Day 15 - Friends & Cops in Switzerland

Wednesday, May 29th
This was a day of visiting Ruth's ancestral villages and chatting with several possible relatives.

We drove to Illnau and looked for a place to park in the center of town.  The first place we found was a bakery parking lot, so we decided to get some goodies.  Of course, we first asked the ladies at the counter if they knew any Bryners or Kuhns.  They didn't, but one of them brought out a telephone book and started checking names.  She found two people named Wintsch, another of Ruth's ancestral names, so with pastries in hand we set off for the first address, about 1/2 mile away.

A 7-year-old boy answered the door, soon followed by his mother, who invited us in and offered drinks while we discussed her family name.  She called her father and made us an appointment to meet him at his home at 3pm.

We had a few hours until then so we drove to Bisikon, a small neighboring village, looking for Kuhns.  In the center of town we found a sign in front of a house announcing the Ueli Kuhn Family.

Ueli Kuhn Family Home

  We were soon chatting with Ueli (who drove his tractor in to meet us), his wife, and a friend who came to translate.  They didn't have the information we needed but said that his father might, but is on vacation in Africa.  They took our info and promised to email if they find anything.  They also referred us to Magdalena Mirer, who was born across the street, now works there in the restaurant, and knows the town well.  They also steered us to another Kuhn house owned now by Barbara Grunder.

Our visit with Magdalena Mirer was unproductive, but Barbara Grunder, who bought an ancient Kuhn homestead and farm in 1975, called HansJorg Scheiwiller and set us up with a lunch date at the town restaurant.

Former Kuhn Family Home, Now Owned by Grunder

We had a traditional Swiss meal at the restaurant and enjoyed a 2-hour chat with HansJorg, who spoke good English.  His mother was a Kuhn, so he brought the oldest documents that he had, the most interesting being those dealing with the sale of the family farm in 1975, because they listed many family names.  But we still couldn't connect them with Ruth's lines.  When he learned that we were also seeking Wintsch names we found that he knew both of them, and was good friends with our 3pm appointment.  He led us in his car and introduced us.

Lunch with HansJorg Scheiwiller

Walter Wintsch offered drinks and brought out a book listing all of the residents of the Zurich Canton, and some family papers showing family members back to 1830.  Again, we couldn't quite make the connection with Ruth's ancestor born in 1807, but we had a nice visit and collected information that may help, once we bridge the gap.

Then we visited Volketswil, that seemed to have no buildings more than 100 years old, and took photos of a small Lutheran church in Wangen before heading for home.

Our GPS kept trying to send us down roads that were closed for construction, but we avoided them.  Or so we thought.  Somehow we missed one of the signs and were stopped by police hiding in the trees.  They, speaking English, checked our license and registration and let us off with a warning after we explained our problem, but said it would normally cost us a fine of 100 Swiss francs (about $100).  Even the cops (polizei) are nice here.

Another very interesting day, that didn't end until we had gorged on Swiss chocolate that we picked up at a grocery store.  Here are photos of our lunch main dishes:

Riz "Casimir" (Curried Rice with Chicken) and Applesauce

Ghackets und Hornli (Ground Pork and Macaroni) with Emmental