History Commons^™

Bernstadt: The Last Swiss Colony, Jan Sparkman

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The final attempt by Swiss immigrants to develop an independent colony in the United States was made in Laurel County, Kentucky, in 1881. This settlement was the result of efforts on the part of Kentucky’s newly-formed Bureau of Immigration to compensate for the fact that the state had been all but ignored by European immigrants in the past. This endeavor was assisted by the active intervention of three men in Switzerland—Otto Brunner, Paul Schenk, and Karl Imobersteg—who were eager to capitalize on Kentucky’s deficiency.

Pierroz, Philippe, Quand Des Valaisan Colonisaient Le Wisconsin, Robert Sherwood

Swiss American Historical Society Review

For much of the history of the United States, the role of the Swiss immigrants has been reduced to that of a bit player. The traditional history books usually follow immigration patterns along linguistic lines, and the Swiss immigrants did not follow these linguistic lines. Therefore, the Swiss Romand, the Swiss Germans, and Swiss Italians often get labeled as either French, Germans, or Italians when they arrived in the United States.

The Collection, Donald G. Tritt

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The library from which this bibliography is drawn grew out of a longheld passion to know and to experience Switzerland, the land of my ancestors. As a young boy and with a lasting coziness, I recall falling asleep hearing my Swiss elders tell stories far into the night, stories of everyday life in Switzerland and stories of Switzerland's place in history. These stories fascinated me. I wanted to know what life was like in this far-away place. Readings about Switzerland began with casual book purchases. My fascination was greatly intensified when I would come across books descriptive of everyday life …

Leaving The Alps For The Plains: A Brief Narrative Of A Swiss Family's Migration To Texas, Barbara Ozun

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Cows, cheese, Swiss Army knives, mountains, and beautiful lakes are what people think of when they think Switzerland. Others talk about the military and the fact that every man is allowed-not encouraged-to own a gun and regularly shoot it at targets ... Still others marvel that a country so small could function so well with four official languages. Currently, cocktail party talk seems to center around the prescience of Switzerland's decision not to be part of the Eurozane-that is, if the person I am talking with can distinguish .Switzerland from Sweden! I am often asked about Switzerland and how my …

Letters Of Swiss Immigrants From New Bern, 1710 -1711, Vincent H. Todd, Translator, Hedwig Rappolt, Translator

Swiss American Historical Society Review

HANS RUEGSEGGER: I am in hopes that within a year I'll have over 100 head of horses, cattle, and pigs.

Next to my friendly greetings I report to you that I and my household arrived in Carolina safe and sound, and luckily at that, but on the 26th of Hornung [February] my son HanB died with great longing for the Lord Jesus. However on the last of Haying-Month [July] 1710, my daughter gave birth to a beautiful young son. We are on truly good and fat land; I am in hopes that within the year I'll have over 100 head …

The Planting Of New Bilten, Duane H. Freitag, Robert A. Elmer

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Almost forgotten now, the farming region of New Bilten in Wisconsin's Green County was once a pivotal part of the Swiss immigrant community there and deeply intertwined in the founding of the state's renowned cheese-making industry. The region is centered in a valley south of New Glarus once known as the Biltental (Bilten valley), where more than a dozen families from the Canton Glarus village of the same name settled as a group in July of 1847.

Special Feature: The Swiss In Eighteenth-Century South Carolina: Response To Kristina Marcy's "Review Essay", Carol Williams

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Like most white South Carolinians of my generation, I have various strands of European ancestry: Scots-Irish, English, German, Swiss, and since my name is "Williams," probably Welsh by way of England, then Ulster. However, it was the Swiss strand that I was most conscious of when growing up because I knew a little more about it. A grandmother often talked to us children about "our people," about "dear old Grandfather," whose own grandfather had come from Switzerland in the mid-eighteenth century: George Sightler (Seitler, Siteler, Sitler); and we had a written history of his family in South Carolina.

Swiss Settlers Of The Carolina Back Country: Saxe Gotha, Switzers' Neck, The Dutch Fork, And Lexington, Claudette Holliday

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Township Act and Saxe Gotha The year was 1716 and a lone outpost, the Congaree garrison, located about five miles below the mouth of the Saluda River and below the Congaree Creek on the western bank of the Congaree River offered little protection for low country settlements from Indians resisting the take-over of their homelands. By 1722 the garrison was abandoned.

Two Swiss Of Peoria, Illinois, Marianne Burkhard

Swiss American Historical Society Review

In 1891, when he was 13, Emil Locher found himself transplanted to Peoria, Illinois, and faced with the necessity to help his mother and two siblings survive. His story gives some insight into working possibilities and conditions at the end of the last century. Without much schooling and without any professional training Emil Locher made his way up from a seasonal worker to the successful owner of a produce company without ever forgetting his poor childhood in Switzerland and the difficulties poor people have to face.

Serge Louis Ballif: A Swiss-American, Jae R. Ballif

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Over a dozen years ago, a young man entered my office. He was a stranger to me. He placed his briefcase on my desk, opened it, and brought out several old books. He talked rapidly, giving me information faster than I could assimilate it. I soon learned that the books were from the shelves of the library at the University of Bern in Switzerland, and that they were written by my ancestors. I also learned that Gabriel Jacob Ballif, my fourth great-grandfather, was the author of one of the books. It is entitled Systematic Physics, and was published in …

Case Studies In Early Swiss Immigration To Utah: The Mathis And Bryner Families, Paul K. Savage

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Hans Ulrich could not see his own hand waving in front of his face--that is, ever since the accident. Hans Ulrich Bryner, Jr., was a talented and prosperous young man. His father's family had moved to Wiedikon, a small village just a stone's throw across the river Sihl from Zürich, and in 1839 they had purchased a large home near the Center of town. Hans Ulrich Bryner, Sr., was a farmer by day, and a shoemaker by night, and through thrift, industry, and piety, the family had gained the respect of their neighbors. In 1846, Hans Ulrich, Sr., was granted …

The Kunz Family: Over A Hundred Years In Mormonism, Phillip R. Kunz, Paul A. Nielson

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The focus of this paper is the Kunz Family, or the American descendants of Johannes Kunz and Rosina Katharina Klossner Kunz, our great-great-grandparents. Johannes was born on the 16th of September 1803 at Tschueppls in Zwischenflueh. in Diemtigen Canyon, Bern. Switzerland. Rosina was born on 9 December 1802 on the Blatten farm in Zwischenflueh. They were married in Diemtigen on the 9 February 1821. Johannes and one of his twin daughters were the first converts in the family to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Two other children followed them into the Church and eventually the Mormon …

"The Mundane And The Transcendent: Excerpts From Letters Of Johannes & Clorinda Schmutz, 1900-1902", Richard Schmutz

Swiss American Historical Society Review

It isn't often that a hoard of old letters comes unexpectedly into a family's possession, but it happened in my family a few years ago at the passing of an uncle. Unknown to other descendants he had in his keeping a collection of letters that his parents--my paternal grandparents--exchanged during a proselyting mission grandfather served in Switzerland for his church, 1900-1902. A short while after uncle's funeral, the letters were entrusted by his spouse to my sister and copies have since become available to family members and taken their rightful place of importance in the family legacy.