Thierry Brothers

Who are these three young guys?

And why did Enos and Dora have this photo?

On the back of the photo, in Dora's handwriting, are these words: "Picture Aunt Lene had".
This gives us a big hint. "Aunt Lene" had three brothers. They were

Charles Paul Thierry, born 1864

Charles Julius Thierry, born 1871

Alfred Thierry, born 1873

"Aunt Lene" was Celina Thierry, born 1867

The four children immigrated to America in 1874 with their mother (Marie Guemann Thierry), their grandmother (Catherine Guemann), their step grandfather (Andreas Vonier), and numerous aunts and uncles. Their father, Charles Paul Thierry, a cobbler, had immigrated a year earlier.

Dora's Crocheted Work

Dora loved to crochet. One day a granddaughter, Betty, was being babysat. Betty took her doll with her. Apparently, the doll did not have any clothes on, so Dora crocheted this little dress and bonnet for the doll, probably with scrap yarn that she had.

With the loop, this may be a hot pad? It is very cute.

Dora did a lot of crocheted edgings. I am not absolutely sure, but I think that she created this embroidered doily/dresser scarf:

Enos Aeschliman's Ancestors

Enos Aeschliman's ancestors, with a couple of exceptions, were residents of Switzerland until they endured persecution due to their Anabaptist/Mennonite beliefs. They immigrated to a region in France, near Switzerland, called Franche Comté, near the city of Montbéliard. Many of them identified with the church in Montbéliard. The Montbéliard Mennonite Church Register (MMCR) (see footnote below) records baptisms, marriages, and deaths. The Family Outlines in Volume 2 provide genealogical information for people in Volume 1, using the French civil records and family genealogical information. In general, the MMCR traces the families back to their appearance in France. However, due to various reasons such as date of immigration, distance the family lived from Montbéliard, or gaps in the records, not everyone is covered in this resource, and some of the lines do not go back very far. In the chart below, there is the code from the MMCR for many individuals but not all. (For example, Fannie Vonier has the code VN5, but her maternal grandmother, Marie Guerick, has no code.) The birth dates for the early immigrants are listed where known. A * indicates an immigration, for example from Switzerland to France or from France to America. A ** indicates that the person immigrated to two countries. In the case of Andreas Vonier, the ** indicates Austria to France and then to America. Because these families spoke Swiss German but lived in France and America, their first and last names get various spellings. For example, Aeschlimann became Aeschliman, and Andreas became André and then Andrew. There are two unknown fathers indicated by empty boxes, to be explained later!

·     Montbéliard Mennonite Church Register 1750-1958. Vol. 1: Transcription & Translation. Vol. 2: Family Outlines & Indexes. Edited by Joe A. Springer. Goshen, IN, Mennonite Historical Society, 2015.

Dora's Crafts

Dora Neuhauser Aeschliman always had some project going, at least in her later years when her children were no longer at home. She may have gotten the pattern for this hooked rug from a magazine, but she used her own colors. Yarn is used for bits of it; otherwise it is made from wool fabrics. The gray background is made from Enos's wedding suit!

This hooked rug is not quite as tightly done, and it has faded over the years. It also appears to be done in wool fabric and yarn. It looks as if she used yarn when she lacked a fabric of that color.

This rug is crocheted and is amazingly heavy. I think it is made from rayon fabrics. I wonder if the fabric was from her dresses.

Smaller crocheted items were easier to do. From its size this one looks like a mug mat, but it is more likely a small doily for some special spot.

(photos by J. Evan Kreider)

Fannie Vonier Aeschliman

What is wrong with this picture? It is the grave marker of Enos's parents, taken at the Pettisville Cemetery.

Answer: Fannie was not born in 1863.

The assumption always was that Fannie was born in Etobon, Haute-Saône, France on November 20, 1863. However, in the summer of 2015, Joe Springer of the Mennonite Historical Library in Goshen found the record of her birth. It turns out that she was born in the village of Magny-Vernois, also in Haute-Saône, on November 23, 1862. The family lived in Magny-Vernois for about three years but otherwise lived in Etobon.

Even this family Bible has the incorrect birthdate:

Unfortunately, my photos of Fannie are of her older years. It would be interesting to see what she looked like in her younger years.

 

Prior to November 1932 in son Enos's front yard.

 Taken in 1950's in Enos and Dora's living room.

Closer up, we see her cane, rickrack around her polka dot apron (it was probably a week day), black covering strings, handkerchief, and sweater to keep warm. 

Fannie in summer 1953, after attending the Sunday worship at West Clinton Mennonite Church. The great granddaughter is under 4 years old but quite tall in comparison to the stooped Fannie. Fannie wore her heavy woolen coat and her black bonnet even in mid-summer.

Somewhere, Fannie learned to knit. She knitted these mittens for Judy and me. I think other families received mittens also.

If you want to read more, here is Fannie's obituary. Note that there are errors, such as her birthday, birth place, age at immigration, age at death, but it is still interesting. Instead of being 92 years old, she reached 93!

FANNIE (Vonier) AESCHLIMAN
Fannie (Vonier) Aeschliman, daughter of Andrew and Catharine Vonier, was born in Etoben, Alsace Loraine; *Franche, November 20, 1863. After being bedfast for four weeks she peacefully fell asleep at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Henry Richer of Wauseon, Ohio, Jan. 13, 1956, at the age of 92 years, 1 month, and 24 days. When she was 9 years of age she came with her parents to this country and settled near Archbold, Ohio. On Apri1 10, 1883, she was united in marriage to Theophilus Aeschliman. This union was blessed with 5 children, 2 sons and 3 daughters: Jemima (Mrs. Aaron Klopfenstein), Mary (Mrs. Henry Richer), Lucinda (Mrs. Samuel Richer), and Enos Aeschliman, all of Wauseon, Ohio, and Ben Aeschliman of Archbold, Ohio. Her companion preceded her in death 23 years ago; also 1 daughter, Jemima, who passed away about a year ago. She leaves to mourn her
departure: 4 children, 25 grandchildren, 14 great-grand-children, and 1 great-great-grand-child; also 3 sisters: Mrs. Ida Fether, Mrs. Cora Leininger, Mrs. Hulda Lauber, and 1 brother, Mr. Otto Vonier, and many other relatives and friends. In her younger years she accepted Christ as her personal Saviour and united with the Defenseless Mennonite Church, and later transferred her membership to the, Old Mennonite church of which she was a faithful member until death. She was a patient, kind and loving Mother and was interested in the spiritual welfare of her family.
'Tis hard "to part with 'Mother, dear,
No more to have her with us here;
But yet we're glad,-if God saw best
To take her home and give her rest,
In Heaven to reign with angels fair,
May our name, too, be written there.
Card Of Thanks
The family expresses. their heartfelt thanks for prayers, sympathies and flowers, and to all who assisted during the sickness, death and-burial of Mother. Fannie Aeschliman Family.

From SAGA (Swiss Anabaptist Genealogical Association) http://saga-omii.org/, transcribed by Burkholder, Rose Clark (I'm not sure of the actual source, perhaps the local newspaper.)

*****

The Guemann Family That Stayed in Etobon

In 1953, Fannie Aeschliman returned from a Sunday morning worship service at West Clinton Mennonite Church to eat Sunday dinner at her son's house near Wauseon, Ohio. She is surrounded by descendants: left to right: Janice, Betty, Hyrthal, Judy, and one of her sons, Enos.  Fannie was 90 years old and destined to live for 2 1/2 more years. She immigrated to Ohio in 1874 when she was 11 years old with her mother Catherine Guemann Vonier, father, and siblings, from Etobon, France where her mother's family (Guemanns) had lived since the beginning of the 1800's.  Their Guemann ancestors had left Switzerland for France in the 1700's to escape persecution because they were Anabaptists/Mennonites (Wiedertäufer or rebaptized).

We visited Etobon on June 9, 2016. Approaching the small village, one can see the Lutheran church which was built in the 1850's to replace an older structure.  A 31-year-old stone mason, Andreas Vonier, came from Austria to work on the church.  He ended up marrying Catherine Guemann, a 28-year-old widow with three daughters.  (There is a traumatic story behind this marriage, for another blog.) The couple became the parents of Fannie and her 7 siblings.

Note the date 1854 and the Bible verse from Luke 11:28:  Happy/blessed are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice.

The side of the church is stuccoed, but notice the different stones used for pillars and for the foundation. Andreas (Andrew) Vonier may have laid these very stones.

There is evidence of recent re-pointing of the stones; the church is kept in good condition. I wonder if the front door handle is from 1854. Unfortunately, the sanctuary was locked, but we did get into the foyer.

There was a cemetery behind the church, but most of the tombstones have been moved and propped against the wall. The Lutherans generously allowed Anabaptists to be buried there. Catherine's first husband, Joseph Neuhauser, was buried there in 1852, as well as Catherine's mother in 1863 and likely more relatives. Being poor peasants, they probably did not have tombstones of any note. This one is for Pierre Goux, a teacher, who died in 1847.  In those days, teachers were highly-respected community leaders, and some signed birth records for their villagers.

From census records of the mid 1800's, I mistakenly assumed that the Guemann family lived at 11 Rue du Haut du Village. I knew from a Liechty descendant of Catherine's sister, Marie, that family descendants of one of their brothers continued to live there.

We walked up the road, following a man on a bicycle.

It turns out that he was biking to house, #11!  Here are photos of the front of the home with the dwelling on the left and the connected barn on the right.  We talked briefly to the man and a woman who showed up with a key to open the big door, and the man directed us to someone in the village who spoke English and who was able to verify that this was the Guemann family home. However, they were mistaken. I learned in June 2022 that is is not where Catherine was born in 1826 and where she lived during the time between her two marriages. Instead the house was #5, a much nicer looking house which is pictured near the end of this blog.

Behind the tractor shed, there is a smaller modern house that has been built on the property.

 

Across the road is an old well. This source of water may have been a reason to establish a home in this spot many years ago.

This is the view of the church down the hill from the Guemann home.  Imagine how they could watch the building being constructed.

Catherine, Marie, and another sister (Françoise) immigrated to Ohio, but their two brothers stayed in France.  When France became involved in war, even Mennonites, who may have retained a belief in nonviolence, had no choice but to take part in the military.  This had disastrous consequences for Catherine's nephew's family who continued to live in the house in Etobon.  The family consisted of 3 sons and 3 daughters.   The oldest son, Abel, was killed early in WW I at age 20, along with 6 other villagers.  (Of side interest--you can see that a couple of the surnames are common to people living in Stryker, Ohio.)

The two younger sons were massacred in 1944 near the end of WW II, along with many other men of the village, by the occupying Germans, perhaps in revenge for the killing of a German general (which they probably did not do) or for the killing of a German officer's mother by Allied bombing, and for helping prisoners of war (captured soldiers from India and England) escape to the Swiss border, dressed as French peasants.  In the village office, we were invited to visit a room displaying photos of these men.

ETOBON

to its martyrs,

victims of the Nazis,

on the 27th of September, 1944

REMEMBER

As part of the current village cemetery just outside the village, there is a special area for them. The men were taken to the nearby village of Chenebier and shot, one by one, against the church wall.

This last plaque is from Great Britain, acknowledging the help that the village provided to assist Commonwealth prisoners of war from India escape to safety in Switzerland.  The turbaned men were given peasant costumes to hide their identity.

The youngest of the three sisters in Catherine's nephew's family was Marthe, who remained on the Guemann farm and never married.  Because all her brothers had been killed, in 1953 she invited a newly-married niece and her husband to live at the farm and keep it going. The niece, also named Marthe with nickname Babatte, became a widow and died a few weeks ago at age 89.  Her freshly-dug grave was next to that of her grand-parents and her aunt Marthe (shown here) and other relatives.

***

Here are more scenes of Etobon, if you are interested.

This traditional house, on Rue du Haut du Village, has geraniums planted. It is the Guemann house #5. In June 2022 we met Guemann descendants who live in the house. 

I liked the rounded barn door.

This attractive house is across from the church on the "main street", with the village mayor's office (Mairie) to the right.

Next to the church there was a similar house/barn, but it was in bad shape and was recently torn down.  Only the well remains.

I was intrigued by this carved stone, obviously part of something bigger (possibly a mill stone) leaning against the well, perhaps discovered during the demolition.

There are several fountains and wells in Etobon. This one is quite elaborate and features the popular geraniums.

More information about Etobon can be found here in French.

Janice Aeschliman Kreider