The Hirschy Newsletter

for descendants of Philip and Julianne (Frey) Hirschy
July 1994 No. 3

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THE 1994
HIRSCHY GATHERING

  Are you planning to
attend? As someone has
said, this will be the
largest gathering of
Hirschy descendants ever
held. In addition to
people from Indiana,
Michigan and Ohio, we have
heard from relatives in New
York, Connecticut,
Tennessee, Florida,
Alabama, Texas, California,
Arizona, Washington,
Wisconsin, Minnesota and
several provinces of
Canada, who will be
present. You will not want
to miss this opportunity of
learning to know many of
your relatives whom you
have never seen.

  Consult your April
issue for the details. In
case you can't locate it,
here are the important
items,
  It will be held on
July 30, 1994 beginning
with registration at 1:30
p.m. It will be held in
    Riverside Center
    231 Bast St.,
    Decatur, Indiana.
This is an air-conditioned
building located just east
of the river and the
business section on
highway 224.

  We will have a potluck
carry-in meal beginning at
4:30 p.m. so bring food and
beverage to share. Coffee
will be furnished.

  Tables will be set up
for any displays of photos
and memorabilia. Please
label all photos with the
names of the persons, if
possible.

A donation will be accepted
to cover the rental and thec mailing of the first three
newsletters.

  The evening program
will begin at 6:00 p.m. and
will feature a slide
presentation of Hirschy
history. This will be
pictures taken in
Switzerland and the Alsace
of France.

  Some are asking when
then will be another

Hirschy Gathering. If you
would like to have more
opportunities to meet and
talk with Hirschy
relatives, express your
thoughts at the Gathering
and be prepared to offer
your assistance in making
this possible.

The Hirschy
Genealogy

  The book containing the
history and listing of
family members has been
printed and bound. Copies
are being sent out to those
who sent in an order.
  There are nine chapters
containing the history of
the family followed by
information on the
descendants of the first
family members who came to
America in 1835.
  More than 5,400
descendants are listed
along with the names of
spouses and frequently the
names of the spouse's
parents. Altogether there
are approximately 15,000
names in the book. Only
the descendants have been
alphabetized for the index.
  Some who have seen the
book of over 500 pages have
used such words as
"awesome, fantastic,
tremendous" to describe
their impression of all
that has been included.
  More books were printed
than were ordered by
individuals so you will be
able to purchase a copy at
the Gathering or by
ordering it to be sent to
you. If need be, more
copies can be printed. To
be sure of a copy now be
present at the Gathering or
place your order this
month.
  To order a copy of the
book use the form in this
newsletter.

NEWSLETTER
TO CONTINUE

  Sufficient interest in a
newsletter has been shown
to continue additional
issues. The Gathering
Committee decided to have a
third issue sent out to
everyone on the mailing
list. We want everyone to
know about the Gathering

and to give them the
opportunity of continuing
to be on the mailing list.
  If you want to receive
further copies, use the
order form and send in
$5.00 for four more issues.

RELATED HIRSCHY
FAMILIES

  There are other Hirschy
families in America in
addition to those descended
from Philip Hirschy and
Julianna Frey. In Adams
County at the present time
there are descendants of
two brothers who came to
this community. These
brothers were August and
Henry Hirschy.
  August Hirschy is said to
have been 15 years old when
he came to America in 1868.
Henry Hirschy was born Feb.
22, 1862 so was six years
old when the family came to
America. They first
settled in Wayne County,
Ohio and then came to
Adams County.
  August was married and
had two sons, Charles and
Frank. Henry married Anna
Bowman on Nov. 13, 1885
and they had sixteen children.
  August and Henry's
parents were Frederich
Ludwig Hirschy and Adele
Dubois. Their records have
been found in both
Neuchatel, and in Trub; the
same places our family
records were found. The
question frequently asked
is: Are we related? The
answer is yes.
  Our common ancestors are
Hans Hirschi and Anna Marie
Liechti who had 13
children. We are descended
from the 5th child, Johann
Ulrich Hirschi who married
Marianna Losli (Loseas) the
parents of Philip who
married Julianna Frey.
  August and Henry Hirschy
were descendants of the
12th child, Christian
Hirschi who married
Margaritha Moser These are
the grandparents of
Fredrich Ludwig Hirschi,
  August and Henry were
thus 3rd cousins to the
second generation of our
family who settled in
Adams County.
  It is said that August
and Henry came by

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themselves to America. The
age of Henry casts some
doubt on this as well as
the fact that the record of
their parents in Trub,
Switzerland lists the birth
of just two daughters.
Descendants in America say
there were 22 children in
the family. The fact that
not more of the family is
registered, and the deaths
of the parents are not
recorded may indicate the
whole family came to
America.
  A third Hirschy family
came to Adams County. The
father was Fredrick Louis
Hirschy, b. June 2, 1859.
He married Cecile Wenger in
Allen County, Ohio on Feb.
5, 1881. Some time after
this they came to Adams
County and had a daughter
Ida Fanny Hirschy, b. Sept.
8, 1885 near Vera Cruz.
  This family moved to
Dillon, Montana where they
obtained a large ranch and
had a total of 12 children.
Fredrick Louis was the son
of Frederic Louis Gottlieb
Hirschy who was a grandson
of the 3rd child of Hans
Hirschi. Thus Frederick
Louis was a 3rd cousin to
the second generation of
our family in Adams County.
Frederick and Cecile
Hirschy eventually moved to
LaMesa, CA and died there.
A grandson of Frederick
Louis Hirschy is Ray
Hildreth of Dillon Montana.
He and his wife are very
interested in making a
connection with Hirschy
relatives but will not be
able to be at the
Gathering.

  To help clarify our
relationships we list the
following:
The common parents - Hans
Hirschi and Anna Marie
Liechti.

3. Johannes Ludwig (Hans
Louis) Hirschy m. Anna
Maria Brand (Brandt)
    3.5.7 Friedrich Ludwig
    Gottlieb Hirschi, m.
    Fanny Eugenia Tissot

5. Johannes Ulrich Hirschi,
m. Marianna Losli (Loseas)
    5.5 Philip Hirschy, m.     Julianna Frey

12. Christian (Christen)
Hirschi, m. Margritha Moserc     12.6.8 Friedrich Ludwig
    Hirschy, m. Adele Duboisc
  Are there other Hirschy
families in America in

addition to these? That is
in addition to the Hershey
families in Pennsylvania.
They are likely our
relatives as well, but the
connecting tie would need
to be from the early 1600s.

LET'S TRAVEL TO
EUROPE

  Interest continues to
grow in a tour to
Switzerland and France to
visit the places our
ancestors lived, meet
Hirschy relatives, and
experience current life in
Switzerland and France.
  To receive more infor-
mation on the Hirschy
Heritage Tour that is
tentatively set to begin
June 29, 1995, give your
name and address to Cletus
Hirschy, 3923 Hazelhurst
Dr., Ft. Wayne, IN 46804.

MISSING
    INFORMATION

  The Hirschy Genealogy
does not have information
on several families. We
did not find persons to
give information on some
families, and the location
of some is not know. Here
are some families of whom
we have only the second and
third generations. If you
know of persons in these
families, please send the
information to David
Habegger.

  The 3. Philip Hirschy
family contained eight sons
and one daughter who had
descendants. We have only
a little information on the
descendants of the daughter
3.5 Lydia Hirschy who
married Christian Wurthner.
This family lived in
Michigan, but we have not
been able to locate them.
Can someone supply an
address?

  The family of 5.
Marianna Hirschy and Joseph
Klopfenstein was a large
one. There were thirteen
children, Fulton County,
Ohio was their home. The
children of whom we have
only the barest of
information are 5.7 Joseph
Klopfenstein; 5.8 Jacob
Klopfenstein; 5.9 Samuel
Klopfenstein and 5.12 Seth
Klopfenstein.

  We have the least
information on the
descendants of 7. Rosina
Hirschy who stayed in Wayne
County, Ohio and married
twice. She first married
Peter Steiner and had three
children. Following his
death she married Henry
Boyer and had five more
children. At least three
of the Boyer children had
no descendants.
  Any missing information
or correction of errors in
The Hirschy Genealogy will
be gratefully received. An
Addenda may be printed at
some future time.

THE LIFE OF LOUIS
HIRSCHY

  Louis, the fourth child
of Philip Hirschy and
Julianna Frey was born May
23, 1826 in the community
of Les Brenet, Canton
Neuchatel, Switzerland. He
was named Friedrich Ludwig
by his Swiss-German
speaking parents. Since
they lived in the French
speaking part of
Switzerland, he used the
French form of his name,
Fredrich Louis. He went by
his middle name.
  Louis was born two years
and one month after his
brother Philip. But his
sister, Marianna, was born
ten months after his birth
- another record gives it
as twelve months. In
either case his role as the
baby in the family was cut
short. And being in the
middle of the family, he
would have had to learn how
to fend for himself very
early.
  Tragedy struck the family
when his father, Philip,
died of a beart attack on
Dec. 22, 1831 when Louis
was six and a half years of
age. Christmas that year
was a sorrowful one for the
whole family. Life for the
widowed mother and her
seven children, must have
been difficult as they
dealt with this loss and
the necessary adjustments.
  After the mother,
Julianna, received
encouragement from her
father to come to America,
she married Christian Horn.
Leaving the security of
their home in the lovely
hills of Canton Neuchatel
was another stressful
experience. As the family
prepared to leave this
home, Louis made one last

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trip to the pig pen to say
goodbye to his little Piggy
named Wilhelm Tell.
  The family made the
long voyage to America on
the sailing ship Richmond,
arriving July 8, 1835.
Typically such voyages
lasted up to forty days on
the ocean. Upon arrival in
New York the family
immediately began the trip
to Stark County, Ohio. It
must have been a joy filled
day when Louis met his
grandfather, Johannes Frey,
and the family moved into
their newly built home.
  Being nine years of
age, Louis was old enough
to help with the farm work,
such as milking the cows,
driving a team of horses,
splitting wood for the
stove, etc. Young boys
early learned to do their
share of the daily chores.
  But in the next four
years there were additional
sorrows in store for this
young boy. His grandfather
died two years after they
arrived in Stark County.
Then two years after that
his mother died, a month
following the birth of her
eleventh child. She was
only 44 years of age.
  With the death of his
mother, Louis and his
brothers and sisters were
now orphaned. Christian
Horn, his step-father, had
them placed in other Amish
families in Wayne County
Ohio, where they could work
for their room and board.
Whatever they earned above
that amount went to their
step-father. Louis was
nearly 14 years of age so
would have been a valued
farm hand.
  Upon reaching the age
of 21 in 1847 Louis was
free from his obligation to
his step-father and was now
on his own. Together with
his brother Philip he went
to Adams County, Indiana to
search out possible land
for farming. Their older
brother, John, had already
settled in Adams County
near Linn Grove so could be
helpful to them in their
decisions. Louis purchased
80 acres in French township
for $350. This 1-d was
located three miles
northwest from his brother
John. Philip purchased
land directly south of
Berne, or three and a half
miles east of John.
  Having a plot of ground
he could clear and farm,
Louis returned to Wayne

County to marry Magdalena
Burkhalter. They were
united in October 1848.
Magdalene's early life had
been quite similar to that
of Louis. She was born in
Switzerland July 9, 1827 on
the farm Semplain (or La
Roche) located abovec
Souboz, Canton Bern
Switzerland to Peter And
Anna (Gyger) Burkhalter.
Her mother, Annal died Feb.
23, 1832 when Magdalena was
only three years old. Her
father married Marian Bixel
May 18, 1835 ;and they came
to America in May 1837.
They settled in Wayne
County, OH for two years
then moved to Fulton Co.
  Peter Burkhalter died
the winter of 1847-48. He
was hauling logs across a
river when the ice broke
and he was killed. With
the death of her father,
Magdalena went to Wayne
County where her uncle John
lived and there met Louis.
  While the Burkhalter
family was Mennonite, they
were conservative in their
outlook for Peter and
family were members of the
Reformed Mennonite Church
in Fulton County. His
brother John, though
baptized as a Mennonite,
united with the Amish
congregation in Wayne
County.
  Louis and Magdalena
continued to live in Wayne
county following their
marriage until May 1849
when they moved to their
farm in Indiana. The
undeveloped land that had
been purchased needed to be
cleared of trees, the
ground plowed and crops
planted. A home was built
and fences erected. In
this difficult situation
their first child was born.
it was probably a premature
birth for the infant did
not live and was not named.
  About a year later a
second child was born on
August 17, 1850. They
named him Philip after
Louis, father. Other
children followed, almost
one a year, for in the next
twenty years there were a
total of sixteen births.
of this number ten survived
beyond the years of
childhood.
  After four years in
French Township, Louis sold
the farm and purchased
another 80 acres in
Hartford Township for $350.
The reason for this
exchange of land is not

known, but it brought him
closer to the center of the
Amish community. This land
may have been largely
undeveloped, but in time a
frame two story house was
built that still stands
today.
  While in French Township
Louis and Magdalena had
three children. The rest
of the sixteen births were
in Hartford Township. Life
for Magdalene must never
have been easy. Living
under pioneering conditions
with no modern conveniences
was particularly trying.
Her life came to an end
following the birth of her
sixteenth child on
Christmas eve, 1869. She
had been pregnant or
nursing a child all of her
married years. It is
said that she was a large
woman, weighing about 300
pounds. She must have
hemorrhaged after the birth
of Maryann for the amniotic
water and blood seeped
through the mattress andc floor of the upstairs room
to the first floor. The
baby died shortly after
birth.
  The family was so
occupied with the mother's
passing they did .not notice
that little Katrina (Kate),
four years of age, had
gotten into the candy that
had been purchased for the
family's Christmas. She
became sick from eating too
much sweets. The family's
Christmas was both sad and
without the customary
things to brighten it.
Magdalena was buried in the
Hartford Township Cemetery,
but no stone marks her
grave. She was forty-two
years of age.
  Louis was now a widower,
in much the same position
as his mother had been when
his father died. Following
the death of Magdalena the
younger children were
placed with other Amish
families. Some of the
older ones were already
working for others.
Philip, the oldest, was
nineteen years of age.
Lydia was eighteen and Anna
seventeen. Samuel was
fifteen. To bring his
younger children home,
Louis hired Fanny Lesh as a
housekeeper. The question
arises, why did not one of
the older daughters take
over the role of mother in
the home? There is no
answer to this question.
  Fanny was born Oct. 22,

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1857 (the date given by N.C. Hirschy. Her tombstone has the year as 1856.) Thus she was sixteen years of age when she came to work in the Hirschy home. After working there for some time, Louis and Fanny were married on April 17, 1873. Louis was within a week of being 47 years of age. Fanny was the daughter of Joseph Lesh- The Lesh family came to Wells CountY Indiana from Berks County, PA and were of German Lutheran background. It is likely that Louis had few options in finding a wife. The Defenseless Mennonite Church of which he was a member was still small and many of the families were his relatives. Also the fact that his church was no longer in fellowship with the Amish church closed off any possibilities there. Thus marrying outside his church was probably the only option. And marrying someone so much younger may have been the only possibility. In Fanny he found one who could speak German, was willing to unite with his church, and who was able to care for his small children and bear additional ones. Louis and Fanny began a family the year after their marriage. Again children were born almost a year apart. They had twelve children before Louis died Jan. 28, 1898 at the age of 71. Three years after his marriage to Fanny the family moved to LaGrange County where he purchased 80 acres. This land was sold on Apr. 3, 1884 and	the family moved again to Clinton County where he leased a farm, Then in 1886 he purchased two adjoining 80 acre plots in Tippecanoe County for $2,600. The records in Tippecanoe Co. state that he had chattels (household goods, farm equipment and farm animals) worth $1570 and a male dog. In moving to both LaGrange and Tippecanoe counties the Louis Hirschy family went to a community in which there was a Defenseless Mennonite Church. Being a part of this church appears to have been an important factor in choosing where to live. But the reasons for his moves have not been determined. Louis Hirschy was a conservative minded farmer. There is no evidence that he ever had a photograph taken of himself or his family. This would have been in keeping with his Amish background that looked upon photographs as graven images. There is a letter from Louis to N.C. Hirschy, giving information about his children. He knew how to read and write, but his schooling probably never exceeded that of the third or fourth grade. O.on the tombstone of Louis are the words "Children live in peace." These may be an expression of his deepest wishes. There is evidence that not all was at peace in the family. When Louis died, Samuel, the second son, was made the executor of the will. The oldest son, Philip, was not even present for the funeral.	He had probably broken the tie to his parents when he married a girl who was not a member of their church. Others in the family moved away from home and it appears that there was little communication between them and their parents. The hardships the members of the family experienced and the impact of many new influences tore at their fabric of their relationships. The large number in the family made it necessary for the children to leave the home community to look for places where they could make a living. The peace many found was the peace of separation and distance. ADDRESSES NEEDED: A number of persons on our mailing list moved and the forwarding notice had expired. If you know of any Hirschy descendants who would like to receive copies of the first newsletters, send their names and addresses to the editor. Here are the names of some whose addresses are not known. Karen Clevenger, Mary Edna Lauby, Wendy Hollett, Florence Evrick, Sandra Lehman, Marilyn Price, Gladys Yoder, Gloria Sprunger, Fredrick Haugk, Jr, John Williman, Michael A. Mitchell, Justin Homer. Jane Ogger, Stephen Rea, Lewis Hirschy, Patricia Gravatt, Douglas Benson, Charlene Howard, Thomas Arnold, Mickey Sanders, Donna Wyse, Darwin Zehr.

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