahnstrasse (Railroad Street) and Schulstrasse (School street).   There was no railroad in Thun until 1859.    Railroad street was not so named at that time.   On the other hand, School street might actually have had a school on it in the early 1800's.  

A search for Kirche Schertzligen, Frutigerstrasse, Thun, Switzerland, brings up a church near the lake.  On the Internet are some postcards of "Kirche Schertzligen, Switzerland" depicted around 1900, when the church was still a church.    We drove past this church in 2009 on a beautiful September Sunday afternoon.   That day at the old church were a great number of people visiting a special art exhibition.   The parking situation looked formidable and we did not stop.   


Why does it matter to know where the individuals lived?   Because a death record from the Heimat, or "home base" of a person may not have as much information on it as the death record from the person's residence and place of death.  

The facts in the town registers were researched by Hans Joder in 2008 for Annamarie.
About Barbara's return to Zweisimmen, Mr. Joder suggested, "Maybe she lived with relatives there.  Or maybe she made use of her citizen-rights there, where a Swiss city is committed to care for" its natives. 

Beyond the bare facts that are revealed by the registries of the towns, the above expanded, extended version of the history of Jakob I and Barbara is the opinion (through evidence and extrapolation) of Annamarie.   

Look again at the Google map and locate Sarnen.   From Thun, draw the arc of the lake, and follow it to the right as it makes a smile, past Interlaken, Brienz, and Lungern, and you will find Sarnen.  

44. Treuthardt, Jakob I and Barbara Hutzli, their marriage, 1800

   (Continued from post 43) 
Husband:  Jakob Treuthardt (I, first Jakob) 
Wife:        Barbara Hutzli

They were Friedrich's grandparents.
They are my great-great-great-grandparents.

In 1800 Jakob Treuthardt and Barbara Hutzli were married at the Zweisimmen church.   There is to this day an old church standing in Zweisimmen.   Surely this was the Kirchmeyer's workplace and the site of the wedding.   Barbara's father Jakob Hutzli was the town scribe.   Most likely the marriage record of the Treuthardts was handwritten by Barbara's father.  

Following the civil and church rules, there would have been "banns" announcing the couple's intention to marry.   The banns would have been read in church on three Sundays three months before the wedding.    If someone objected to the wedding, he would speak up.   [This reading out of banns is still a custom today in the Church of England.] 

We can imagine that the wedding between the children of the Kirchmeyer and the town scribe was an event to which many Zweisimmen villagers (and beyond!) gave their blessings and gifts.  But no gift cards;  rather, a wooden carved butter mold or a hand-woven cup towel, maybe embroidery work on linen, or a utensil for the kitchen. 

Other gift suggestions:  a cow, a goat, chickens, horseshoes, vegetable seeds, a quilt handmade by the ladies of the village for weeks before.   Since this was Switzerland, it is very likely that some of the men who were skilled in woodworking made furniture for the couple's new home.  

Can you think of other gifts a couple might have received in 1800?    Did the guests celebrate the wedding, banquet and dance for a day?  three days?  a week?    

Above are two gifts for an American bride in 2011 -- a garter knitted by a friend, and a handkerchief crocheted around the edges by Swiss friend, Verena.