Jakob II moved his family from Echandens, Vaud Canton to Steffisburg, Bern Canton, Switzerland. See post #1 for a picture postcard view of Steffisburg, from the early 1900's. It is near Thun, in central Switzerland. The year of the move and the reason for the move are unknown. Possibly Jakob II no longer had a job after the powder mill in Echandens closed.
As explained about Jakob II in post #76, he learned powder milling before he was powder miller at Steffisburg. His two sons assisted at the same mill, and both became powder millers. Even with extensive experience, there were complications and dangers every day and moment in milling black powder.
Before continuing with Jakob's story, let me catch you up with a sparse version of Friedrich's early life.
