The Hirschy Newsletter

for descendants of Philip and Julianne (Frey) Hirschy
October 1998, No. 20

Return to the Newsletter Index.

LETTERS
Elsie Biberstein Rigdon 1.2.4.8.1 & 3.6.1.5.1
telephoned this week, She excitedly told of her
recent tour of Switzerland, France and Germany
with Delbert Gratz. The tour group was able to
visit the old Biberstein castle in Canton Aargau.
There are no Biberstein members livinig in the
area today, but a book was published about the
history of the castle. A copy (in German) was
given to Elsie because she is the first Biberstein to
have visited the castle in several years. She is
gathering up-to-date information on the family
and also information on her Gerig ancestors.

Leonard Augsburger 1.5.2.3.2.3 "Thanks for
your continuing work on the Hirschy Newsletter.
A nice piece of Civil War records research in the
last issue. By the way. I just read that 5 million
plus Civil War veterans records will soon be
accessible via the Internet - a great too,
though not as much for us Mennonites."

Virginia Deutscher 2.8.2.1 sends a. corrected
death date for her grandmother Lucy Ellen
Shaffer 2.8. She died Nov. 7, 1937,

Richard Beitier 3.11.1.2 "Thanks again for
another Hirschy Newsletter and we do
appreciate all your work in editing it and having it
printed and mailed. There are always many
interesting things in it.
Berne Swiss Days, was great. Very large
crowds - perhaps the best. It seemed so to me.
Weather was wonderful. That helped. Musical
'The Sound of Music was very well done. We
enjoyed it very much.
May God bless you always."
Your letter was encouraging. Best wishes to
you and Margaret on your upcoming 50th
wedding anniversary on the 17th. May you
enjoy many more.

Maurice G. Dunkle 2.3.9.2 who is 86, phoned
to order a second copy of the Hirschy
Genealogy. He wanted to give a copy to his
daughter. Maurice is well, enjoying life, and very
appreciative of his wife Elaine Espinosa Cochran
whom he married Jan. 1. 1994.

Elaine Hirschy McVay 3.1.7.2 writes "I have
listed below changes for my family. Thank you for
the Switzerland information. I enjoyed visiting you
and will look forward to receiving your quarterly
newsletter.
   It is always pleasant to leave people come to
visit and talk about common interests. Any of you
are always welcome. Here are the added
grandchildren:
Jonathan Arman Wheeler, 3.1.7.2.3.2
   b. Feb. 17, 1995.
Michael Lawrence Wheeler, 3.1.7.2.3.3
   b. May 06, 1998.

Mary Rodman 3.2.6.1 sent the following additions:
Tuanna Moon Frye 3.2.6.1.1.2
   m. Sep 11, 1995 Donald Mays.
To them were born:
Alena Marie Mays
   b. Aug, 04 1995, and
Allison Dawn Mays
   b. Apr 24, 1998.

Julia B. Liechty 3.11.1.3 "Enclosed is a check
of another year of you newsy Hirschy Newsletter.
I read them with great anticipation. Thanks
   I'm also enclosing a few corrections or/and
additions should you make another printing of the
Hirschy Genealogy book.
   What beautiful weather we enjoyed for our
1998 Berne Swiss Days. The Lord blessed us as
He always has in years past.

   All corrections and additions are added into the
computer to keep the information up to date.
Thanks for sending them.
3.11.1.3.3 Lawrence Nofziger should be a son,
   not daughter. (oops!)
3.11.1.3.1.1 Nathan Hugo Beitler married July
   27, 1996 to Susan Denise Rummel. b. Apr 13,
   1973. They both graduated from Cedarville
   College, Cedarville, Ohio.

Velma Greenhalgh Runyon 4.8.3.3 sent data
on great grandchildren.
To Paul and Barbara LaVerdiere 4.8.3.3.1.6
   a daughter Lauren Elizabeth, b.May 05 1998.

and to James and Elizabeth Petipas 4.8.3.3.3.6
   a daughter Olivia Amore, b. Apr 15, 1998.

John G. Hirschy 4.6.2.3.2 sent in corrections of
names and dates:
4.6.2.3.2.2 Leah Eden Hirschy
   b. 03-01-1983
4.6.2.3.3,2 Anthony Calvin Moffett.
   b. 09-18-]982
4.6.2.3.3.3 Andrew Monroe Moffett,
   b. 02-06-1987
   John suggests an updating of the genealogy in
two or three years. I have given him permission
to do this if he is so inclined. He also wrote as
follows:
   "I would also be supportive of a The Hirschy
Genealogy web page, where hundreds, perhaps
thousands could participate in updating their
family histories by seeing the book on the web,
and e-mailing updates and corrections on a
continuous basis." Is this something you readers
would welcome? You can respond to whether
you want your name on the Internet. Some feel
there is already too much information available
through the internet.

Michelle L. Runyon 4.8.3.1.7 sent in her birth
date as well as those of her brothers.
Her's is Aug. 13, 1973, Ludington, Michigan.
Allen Ray Runyon 4.8.3.1.8
   b. Apr 22 1978 Cadillac, Mich.
Brian Jay Runyon 4.8.3.1.9
   b. Apr 22, 1978, Cadillac, Mich.

Nancy J. Cornell 4.8.3.3.6 wrote "I enjoy
reading each newsletter and learning the
interesting histories of our far flung family
members.
   My daughter Christy and her husband John
Kunin have added a new member as of August
18 when their son Christopher Louis Kunin
was born.

Irene Balmer Ester 4.19.3.3 "I remarried Dec.
1, 1996 to Ed Ester. We are going to Maryland
to see Ed's son for a few days. On our way back
down we'll try and stop to see you folks. Ed only
has 2 weeks off from his job. He has a brother in
Toone, Tenn. he hasn't seen in 25 years. We just
found him.
   My oldest brother Bill put his mobile home on
Dad's 5 acres. He is watching over Mom. She
will be 88 Aug. 20. Dad has been gone 9 years."
   They did not make it to Ft. Wayne so we did
not get to meet them. D.H.

Arthur Isbell 4.29.1 "Thank you for sending the
Hirschy Newsletter. That, and added to it, all the
work of gathering the news and recording and
arranging it is a LOT OF WORK.
   My son Ted, and his wife Nancy, and their two
sons. Stephen 15 and Nate (Nathanael Arthur)
13 still live at 1310 Lode Wood Way, Oxnard,
Calif 93032. Nancy continues to home-school
them.
   Anna Jo continues at the University of
Oklahoma with a total scholarship and is pursuing
two degrees (not two majors - but two degrees)
at the same time. She will receive a B.S. degree in
Chemical Engineering in the year 2000 and a B.S.
degree in Mechanical Engineering in year 2001.
And she still earns some money at tutoring other
students.
   The Lord still gives me at age 84 an occasional
opportunity to witness for him in a special service.
This Past Monday, 27 July '98 was the Korea
War Veterans Armistice Day. The local chapter
asked me to pray at our dinner Saturday night
and to conduct a memorial service at our
monument (which we erected several years ago)
in Memorial Park Sunday Morning. I was in
Korea on 27 July 1953 when the Armistice was
signed. Very lamentably in 1998 we still do not
have a treaty.
   I am grateful to Him for giving me these special
opportunities with very special people to tell them
in unique circumstances of God's salvation and all
it includes by His grace through the death of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross.
   May our entire Hirschy family be found walking
hand in hand with our wonderful Lord and Savior
and in his strength accomplishing his pleasures.
May God's grace be with always."

HONOR GRADUATE The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette carried the
following on James E. Beitier III 3.11.1.4.2.1.
   The valedictorian of South Adams High School
1998 class is James E. Beitler III, son of James
and Melissa Beitler.
   Jim his been active in several high school clubs
and organizations during the past four years.
Some of these activities are student Council,
where he served as vice president, National
Honor Society, where he was president,
CEDED, the musical "Oklahoma", and the sports of golf, swimming, and football.
   During his four years of high school years Jim has

James E. Beitler
earned many awards in various fields, These include
art, math, chemistry, and biology awards. He was
voted South Adams DAR Good Citizen Award,
and he is a National Merit Commended Scholar. He
was also selected as captain of the golf and
swimming teams, Other awards are Mental Attitude
Awards in each sport in which he participated.
Jim has also participated in community activities.
He has been active in the Mennonite Church youth
group, served on the Mennonite Church Mission
Festival Committee, and was part of the South
Adams Vision Committee and Planning Team which
makes decisions about school activities. He was
selected for the Richard Lugar Symposium for
Tomorrow's Leaders, and during the summer of
1997 went on a two month missions trip to Africa
through the Eastern Mennonite Missions STAT
program. Several of Jim's interests are reading,
drawing and painting, computers, piano. golfing and
camping.
Jim plans to attend Wheaton College to major in
chemistry, then go to medical school.

OBITUARIES Lawrence Merlin Bates 4.8.3.2.3 husband of
Shirley Marie Pike Bates of Hernandez, Mississippi,
died of cancer thursday, July 23, 1998, He was
cremated. A memorial was held July 29.

Marvin Neuhauser 5.6.2.3.2 died in February.
1998 in Atlanta. GA. His funeral was on Feb. 14.
Further details were not given.

A VISIT TO UPLAND, INDIANA    In February my wife, LaVeta, and I visited
three relatives in Upland. We enjoyed the
gracious hospitality of Shirley and Robert
Harms. Shirley is LaVeta's third cousin. Robert
recently retired from teaching math at Taylor
University. They're both very active in the
Missionary Church where they sing in the
choir. We went to church with them and heard
them sing in the choir for both services.
   We also visited Michael and Rita Hoyt
Koch 3.6.3.5.1 who live a short distance from
Upland.We had an enjoyable time learning to
know them. Rita and Michael met in Belgium
when they were with Operation Mobilization
for five years. They worked in Germany and
Austria.
   Rita and Michael returned to the U.S. in
1977, While with Operation Mobilization
Michael designed the electronics for
computers. He worked on a ship carrying
religious books. The ship would visit the
harbor of a major city and was the book Store
for the people for a week or two. Michael
designed a computer program that was able to
price the books in the money of whatever
country they were visiting. He also designed an
auto pilot for the ship.
   While in Europe they were involved in
smuggling,Bibles and religious books into
Eastern Europe during the cold war years. He
helped design and build special vehicles with
hidden compartments to carry the books. The
cars had to be redesigned for each trip.
   On one occasion they purchased a
photocopy machine to take into Russia. The
Russians would not sell them such machines as
they knew it would be used to reproduce
religious literature. To get the machine into
Russia they took it completely apart and took
the pieces into Russia over a period of weeks.
Then Mike and another person rebuilt the
machine in Russia. Russian Christians then
took the machine apart to make another one
just like it so they could double their efforts.
   Michael and Rita have lived in the Upland
community for 14 years. Wanting to live in the
country they began looking for a place to build
a home. While looking for a place they saw a
farmer trying to chase some cows out of a corn
field. They helped the man and developed a
friendship with him, The farmer sold them 9.5
acres with a lovely view of a ravine. On this
plot they built their own home on weekends

and evenings. The house has a lovely free-standing
spiral staircase to the second story that he designed.
   Rita teaches Spanish in the Fort Wayne campus of
Taylor University. Michael is a computer specialist
for a company.

BIBERSTEIN FAMILY HISTORY    When The Hirschy Genealogy was written three
years ago, we had no information about the life of
the Biberstein family in Europe. The earlier
information was about John Biberstein 1.2 whose
parents were Abraham and Katherine Klopfenstein
Biberstein. This family had come from Ohio and
settled in Adams County. Indiana in 1847. We did
not have dates for the parents nor any history of
where they had lived. In April we gave some
additional information that had been uncovered.
Since then. Cherry Dellinger has uncovered new
information that fills out the picture even more.
   The Biberstein family in the U.S. came from
Switzerland and stem from nobility. While the Swiss
never had kings and queens, they did have leading
families that had influence and wealth. Early in the
history of the Biberstein family someone erected a
castle along the Aarau river in the 12th century in
present day Canton Aargau. Biberstein Castle is in
the town of Biberstein, Members of the Biberstein
family were part of the ruling aristocracy who served
as imperial bailiffs under the Hapsburg Emperors.
This was prior to the rise of the democratic cantonal
system that currently exists. Today there are no
persons carrying the Biberstein name in that
community and the castle is being used by the
Canton to house mentally challenged adults.
   The name Biberstein comes from two words.
biber and stein. Biber means beaver, and stein can
mean a stone or a castle built of stone. The name
may have been applied to the family after they built a
castle of stone next to the Aare river. The Wappen,
or coat of arms, of the family has a beaver chewing
on a branch of a tree. Some early records with the
name use the spelling Bieberstein which some
descendants in the U.S. use today.
   As we noted in the April issue the Biberstein
family that came to America were Anabaptists/
Amish-Mennonite. Prior to the Reformation the

Biberstein family were members of the Roman
Catholic Church. At some point in time
members of the family moved into the
Bishopric of Basel, which today is a part of
Canton Bern, and lived in the village of
Bozingen, just outside of Biel, Canton Bern,
Switzerland. There the family became
members of the Reformed Church in the
1500s. Records of the family are found in the
parish records of Reformed Churches of both
Bozingen and Biel. A major question was,
when did some members of the Family
become Anabaptist and unite with the
Amish Church?
   These church records have become readily
available for research since they have been
microfilmed and copies have been purchased
by the LDS in Salt Lake City,. The Fort
Wayne Library is able to rent these films so
that we can search for information on the
Biberstein family.
   When David Habegger began searching for
information on the Biberstein family he learned
that Isaac Zurcher. a former Mennonite
minister of Berne, Switzerland found the
Biberstein family in the 1823 census of
Anabaptists in the Bishopric of Basel. Ther
were five persons,with that name living on
farms near Bozingen and in the village. They
were: Abraham at Sous le Bemont, Abraham
at Maison Rouge, Les Bois, Jonas and
Christen at Les Fonges, and Katharina in
Bozingen. He also found Abraham and
Susanna living at Renan in 1828. Since the
farms named are near Bozigen and Renan and
since one source said Abraham Biberstein
living on Maison Rouge was from Bozigen, we
knew where to begin looking for further
information on the family.
   Cherry Dellinger of Fort Wayne, whose
mother was V, Naomi Biberstein Zuercher,
became interested in searching for her
ancestors so was willing to undertake the job.
The microfilm for the larger town, Biel, also
has the records of Bozingen. So Cherry
ordered two films of the appropriate time
period that contained baptismal, marriage and
death records. Later she also ordered the films
of Renan. In the Reformed Church records
from Biel and Bozingen, she found information
on her Biberstein ancestors. The records from
Biel are written in German script in those in
Renan in French script. Though Cherry had
studied neither German or French, by a careful
reading of the records she has

been able to find the names of family members
and to decipher the pertinent information along
with help from her daughter Gretchen Johnson
who studied French in high school and college.
   The first record of a Biberstein descendants in
Bozingen is from 1580 when Rudolph
Biberstein's name is given as a witness to a
baptism. The second record is the baptism of
Wilhelm on Oct 21, 1595, son of Margreth
Biberstein and Helias Moni. The second male
carrying the name is Hans Biberstein. He is
named as a witness to a baptism on June 16,
1612 (year not certain). It is noted that he was
the Bailiff as he has "Amman" written behind his
name. He died June 25, 1624 and again he has
the title Amman behind his name. The tradition of
Bibersteins giving leadership in government was
thus continued.
   The time right after the Reformation must have
been a time of turmoil for the church in Canton
Bern, Switzerland. Who was in authority and who
was responsible for keeping records? Church
records in some places began within a couple
decades after the Reformation. However records
in Biel and Bozingen only began with baptisms in
1578, with marriages in 1615, and deaths in
1621. Also the records appear to be quite spotty,
for some families. Quite a number of names
appear only once. That could mean the person
died or moved away or that the ministers just
failed to record numerous events. Thus it is
difficult to reconstruct a firm family line from the
early records.
   The earliest certain ancestor found was
Bendicht Bieberstein who married (Anna)
Maria Walther Feb. 21, 1738. He had been
baptized in Oct. 1724. No records of his wife's
baptism have been found.
   It would e interesting to know for sure who his
father was. Interestingly enough there were two
men bearing the name Bendicht Biberstein whose
deaths are recorded. one of whom is likely his
father. One died Dec. 25, 1750 and the other
June 30, 1755. Both death records give the same
baptismal date. Either they, were both baptized
the same day, September 20. 1681 or the
minister checking for a baptismal date used the
wrong date for one of the men. In any case, one
of these two men is surely the father of the
Bendict who married Maria Walther.
   The Bendicht Biberstein who probably is his

father was married to Kungold Strasser. No
marriage date is given but the first child recorded
to this couple was Peter, born June 7, 1711. This
couple has the following additional children:
Nicklaus, bapt. Mar 18 1714, Anna Elisabeth,
bapt. Oct 25, 1716, and Maria Catharina bapt.
Aug 6, 1720. We do not find a son Bendicht. but
Bendict Biberstein who married Maria Walther
was baptized Oct. 22, 1724 so could be a son.
   Putting together the bits and pieces of
information we could gather from the various
records, the best lineage to this certain ancestor
is as follows:

I.   Niclaus Biberstein, born abt 1565,
   married Barbli Gyen. Their first child Johannes
   was born April 11, 1590.

II.   Hans Rudolph Biberstein, baptized Jan. 9,
   1603. married Mar. 08. 1630 Sara Lienhart.

III.   Hans Rudolph Biberstein, baptized Jan.
   4, 1639, married Feb. 16. 1663 Anna
   Wyssbrot.

IV.   Bendict Biberstein, baptized Sept. 20,
   1681. He was probably the Bailiff. d. Dec 25,
   1750 or Jun 30, 1755. Married Sept. 5, 1705
   Kungold Strasser.

V.   Bendict Biberstein, baptized. Oct. 22,
   1724. Married Feb. 2, 1738 Anna Maria
   Walther. To Bendicht and Maria were born at
   least five children:
   1. Abraham, baptized Oct. 28, 1738 (the
   month is not certain)
   2. Samuel, baptized Mar. 7, 1740, who must
   have died young
   3. Johannes, baptized Apr. 16, 1741
   4. Peter, baptized January 26. 1744
   5. David, baptized Oct 23. 1746.
All of these baptisms took place in the Reformed
Church in Bozingen. The third child, Johannes, is
the ancestor we are following.

   Johannes Bieberstein, also recorded as Jean
since they lived in the French speaking part of
Canton Bern, married Anna Maria Hirschi on
March 13, 1773, She was born July 2, 1740 in
Tavannes, Canton Bern. Her father's name is
given as Jean (Johannes) Hirschi and his

occupation as farmer (Cultivateur). Her Hirschi
family had originated from Schangnau in the
Emmental of Canton Bern. This village is located
near the Alps. Other members of this Hirschi
family settled in France and were part of the
Amish Church in Alsace, Lorraine.
   An interesting question is, when did the
Biberstein family become Anabaptist? In the
records up to this point all of those found were
members of the Reformed Church. Anabaptists
came into this area of Switzerland, known as the
Bishopric of Basel, as early as 1540. The
greatest number arrived around 1730. They came
as farmers and since they were willing to pay
somewhat higher rent than the current tenants,
they were welcomed by the land owners. For the
most part they were restricted to the tops and
sides of the high country, so they had little contact
with the French speaking people in the towns and
villages. But it was inevitable that as people
became better acquainted that marriages between
the Reformed and Anibaptist members would
begin to occur.
   As we have indicated, the Hirschi family was
Anabaptist and this is confirmed for Anna Marie.
In the record of the birth of their first child,
Johannes. the Reformed pastor noted after her
name that she was an Anabaptist minded wife
(taufferish gesinnte Ehefrau). Also her birth date
is given with no baptismal date. In marrying a
member of the Reformed Church she was not
uniting with his church. She must have been
sharing her faith, including the issue of infant
baptism versus baptism upon confession of faith,
with her husband before their children were born.
The first two were not baptized at birth.
   The first two children were 1. Johannes
Biberstein, born May 10, 1774 and
2. Abraham, born August 5, 1775. Though not baptized at birth. there must have been pressure from Johannes family, friends and the church for the boys were baptized June 8, 1778 when Johannes was four years old and Abraham was nearly three. We can imagine that the mother gave in to the pressure by thinking that this action by the Reformed minister would not really make any difference in her childrens lives. Her influence was certainly much more important, for both of them became Anabaptists. The record of their baptism by Pfarrer Himmely of Tremlingen also

gives the dates of their birth.
   At this period of time we do not find any
records of the marriages, births and deaths of
Anabaptists in the Reformed Church records.
And the Anabaptists were not as yet keeping
records of their own, so we are fortunate to have
this record of the births and baptisms of this
family.
   The third child of Johannes and Anna Maria (Hirschi) Biberstein was Maria and we do not
find any record of her baptism. So by the time she
was born Johannes must have been become
convinced that the Bible does not require the
baptism of children. Because sh was not baptized,
we do not find any record of her birth either. She
married David Tschappatt and they lived in
Bozingen (which is also called Beaujean). Her
name and the name of her husband are given
when she was a witness to the baptism of
Johannes (Jean) son of Abraham and Susanna.
   It is the second child, Abraham Biberstein, born
August 5, 1775, who came to America with his
wife Katarina Klopfenstein and family. We will
complete the information on the Biberstein family
in the next issue.
   We have not given the documentation in this
letter for all the facts given. Plans are to prepare
the history for publication in Mennonite Family
History along with photos, maps, and portions of
the records. Information will be given on this
possibility in case you would like to purchase
a copy.

PUBLICATION INFORMATION The Hirschy Newsletter is published four times a
year. Cost is $5.00 for four issues.
   The editor is David L. Habegger,
6929 Hillsboro Ct,. Fort Wayne. IN 46835-1818.
   E-mail is dlhabegger@aol.com
If you have material you would like to submit for
publication, send it to the editor.

For Your Consideration
"The plans of the Lord stand firm forever.
The purposes of his heart through all generations.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord."
         Psalm 33:11-12 NIV

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