While praying and sitting in the Celestial room of the Meridian, Idaho Temple, sometime around 2019, I had the very distinct impression that I needed to get to Switzerland to do our genealogy. The impression I received further emphasized to me, that Cousin Lotti, my grandfather’s first cousin, was the key to everything and wouldn’t always be around. While she is in great health, being in her late 70’s means that she won’t always be around. With her eventual passing, so much of our family history would be lost.
My grandfather, Harry Vogt, was the youngest son of Anna Kuhn Vogt. She was the eldest of 13 children (of which, only five survived to adulthood). Lotti was the youngest child of Henry Kuhn (12/13). In reality, while she was my grandfather’s first cousin, she was closer in age to my father.
For decades, I had been at a roadblock when it came to the Vogt line and our genealogy. I had my great grandparent’s information – August and Anna Vogt. I even went back two more generations on the Vogt line but that was it. I didn’t have siblings on any of these generations nor did I have much else – just names and birth/death dates. The Kuhn side was pretty well documented but I knew there was always room for more research. For years, I had attempted to find more information and had discovered that the Swiss kept their records inaccessible and generally confidential as far as it came to any online access.
The impression, and the yearning to go to Switzerland was very strong, but now I faced a further obstacle the COVID-19 pandemic. I reached out to cousin Lotti and attempted to coordinate a time that would work for me to get over there. She was initially reluctant due to the pandemic, the travel restrictions, and due to so much of the country being in lockdown.
Finally, as spring of 2022 rolled around, on a whim, I looked up flights and found some decently priced tickets for the end of May. Both my mom and my aunt Donna had expressed interest in going. I contacted them and they agreed. We reached out to cousin Lotti to find out if those dates were doable for her and she agreed. We were in business! We arrived in Switzerland on May 24, 2022. Here are some of the pictures of our travels from Boise to Zurich...
My plan was threefold:
* I would visit all of the cemeteries in the towns and hamlets that our ancestors had lived in there. I hoped to find grave stones with birthdates, death dates, etc. and from there hopefully I would be able to find more generations.
* I planned on hitting all of the churches in the area to look into their records and talk to the clergy members to find out what genealogical documents they had. I hoped for marriage documents, births, christenings, burials, etc.
* Hit the different public records departments of each town.
Upon arrival, and once I started implementing my plan, I quickly discovered that each phase of my plan led to dead ends. I felt absolutely gutted, like I had been punched in the stomach. I discovered that in Switzerland, the dead are only buried in the cemeteries for 25 years. At that point, your family has two choices - You can be exhumed and put into a communal grave with everyone else or you can be exhumed and cremated with your ashes returned to your loved ones. Additionally, whatever gravestone you have, is returned to your family members. As we visited various cemeteries I discovered that there were no graves older than the late 1990s with only the occasional old grave of someone of historical importance.
We were able to visit the church at Illnau (Kirche Illnau) that all of my ancestors had been married in for centuries going back. Visiting the church was an amazing experience and I was humbled to think of all my ancestors who had worshiped there, who had been married there, baptized, christened, etc. Illnau was first settled in the late 700’s. The church I now stood in, was first constructed in the 1100’s. I discovered that almost every church in the country is left unlocked during the day and any visitor can walk in. I also discovered that these churches really don’t have offices like her modern-day churches nor do they have records on site, archives, etc. Pretty much you have a large chapel and a balcony area, and that’s about it. There were no clergy members on duty.
I attempted to try to find different records with the city departments, but I had already called ahead, emailed, and corresponded with the set of the local city offices, and found that they didn’t have anything. I felt like I had wasted a lot of money to get over there only to be completely stopped by these roadblocks. I felt like I had let my family down and I had let my ancestors down. There was tension between Shandy and I and I felt like she thought I was just gallivanting around, having a fun Swiss vacation. Don’t get me wrong, I was enjoying myself tremendously in Switzerland. I was experiencing my heritage and culture, visiting and meeting new relatives, seeing historical sites, etc. However, the first priority of the trip was to unearth as much of our genealogy as I could to find more family members for us to do their temple work. I was very cognizant of the fact that I needed to find these family members. A few times, I was chastised on the phone by Shandy and I didn’t feel my efforts were good enough. I felt great pressure and stress. I began praying earnestly that I would somehow be able to find a way to cross the barriers and uncover our family members.
One day, while up in the mountains at my cousin Christian’s house, I explained my woes to him and his wife Ursi. She suggested that I visit the Central Library in Zürich (Zentralbibliothek Zürich). She was pretty sure that there would be records there. I figured out where the library was and planned the trip there for Saturday. I made my way from Effretikon via train into the heart of Zürich. I then took cable cars across the city and ended up at the library. As I walked inside, I found an information desk, and felt very fortunate that the gentleman manning the desk spoke fluent English. I discussed with him what I was attempting to do and was hit with another hurdle. He stated that the only records they would have there would be Ellis Island records of Swiss immigrants that they received from the United States. I related that that was information I already had and that I was trying to find older records. He then pointed me to what would end up being the first major ray of hope that I had received. He was fairly certain that the records I sought could be found at the Zürich State Archives (Staatsarchiv Zürich).He showed me the location on a map and we looked at the hours of operation only to discover that it would not be open until Tuesday (we were flying back to the States on Wednesday). As the Archive was located far from a public transport stop, I decided to go and recon the site so there were no issues finding it on my last full day in Switzerland. I hopped on a cable car and travelled further through the city, getting off at the stop for The University of Zürich – Irchel (Universität Zürich Campus Irchel), which happened to be Christian’s alma mater.
I traversed through a large public park, winding down trails and crossing bridges across ponds. Switzerland, and most of Europe, was facing a shortage of insects and bees. To help facilitate their return, many areas that normally had contained lawns, were now returned to long grass and wildflowers. The sight was nearly surreal and almost apocalyptic in nature as though the wild had reclaimed civilization. In reality, I really enjoyed it and thought it was a great idea. Many homeowners had converted their lawns to wildflowers. I wondered if I could get away with it back home – less maintenance and lawn mowing, and a more environmentally friendly environment for the ecosystem. I came to a large outdoor ampitheather with a large set of stairs climbing a hill. I summited the hill and was in the midst of the campus. I was able to find the Staatsarchiv and had a very accomplished feeling and knew that I was where I needed to be. I then explored Zurich a little more and returned to Effretikon, Lotti, Mom, and Donna.
After a great weekend of exploring Switzerland, Tuesday rolled around. I awoke at 6:00am, grabbed breakfast, bade farewell to Lotti, and headed out. I walked down her street to the bus stop. I had become quite proficient in public transport whilst traversing Zurich and the surrounding countryside. I rode the bus to the main train station in Effretikon, made a transfer to a Zurich bound train and was on my way. A few transfers later and a stroll through the park and I was at the door to the Staatsarchiv. I paused and said what was probably my fourth prayer of the day. I had so much hope and anticipation. This destination was the culmination of years of searching, researching, and planning. If I struck out here, I din’t know what I would do.
I walked into the archive’s lobby, which contained small lockers. I spoke with the attendant at the front desk and explained what I was trying to do. She had me sign in and place all of my belongings into one of the lockers. I was able to bring in my phone, a pen, and a notebook. I was ushered through the doors and led back to another desk. I was introduced to young woman in her 30’s named Frau ***. I explained that I was looking for my ancestors from the Illnau and Effretikon area. She led me to another room and began to pull out microfiche for the Family Registeries. I was asked if I wanted to peruse through the fiche myself or if I wanted assistance. I gladly accepted the assistance and we began searching. We were able to find my great grandfather August quite easily. We then found his parents. So far so good. All information that I already had but it was an affirmation that I was on the right track. We then found information about his mother, Julia, Heuser. I had a picture of her and her name but nothing else. We were then able to find records about her parents and I was beginning to feel euphoric! Finally, I was uncovering our ancestors. Frau *** then was able to cross reference the records of the other Vogts. We began scanning through the microfiche but the section we needed was not there.
“It looks like the section with your family is missing,” she stated. My heart sunk. While I was excited that we had found a few ancestors, I couldn’t believe that this was it. “No problem,” she said. “I’ll just go and get the original records from the basement.”
My jaw dropped. I’m sure there was a look of astonishment on my face.
“We can do that?” I asked.
“Of course.”
A feeling of relief washed over me as I felt extreme gratitude. This trip had been such a rollercoaster of emotions after hitting so many dead-ends.
Frau Leimgruber returned to the room with several bound volumes of Familienregister Illnau (Illnau Family Register). Each volume stretched for several decades and was handwritten by the priests of the Swiss National Church. Each family entry detailed the parents, who their parents were, what record number they could be found on, who the children were, all of their dates and locations for birth, baptism, christening, marriage, death, and burial. The spouses of the children were listed, what record the new couple could be found under, where the new in-laws could be found, etc. It was all extremely detailed, organized, and an absolute gold mine!
I felt that, while on this trip, I had been blessed with the gift of tongues. I had taken a year of German in High School as well as a year of German in college. To prepare for the trip, I spent a fair amount of time on the language apps Duolingo and Rosetta Stone. Regardless of my preparation, I found my ability to communicate was greatly increased while I was in Switzerland. I started having recollection of words and phrases that I had not uttered or heard since 11th grade in 1990. With my modest German skills and nearly every person in Switzerland having modest English speaking skills, I had been able to communicate with nearly everyone I had met. I was grateful that I was able to communicate so well with the archivists. I relied heavily on them while pouring through the records. While researching other records, I had noticed that the further you went back, the more difficult it was to read the handwriting unless it was printed out. Looking at cursive from census records in 1940 was difficult at times. Now, I was looking at cursive written in the 1700’s in Swiss-German. At times, I could make most everything out. Other times, I heavily relied on Frau Rothenbuhler. There was one particularly interesting entry for the family of Hans and Barbara Vogt. It looked like most of the family had left the church and become separatists. The priest left a particularly scathing record about them including about my one ancestor being a fugitive from his mercenary obligations in Holland.
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Backtracking a bit, here's something I shared on Facebook about my adventures on my second day in Switzerland...
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