Four Guemann Sisters: Catherine, Marie, Françoise, and Elisabeth

What caused the Guemann sisters to leave their home in Étobon,¹ France, in the nineteenth century for America while their two brothers remained in France?

When only the women of a family immigrate to America, their last names disappear among their descendants, and their pre-immigration stories may vanish as well. By recounting some of the tragic and unusual events in these women’s lives, it may be possible to discover answers to this question.

The Guemann² family was neither illustrious nor prominent, and its history is similar to that of other Mennonite families who originated in Switzerland. By about 1719, the sisters’ great-grandfather, Christian Guemann (ca1696-1783), fled Switzerland and found refuge in Montbéliard, France.³ His son, Christian (1750-1830), was born there at the Mont-Chevis farm which his father leased. In 1788, this younger Christian moved to the small village of Étobon upon marrying a Mennonite woman of that village, Françoise Joder.⁴ Her father, Jost Joder, leased the farm belonging to the Marage family, and Christian succeeded his father-in-law, purchasing the farm in 1810. Christian’s four marriages⁵ produced only one living descendant, yet another Christian (1801-1856) who married Marie Guerick/Gearig (ca 1799-1863) in 1823. Of their 10 children, four died in infancy.

Those children who lived included two sons, Christian (1828) and Jean (1840), and four daughters, Catherine (1826), Marie (1832), Françoise (1834), and Elisabeth (1838),⁶ who are the subjects of this article. As evidenced by the children’s baptisms in the Montbéliard Mennonite Church Register, the family identified with the Mennonite community in Montbéliard, and the children were all baptized there around the age of 15: Catherine (1842), Christian (1844), Marie (1848), Françoise (1850), Elisabeth (1853), and Jean (1855).⁷

One Mennonite family, the Peter/Pierre Graber family, had earlier settled in the remote village of Étobon,⁸ but they soon moved on to another location. The Joder family came later in the mid 1700s, but they all died in the 1790s.⁹ Consequently, for many years the Guemanns were the sole Mennonite family and probably the only German-speakers living in the village. They were farm laborers and likely experienced poverty, as well as isolation from their relatives and ethnic and religious communities.¹⁰

Catherine Guemann (1826-1884)

Shortly before Catherine turned age 21 in 1847, she gave birth to a daughter, Marie. The child’s father is unknown, and it is unlikely that he was Joseph Neuhauser, whom she married over two years later in 1849.¹¹ Joseph was the son of Simon Neuhauser and Magdalena Heitzmann, who was born in Vorarlberg, Austria.¹² Joseph’s mother was likely not a Mennonite, but Joseph was baptized into the Mennonite church; being the same age as Catherine, he was in the same baptismal class.

Joseph was a miller by trade, as were his father and brother.¹³ Upon marriage, as was often the custom, he adopted Catherine’s 2½-year-old Marie and gave her his last name.¹⁴ A second daughter, Catherine, was born in 1850.¹⁵ On July 15, 1852 Joseph died at the early age of 26 and was buried in the Lutheran cemetery in Étobon.¹⁶ Two months later, September 15, 1852, Catherine gave birth to her third daughter, Annette, in her parents’ home.¹⁷ Catherine, now a widow at age 26 with three daughters, was dependent on her parents. This set the stage for the next life-changing event for the Guemann family.

Étobon was a Lutheran village, like many of the small villages in the Franche-Comté near Montbéliard, where the scattered Mennonite families were employed on farms. Although most of France was Catholic, because the territory around Montbéliard was not part of France until 1793 and was ruled by a Lutheran family of counts from Württemburg, Lutheranism became the religion of the area in the 1500s.¹⁸

The village built a little church in 1602. In the 1850s, the Lutheran pastor, Pierre-Frédéric Beurlin, wanted to rebuild the church building. In order to construct a larger building, it was set perpendicular to the previous church. Construction on the building began on March 28, 1854, and was completed on February 25, 1857, after which the interior work was undertaken. The church is still in the village.¹⁹

Workers, particularly stone masons, were needed for this rebuilding project. Andreas²⁰ Vonier, a mason from the village of Schruns in Vorarlberg, located in the extreme western part of Austria, joined the influx of migrant workers from Austria into France²¹ and worked in Étobon. He was in his early thirties and unmarried.²²

Andreas spoke German, probably the same dialect as that spoken by Catherine’s mother-in-law, who was also born in Vorarlberg. Since the Guemann family was very likely the only German-speaking family in the small village, Andreas may have sought out the family because they could readily communicate.

The association of Andreas with the Guemann family soon had tragic results, for both Catherine and Françoise became pregnant. Catherine gave birth to André Guemann on October 13, 1855,²³ at the home where she and Andreas lived, four months before her sister gave birth to Christ Guemann on February 10, 1856, at the home of a local midwife.²⁴

In both of these cases, the father has been assumed by descendants to be Andreas Vonier.²⁵ If true, this must have caused the Guemann family much anguish. Five months after giving birth, Catherine became Andreas’ wife in a civil ceremony which took place at the mayor’s office in Étobon on April 3, 1856.²⁶ The infant, André Guemann, was acknowledged in the civil marriage record, and he legally became André Vonier. Was this only a marriage of convenience or was it the result of family, religious, and social pressure? Or did the couple love each other? These are things neither civil nor church records ever reveal. But it was not without obvious difficulties that the marriage eventually took place.

There was a logical reason for the delay. Since Andreas had not been born in France, he was required to provide documents from Schruns, his Austrian village of origin, that showed his birth, the death of his father, Christian (because he would not be able to consent to the marriage), and the consent of his mother, Maria Creyzenz Burgerin²⁷ (who was not present at the marriage). Furthermore, the government of Austria had to grant Andreas permission to emigrate. One assumes that the couple began arrangements for their marriage well before their son André was born.²⁸ According to the marriage record in Étobon, these Austrian documents then had to be legalized in Belfort, France.

In order to remain a Mennonite in good standing, Catherine had to take the additional step of obtaining the approval of her marriage by the Mennonite church leaders in Montbéliard. There were at least two obstacles to this: Andreas was a Catholic, and the child had been born out of wedlock. (Furthermore, the church leaders surely knew that unmarried Françoise had already given birth.) Despite these daunting obstacles, the marriage was approved by a Mennonite elder a few weeks after the civil ceremony. The church record states:

The postscript to the above church record reinforces the idea that Catherine and Andreas had already been making arrangements for this marriage shortly before Andre was born, since he was five months old at the time of the marriage.

Acceptance of marriages of Mennonites with either Catholics or Lutherans was unusual. It was also rare for a non-Mennonite spouse to be accepted as a Mennonite. How did acceptance of this unusual marriage come about? Christian Lugbüll was the Montbéliard church leader keeping the church record during this time.³⁰ His own background may reveal why he showed compassion when faced with this irregular situation.

The Lugbüll family included several ordained ministers. His own father, Hans, was an ordained preacher who also was the church’s record keeper from 1800 to 1828. In 1826, at age 26 and unmarried, Christian was ordained as a preacher, and he became full minister in 1836. When Hans stopped recording marriages and deaths in 1828, Christian took on the task of recording the baptisms, and he reinstated the practice of recording the marriages and deaths in 1836. His handwriting indicates an interest in this work, and he signed his name with a flourish.³¹

He married quite late, well after being ordained, at age 37, to Katharina Eicher, who was 40, and, although she had never been married, she had a 20-year-old daughter, also named Katharina. Christian and Katharina did not have any children.³² Christian’s last entry in the church record was in January 1861, and he died that November at age 61. When he passed away, his nephew, Johann, obviously fond of Christ but not accustomed to writing in the church record, wrote the following and mistakenly inserted it into the list of marriages, not deaths:

Pierre Sommer attributes to him an ability for conciliatory leadership during the struggles the congregation underwent in mid-nineteenth century.³⁴ Obviously, his conciliatory ministry extended to individuals as well, and in the case of Catherine and Andreas, made a monumental difference to them and their descendants.

Approval of the marriage allowed Catherine to continue to identify as Mennonite. Years later her 15-year-old daughter, Marie, was baptized into the Montbéliard Church in 1862. We do not know if Catherine and Annette were baptized. They do not appear in either 1864 or 1866 lists, the only baptismal lists included in the church register between 1863 and 1877.

Catherine and Andreas had eight more children: Elisabeth (1858), Francis-Joseph (1859), Ferdinand (1861), Marie-Françoise (1862), another Marie (1864), Rosalie (1865), and Christ (1867). Their births are registered in Étobon except for those of Francis-Joseph, Ferdinand, and Marie-Françoise.

When the rebuilding of the church in Étobon was completed in 1857, the family moved to Magny-Vernois about 14 miles away and lived at the forge where Andreas may have been employed and where Francis-Joseph, Ferdinand, and Marie-Françoise were born.³⁵ At the time of the 1861 census, the entire family was in Magny- Vernois, except for 14-year-old Marie.³⁶ Although young, she was probably working elsewhere.

Like all stone masons, Andreas’ work took him to various locations, and he was often not at home. Consequently, he was not present for the births of Marie and Christ³⁷ and according to both the 1866 and 1872 censuses, was “working in another town.”³⁸ His being away may not have been such a disadvantage to Catherine because he had meanwhile become an alcoholic. With such a large family and children spanning two decades, Catherine had help with raising the younger children. However, her oldest daughter, Marie, left home before the last three children were born.

In 1863, Marie was married at age 16 to Charles Paul Thierry, a non-Mennonite cobbler from the nearby village of Ronchamp.³⁹ In a Mennonite family, one wonders why this very early marriage took place to someone who was Catholic. The couple’s first child was born a respectable fourteen months after the marriage on December 7, 1864.⁴⁰

Family support in Étobon for Catherine gradually disappeared during the 1850s and 1860s as a result of migration and death. Her sister Marie left in 1852, her father Christian died in 1856,⁴¹ sister Françoise left in 1858, sister Elisabeth in 1859, her mother Marie died in 1863,⁴² her daughter Marie left in 1863, and her brother Jean departed by 1866,⁴³ perhaps before. From 1864, when Catherine’s last three children were born, only her children (with the exception of Marie) and her brother Christian and his wife, Barbara Graber, remained in Étobon.

In the 1872 census, the six oldest children were not listed: Marie lived elsewhere with her family, Catherine (age 22) had gone to America, and André (age 17) had probably gone also. Annette (age 20), Elisabeth (age 14), and Joseph (age 13) must have been working elsewhere.

We now turn to the stories of the other three sisters.

Marie Guemann (1832-1915)

Marie lived to be 82, which was much longer than any of her sisters. However, like Catherine, her life was also filled with tragedy, especially once she was in America. She was the first of the sisters to leave Étobon for Ohio, emigrating in 1852 when she was 20 years old for reasons unknown.

When Catherine’s husband died, husbands needed to be found for all four of the Guemann sisters. Perhaps Marie’s marriage prospects were diminished because her sister Catherine had given birth before marriage. Or she possibly needed work and was encouraged to emigrate because her mother’s two siblings had already immigrated to Ohio in 1832 and 1836.⁴⁴ Marie likely initially lived in Fulton County, Ohio, with one of her Aeschlimann first cousins, most of whom had young children.⁴⁵

Obviously as a young 19-year-old, it would have been difficult for Marie to emigrate by herself. There is a “Marie Kleman” listed as age 19 who immigrated on the Isaac Bell, arriving September 15, 1852, in New York from Le Havre.⁴⁶ This is possibly our Marie.⁴⁷ The other Mennonites on the ship were a four-generation Stoll and Graber family, totaling 19 people. Anna Stoll was Marie’s step-aunt.⁴⁸ The Stolls had lived in Brognard, about 17 miles from Étobon. The Stoll family then settled in Wayne County, Ohio, but Marie does not seem to have remained there with either of these more distant relatives or with her cousin, Catherine Aeschlimann.⁴⁹ At some point, she went to Fulton County where the Gearig and Aeschlimann first cousins lived.

When Marie was 28, she married Joseph Liechty.⁵⁰ The Liechty family had been in the Belfort, France, region since 1733 or before.⁵¹ Joseph was born in Belfort in 1832, the same year as Marie,⁵² and immigrated to America, on May 6, 1853, with an older brother Jean. They were the first ones in their immediate family to emigrate.⁵³ The two brothers may have settled in Allen County, Indiana, but Marie and Joseph got married in Fulton County on April 20, 1860,⁵⁴ and had four living children: Christian (1861), Joseph (1863), Elizabeth (1865), and Rebecca (1873).⁵⁵ They lived near Evansport in Springfield Township, Williams County, Ohio.⁵⁶ Despite being from a Mennonite family and having a father who was likely a church leader,⁵⁷ Joseph became an alcoholic.

Marie and Joseph’s lives were disrupted by a renewal movement among the Mennonites. In 1863, John Holdeman, a Mennonite from Wayne County, Ohio, came to Pettisville (Fulton County) to hold revival meetings. His initial intention was to bring reform to the Amish Mennonites, exhorting them to follow Menno Simons’ teachings more strictly. However, like other renewal movements among the Mennonites, this eventually led to the establishment of another group, in this case, The Church of God in Christ, Mennonite, commonly known as the “Holdeman Church.” A number of these churches were established in the United States and Canada. At the first conference held in 1868 in Pettisville, this statement was adopted:

This teaching was to have dire consequences for Marie. Perhaps because both her Aeschlimann⁵⁹ and Gearig⁶⁰ relatives were active in the Holdeman Church in Pettisville, she and Joseph became members, even though they lived about 15 miles away. In 1875, the church leaders excommunicated Joseph because of his alcoholism.

Marie possibly wishing to be devout, possibly fearing further problems from the church, and possibly at her wits end with her alcoholic husband, followed their teaching on avoidance of excommunicated members. This upset Joseph so much that he divorced her and eventually won a law suit against the church leaders for wrecking his marriage.⁶¹

Divorce and lawsuits among Mennonites were so rare that this story was reported in the New York Times.⁶² The family was split up. Marie was awarded custody of the girls and Joseph the boys.⁶³ In the 1880 census, Marie was living with the Solomon Brich (Britsch) family in German Township, Fulton County, with her two daughters, likely working for them as a maid.⁶⁴

In the same census for Pulaski Township in Williams County, son Joseph (age 17) was living with his father, who was working as a tanner, and his father’s second wife in Williams County.⁶⁵ Earlier, son Christian at age 15 had gone to live with his uncle, Nicholas Liechty, in Leo, Indiana.⁶⁶ Son Joseph tragically drowned on December 18, 1881, at age 18, near Evansport.⁶⁷ This was such a blow to the father that he became an alcoholic and so dysfunctional that his second wife divorced him.⁶⁸ This was a tragedy for Marie also, but, throughout her years, she was close to her three remaining children, and they provided a home for her. She died in Davenport, North Dakota, at her daughter Elizabeth’s home on February 16, 1915.⁶⁹

Details of this excommunication are documented in the book about John Holdeman by Don Gable. Although the excommunication process was likely an attempt to get Joseph to change his ways, he did not perceive it as such. The church leaders included John Holdeman, Conrad Haire, and Frank Seitner (all from Wayne County), and Mark Seiler, Christian Aeschlimann, and Chris L. Gearig (from Fulton County).⁷⁰ Significantly, the latter two were leaders in the Pettisville congregation and first cousins of Marie, Christian (1816-1886) being the son of Peter and Catherine (Gearig) Aeschlimann, and Chris L. (1831-1910) being the son of Chris Gearig.

As mentioned above, Marie may have lived in one of the Aeschlimann cousin’s homes. Perhaps the excommunication (and the hope that Joseph would change his ways) was their way of looking after cousin Marie’s welfare. There is evidence that they did indeed help her. Instead of living some miles away, in 1880 she lived near her relatives. The Britsch family, with whom she was living, was near the homes of Christian Aeschlimann and that of his married son; Marie’s sister Catherine;⁷¹ the widow of Marie’s cousin Joseph Gearig; two nieces and a nephew who were children of Catherine.⁷²

It is possible that, rather than having a punitive intent, the action of the relatives was based on a love and deep concern for their cousin Marie, and the welfare of her and her children. Unfortunately, this excommunication, despite being possibly well intentioned, turned out to be one of the more destructive decisions in the early history of the Holdeman Church.⁷³

Françoise Guemann (1834-1880)

Although Catherine was able to marry in Étobon, the problem of 22-year-old single mother Françoise remained. In the census of May 1856,⁷⁴ she was living with her three-month old son at her parents’ home, along with her sister Elisabeth, her brother Jean, and Catherine’s two daughters, Marie and Annette, a household of eight. Françoise clearly needed a spouse.

Did the Montbéliard church leaders, for example Christian Lugbüll, assist in arranging a marriage? This was a common practice in the previous century.⁷⁵ In any case, Françoise married Pierre Hochstetler, age 36, who lived in the village of Allenjoie, a widower whose wife had died on May 10, 1857. The civil record of their marriage on March 17, 1858 acknowledges the birth of Christ Guemann as their child. Thus, Christ Guemann became Christ Hochstetler.⁷⁶ The family lived in Allenjoie in 1861 and 1866 and immigrated to Ohio in 1871. Françoise and Christ did not have any children together, and she died in 1880, at the early age of 45. One wonders how happy her life and marriage were.⁷⁷

Elisabeth Guemann (1838-1860)

Of the four sisters, Elisabeth’s life was the briefest. On October 11, 1859, she married Daniel Riche of Issans, Doubs, France. Six months later, on March 14, 1860, she died at age 21 in Issans.⁷⁸ Since there is no record of an infant being born or dying,⁷⁹ this was not necessarily a case of a death from childbirth; and the cause of death will probably never be known.

The Franco-Prussian War and the Emigration of Two of Catherine Guemann’s Children

The war between France and Prussia began July 19, 1870, and ended in early 1871. France lost Alsace and many of its soldiers and civilians. Although some distance from Alsace, Étobon and its nearby areas, such as the Lizaine River, were considered strategic; and soldiers from both sides repeatedly attempted to take control of the area. The Vonier book gives this glimpse into the wartime life by 12-year-old Elisabeth, the oldest Vonier daughter:

As mentioned previously, Catherine and her brother Christian and his family appear to be the only Mennonite families in Étobon at this time. As a mason, Andreas was likely absent much of the time. This family, whose first language was German, probably experienced difficulties during the war. Rosalie remembered (at about the age of five years) that the children were frightened when the soldiers forced their mother to go with them to serve as an interpreter.⁸²

For the war effort, France mobilized all males between the ages of 20 and 40. Perhaps as a result of the war and their pacifist beliefs as Mennonites, the family made the momentous decision to send their 16-year-old son, André, to Ohio in 1871.⁸³ We know that he worked to earn money to enable the rest of the family to come to America. This he accomplished with the help of Christian L. Gearig Sr.,⁸⁴ a first cousin of Catherine’s and part of the same family that likely helped Marie settle in Ohio.

As we saw earlier, Catherine’s oldest daughter, Marie (age 16), married Charles Paul Thierry who was a Catholic. The two daughters of Catherine and Joseph Neuhauser did not marry in France. They were weavers by trade. Unfortunately, history repeated itself, for, while still teenagers, each daughter gave birth to a child with unknown father: Jean-Abel was born in March 1870 to Catherine at age 19, and Anna was born in January 1871 to Annette at age 18. Both of these children died before reaching one year of age.⁸⁵ The fathers may have been soldiers in the area prior to the war, local village men, or even a local landlord; we will never know.

After Catherine’s infant died on December 13, 1870, she immigrated to America with her Aunt Françoise, her aunt’s husband, Pierre Hochstetler, and their 16-year-old son Christ, arriving in America on Christmas Day 1871.⁸⁶ In Ohio in 1876, she married a widower, Peter D. Short (1838-1909), who already had six children; and she gave birth to eleven more, adding to the extraordinary number of Shorts in northwest Ohio. Catherine died in 1908 at age 58. In 1886, Annette, Catherine’s third daughter, married John J. Oberly (1849-1925). They had two children, and she died a few weeks after her husband at age 72.⁸⁷

Catherine Guemann’s Family’s Immigration

Eventually, Catherine and the remaining members of her family left Étobon, arriving in New York on the Norwegian S.S. Kong Sverre on April 8, 1874.⁸⁸ Catherine was able to join her sisters, Marie and Françoise, her son André, her daughter Catherine, her Uncle Christ Gearig, and numerous first cousins in Ohio. The family travelled in steerage, and family tradition tells us that seasickness was a problem for the entire family.⁸⁹

One of Catherine’s grandsons, Enos Aeschliman (1888-1980), remembered hearing that the family got hungry because there was a storm, which made the journey longer than expected, and they ran out of the food that they had brought along.⁹⁰

The family consisted of Catherine and her husband, Andreas; Catherine’s oldest daughter, Marie, with her four children,⁹¹ Charles, Celina, Julius, and Alfred, ranging in age from six months to nine years; the youngest Neuhauser daughter, Annette; and the seven younger Vonier children ranging in age from six to 15: Elisabeth, Joseph, Ferdinand, Marie-Françoise, Marie, Rosa, and Christian. Catherine died in 1884 at age 58. She is buried in the Eckley Cemetery, near Pettisville, between the graves of her sister Françoise and Françoise’s husband, Peter Hochstetler,⁹² both of whom died before she did. All of Catherine’s children lived into the twentieth century.⁹³

The Two Brothers Who Stayed in France

The sisters’ two brothers, Christian (1828-1887) and Jean (1840-1930), remained in France.⁹⁴ Some of Christian’s descendants remained in Étobon. His oldest son, Christian (1859-1943), lived in Étobon and remained active in the Montbéliard congregation as evidenced by his name (and the names of his children, Paul, Christ, and Marthe) on the list of those providing subscriptions for the construction of the 1930 chapel.⁹⁵

During two recent visits to Étobon, the author was told by villagers how highly regarded the Guemann descendants were, namely Marthe Guemann (1908-1990), and her niece, Marthe Riche (1927-2016), one of whom was a nurse and both of whom lived in the Guemann house.

In addition, the village remembers the two brothers, Christ and Paul, who, along with many of the men of Étobon, were killed by the Germans in 1944, all accused of assisting the enemy. From the church record: “Paul Guémann, 43 years, and Christ Guémann, 41 years, sons of the late Christ GN3141, from Étobon, both not married, were shot by the Germans at Chenebier with a number of other men of the village of Étobon where the forces of the Resistance had a certain amount of activity. They were two dear brothers, the most peaceable that one could find.”⁹⁶ Christ and Paul’s older brother, Abel, was a soldier in World War I and was wounded in May 1915 and died in June.⁹⁷ There are monuments in the village with these men’s names.⁹⁸

Reasons for Emigration

There seem to have been five primary reasons that prompted the emigration of these three Guemann sisters, four of the reasons being typical for many other nineteenth-century Mennonite families. But there is also a fifth compelling reason for this particular family.

The first reason was war. When a son got close to military age, it was not uncommon for a Mennonite family either to emigrate or send the son on ahead to America and follow him later. The combination of the belief in pacifism as taught by the Mennonite church and either the threat of war or war itself often led to this decision. It became increasingly untenable for Mennonites to remain so vulnerable in regions in which opposing armies roamed unpredictably. André at age 16 was sent to America to live with relatives, and the rest of the family followed several years later.

The second reason was economic. The Guemann/Vonier family did not own land in Étobon. Like many other Mennonites of the time, they worked as farm laborers or weavers. Andreas had work as a mason, but it is probable that local work was not steady.

Andrew and Catherine Vonier’s family home was located in the village of Etoben [sic], France, but the land that Andrew farmed was outside the town. The livestock were kept in the basement level of the house, and the family lived on the street level. Andrew could not afford to buy two horses, so, for a time, his plow was pulled by a horse and a cow.⁹⁹

A third reason was religious/ethnic isolation. The Guemanns, consisting of Catherine’s family and her brother Christian’s family, were the only Mennonites in Étobon. This kind of ethnic isolation was not uncommon, but it was difficult to retain their faith and culture when surrounded by native French people who were Lutheran or Catholic. Despite the isolation, there were significant connections across the larger Mennonite community, thanks to the church in Montbéliard and the distant relatives in other villages. But as more and more Mennonites left France during the nineteenth century, this sense of isolation and abandonment increased.

Fourth, the family had relatives living relatively well in America. The early immigrants of the 1830s to northwest Ohio initially stopped at the homes of acquaintances in Wayne County, Ohio. But, since land was not available there for the newcomers, they travelled on to pioneer in northwest Ohio. By the 1850s when Marie Guemann and Joseph Liechty immigrated, they had relatives already established with farms in northwest Ohio and Indiana. André immigrated in 1871 and worked for his mother’s cousin, Chris Gearig, so that he could help his parents immigrate. When Françoise and her family, and niece Catherine (the daughter of Catherine), immigrated in 1871, they also were likely assisted by the Gearigs or Aeschlimanns. It was becoming easier to immigrate because there were relatives who could briefly support them upon arrival.

The fifth reason is a special one for this family and one that permeates this story about the Guemann sisters. The family surely suffered shame and stigmatization in both the greater Montbéliard Mennonite community and in the local village. In addition to Andreas’ alcoholism (not a small problem) and the two marriages to Catholic men,¹⁰⁰ in less than 25 years there were five births in the family to unmarried women.¹⁰¹ Such births were of course not unknown for young women in the Montbéliard region of France, even for Mennonite women; and usually the mother ended up marrying the father, or marrying a husband who would take the child as his own, although there were exceptions. But there still remained a certain degree of shame within the Mennonite community for a family when such pregnancies occurred.¹⁰²

In the village of Étobon, nothing could be hidden; so there was surely some stigma there for these Anabaptists. Did this sense of shame carry over to America? A partial answer is that descendants did not talk readily about the irregular situation of these births. The early generations in America accepted that Andreas Vonier had fathered the two sons, André and Christ, and this is mentioned in the Vonier book. However, the Vonier book does not indicate that Catherine’s first daughter, Marie, was born before her marriage; and there is no mention of Catherine Neuhauser’s and Annette Neuhauser’s fatherless infants. The existence of these latter two births was possibly not known to their mothers’ descendants. The family’s history and life in America confirms Joe Springer’s statement that an out-of-wedlock birth was not completely unacceptable and was survivable.¹⁰³ But, even so, some things were just left unsaid.

One can question whether there is any value in unearthing these unhappy events. However, I believe that this unusual family history merits telling. I was particularly encouraged by Mary Ann Augsburger Eng’s article about her great-grandmother, Elizabeth Holly, who though never married, gave birth to two sons by different fathers. The author then makes this tribute:

Janice Aeschliman Kreider, 4090 W. 31st Ave., Vancouver, BC V6S 1Y6; 604-228-1217; janice.kreider@ubc.ca, grew up in the Mennonite communities of Wauseon and Stryker in northwestern Ohio and now lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada. She was a collections librarian at the University of British Columbia.

FOOTNOTES

1 Étobon is a small village in Haute-Saône, due west of Basel, Switzerland. The regional city of Montbéliard is about 11 miles southeast of Étobon. The Mennonite congregation in Montbéliard is one of the largest in France and holds the Mennonite archives.

2 Guemann is also known as Gäumann (the standard Swiss spelling), Göumann, Gehmann, Guyman, Guiman, Gayman, etc. Montbéliard Mennonite Church Register, 1750-1958, Joe A. Springer, comp. and ed. (Goshen, Ind.: Mennonite Historical Society, 2015), Vol. I, Transcription and Translation, vol. II, Family Outlines and Indexes, p. 688, hereinafter Springer.

3 Springer, p. 688.

4 “Listes Génealogiques des familles de la paroisse à Etobon 1860” Étobon (Haute-Saône, paroissede) Registres paroissaux | EC_221DEPOTLUTHERIEN | ETOBON 1646/1794-ETOBON vue 19/46 http://archives.haute-saone.fr/ accessed Mar. 16, 2019. Françoise had one brother, Jost, who died in 1795 in his 40’s. It is unclear whether he ever married (Springer, p. 1134). Perhaps Jost was incapable of succeeding his father with the farming, and if Françoise, who was in her 30’s, got married, the lease could stay with the family because Christ could assist his father-in-law who was in his upper 60’s. Why this late marriage for Christ, at age 38? One reason may be that Christ and two of his siblings, who all married in 1788, waited until then in order to finish liquidating the debt of 1,500 pounds which was revealed by an inventory when their mother died in 1777. In 1783 when their father died, the debt had been reduced to 300 pounds (Springer, pp. 300-1).

5 After Françoise Joder died, Christian married Verena Ulrich, Anna Stoll, and Margaret Rich. Verena Ulrich was the mother of the only living descendant (Springer, p. 689).

6 I am using their French names from the civil records of France.

7 Springer, pp. 83, 89, 91, 93.

8 A Peter/Pierre Graber family was enumerated as being there in 1723 and 1727 (Springer, p. 697).

9 Springer, pp. 1133-34.

10 Owners of large farms often sought Anabaptists to manage property because of their skills in agriculture. These farms were on better land than were the village farms and were widely scattered, preventing many of the Anabaptists living together in communities. Generally, they did not easily integrate into the local community but remained separate (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censes_anabaptistes, accessed Dec. 8, 2018).

11 Joe Springer suggested this in an email of Jan. 16, 2012, because the child was born well before the marriage. Supporting this view is her daughter’s obituary in the Gospel Herald, which states: “Aeschliman, Celina, daughter of Powell and Mary (Gaiman) Thierry, was born Oct. 17, 1867. . . . ” This suggests that Marie did not use the Neuhauser name (Gospel Herald obituary of Celina Thierry Aeschliman, May 27, 1958, http://mcusa-archives.org/MennObits/58/may1958.html, accessed Jan. 11, 2019). On the other hand, when the daughter filled out Marie’s death certificate in 1927, she listed “Newhouser” as the name of Marie’s father https://www.FamilySearch.org, indexed under Mary Thierny,” accessed Dec. 8, 2018.

12 Springer, p. 692.

13 Champagney (Haute-Saône, commune de) État civil, Décès 1858, Décès de Haitzmann Marie-Madelaine, #11, vue 3/17 http://archives.haute-saone.fr/, accessed Dec. 17, 2018.

14 Joe Springer, email of Jan. 16, 2012.

15 The Family of Andrew Vonier, compiled by Delmer D. Rupp and Jane E. Rupp (privately published, 1986), p. 2, hereinafter Vonier.

16 Springer, p. 371. The tombstone, if there was one, no longer exists.

17 Étobon, (Haute-Saône, commune de) État civil, 1852, Naissance de Neiuser Annette, #15 vue 136/146 http://archives.haute-saone.fr/, accessed Dec. 15, 2017.

18 Jean Séguy, Les Assemblées anabaptistes-mennonites de France (Mouton: Paris, 1977), pp. 172-73.

19 Des vieilles pierres tombales en chantier à Etobon, par Jean Hennequin, p. 20, available: http://patrice.ravelet.free.fr/5VillagesDesBois/page/documents.html, accessed May 5, 2018.

20 I will use his birth name Andreas; the French version is André; the American is Andrew.

21 Hannelore Berchtold, Die Arbeitsmigration von Vorarlberg nach Frankreich im 19. Jahrhundert (Feldkirch, Palais Liechenstein: Rheticus-Gesellschaft, 2003), p. 249, lists the name of Andrä Vonier from Schruns as appearing in a document in the archives in Vorarlberg at this time.

22 “Katholisch, ledig” (Catholic, single) Vorarlberger Landesarchiv, Kreisamt Bregenz II, Schachtel 46, V/1856 (VLA, KA II, Sch. 46, V/1856).

23 Étobon, (Haute-Saône, commune de), État civil, Naissances/Mariages/Décès, 1853-1862, Naissance de Guemann André, #16 vue 39/177 http://archives.haute-saone.fr/, accesssed Dec. 17, 2018. There are two records for #16. The first one lists the infant’s name as “Fonier André” and the narrative indicates that Catherine is Andreas’s wife. This record was then crossed out. The subsequent record lists the infant’s name as “Guémann André” and Catherine as the widow of Joseph Neiuser (Neuhauser). In both cases the infant was “né en son domicile” (born in his [Andreas’s] home). Confusion may have arisen because it was typically the father who brought the infant to be registered, and Andreas was the one who had brought the infant.

24 Étobon, (Haute-Saône, commune de), État civil, Naissances/Mariages/Décès, 1853-1862, Naissance de Guemann Christ, #2 vue 52/157 http://archives.haute-saone.fr/, accessed Dec. 15, 2015. It was typical for an unwed mother to give birth in her parents’ home and for the grandfather to register the infant. It was less typical for an infant to be born in the midwife’s house. The midwife was Susanne Elisabeth Plançon, age 22.

25 Vonier, p. 2.

26 Étobon, (Haute-Saône, commune de), État civil, Naissances/Mariages/Décès, 1853-1862, Mariage de Vonier André et Guemann Catherine, #1 vue 57-58/177 http://archives.haute-saone.fr/, accessed July 12, 2018.

27 This is how her name appears in Andreas’ birth record. data.matricula-online.eu/en/oesterreich/vorarlberg/schruns/461%252F1/?pg=112, accessed March 25, 2019.

28 Vonier must have applied for the documents from Austria in 1855 because they are dated January 1856, Vorarlberger Landesarchiv, Kreisamt Bregenz II, Schachtel 46, V/1856 (VLA, KA II, Sch. 46, V/1856).

29 Springer, p. 213.

30 Christ Lugbüll had also performed the baptisms of Catherine and her first husband (ibid., p. 83).

31 Archives municipales de Montbéliard. Registres numérises. Registres paroissiaux. Cote : GG40 – Dates : 1750-1958 – Culte ménonnite [sic]: registre de baptêmes, mariages, décès, Photocopie d’un registre dont l’original n’est pas aux Archives municipales de Montbéliard baptêmes : 1750 – 1902 Mariages : 1750 – 1958 Décès : 1751 – 1957 Registre microfilmé : 1 Mi 72[…] vue 124 http://archives.montbeliard.com/, accessed Dec. 6, 2018.

32 Springer, p. 822.

33 Ibid., p. 221.

34 Ibid., p. ix.

35 Magny-Vernois, (Haute-Saône, commune de), État civil, Naissances/Mariages/Décès, 1853-1862, Naissance de Francis-Joseph, #25, vue 168/249, Naissance de Ferdinand, #13, vue 212/249, Naissance de Marie-Françoise, #25, 234/249 http://archives.haute-saone.fr/, accessed Dec. 8, 2018. Up until Joe Springer located these records in 2015, the assumption had been that these three children were born in Étobon like the rest of their siblings. In addition, Marie-Françoise’s birthdate was assumed to be November 20, 1863, but it was actually November 23, 1862. Even her tombstone has the incorrect year!

36 Magney-Vernois, (Haute-Saône, commune de), Listes nominatives, Recensement 1861, vue 13/17 http://archives.haute-saone.fr/, accessed Dec. 16, 2017.

37 Étobon, (Haute-Saône, commune de), État civil, Naissances/Mariages/Décès, 1863-1872, Naissance de Vonier Marie, #16 vue 40/220, Naissance de Vonier Christ, #14 vue 98/220 http://archives.haute-saone.fr/, accessed Dec. 16, 2017.

38 In 1866 Vonier was living alone in Magny-Vernois. Magny-Vernois, (Haute Saône, commune de), Listes nominatives, Recensement 1866, vue 12/18 http://archives.haute-saone.fr/ accessed Dec. 16, 2017. In the Étobon censuses of 1866 and 1872 he was “occupé dans un autre commune” (working in another town). Étobon, (Haute-Saône, commune de), Listes nominatives, Recensement 1866, vue 8/16 http://archives.haute-saone.fr/, accessed Mar. 15, 2019. Étobon, (Haute-Saône, commune de), Listes nominatives, Recensement 1872, vue 7/13 http://archives.haute-saone.fr/, accessed Mar. 15, 2019.

39 Ronchamp (Haute-Saône, commune de), État civil, Mariages, 1863, Mariage de Charles Paul Thierry et Marie Neuhauser, #23 vue 15/19 http://archives.haute-saone.fr/, accessed Dec. 16, 2017.

40 Ronchamp, (Haute-Saône, commune de), État civil, Naissances, 1864, Naissance de Charles Paul Thierry, #121 vue 21/28 http://archives.haute-saone.fr/, accessed Mar. 16, 2019.

41 Springer, p. 689.

42 Ibid.

43 Jean is not listed with his brother’s family in the 1866 census. Étobon, (Haute-Saône, commune de), Listes nominatives, Recensement 1866, vue 6/16 http://archives.haute-saone.fr/, accessed Mar. 15, 2019.

44 The two siblings are all that are known at this point. Her mother’s older sister, Catherine Gearig (1794-1847) m. Peter Aeschlimann (1789-1855), and her mother’s brother, Christ Gearig (1803-1880) m. Mary Frey (1800?-1848). Peter Aeschlimann and his wife imm. in 1836 (Springer, p. 622). Chris Gearig and his wife imm. in 1832 (Springer, p. 679).

45 By 1852, of Marie’s Aeschlimann cousins in Fulton Co., Ohio, Christian had six children, Hans had three, Peter had three, and Mary had four. Barbara was not yet married. The Gearig cousins were younger and did not have children in 1852 (Springer, pp. 623-24, and Swiss Anabaptist Genealogical Association http://saga-omii.org/, hereinafter SAGA).

46 “New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1891.” Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch org : 14 June 2016. Citing NARA microfilm publication M237. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. NARA Roll 119 – 1 Sep 1852-25 Sep 1852 image 224/719, accessed Dec. 17, 2018.

47 Email from Joe Springer, Oct. 3, 2015: “I would be more inclined to speculate that GN312 could be the 19-year-old Marie “Klemann” who arr. Sept. 15, 1852, with . . . other Mennonites on the Isaac Bell Hav-NY.”

48 Marie’s grandfather was married four times. The only child who lived from his marriages was Marie’s father. However, the third wife had given birth before marriage to Anna Stoll, thus she was a step-aunt to Marie. Anna was age nine when her mother married Marie’s grandfather and twelve when her mother died, possibly in childbirth. Marie’s father was six years younger than Anna. Probably Anna lived in the Guemann household between the ages of nine and twelve and maybe longer, so she was known to the Guemann family. The extended Stoll family on the ship included Anna Stoll, her husband Christian Stoll (a first cousin to Anna) who was ordained, their daughter Barbara and husband Christ Graber (also ordained) and their seven children, Christ Graber’s mother Catherine Miller, Christian Stoll’s widowed sister-in-law Anne Graber and her six children (Springer, pp. 689, 710, 1060-62).

49 Catherine Aeschlimann was m. to Jonathan Schmucker, and they had three young children in 1852, SAGA.

50 Gospel Herald obit. of Mary Liechty, Mar. 4, 1915, http://www.mcusa-archives.org/mennobits/15/mar1915.html, accessed Jan. 11, 2019.

51 Springer, p. 829.

52 Born Jan. 24, 1832, the youngest of nine children. His mother was Elisabeth Kauffmann. His father, Jakob, was drafted in 1807 at age 20, but hid from the military officials and was the object of a search in 1810-11, but no property was seized because he and his siblings had only a small, jointly-held pasture (Springer, p. 831).

53 Springer, p. 837.

54 The records were destroyed by fire according to a conversation with Russell and Marjorie Liechty, Aug. 4, 2015.

55 Springer, p. 837.

56 http://williamscountyohiogenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/10/divorce-action-in-williams-county-ohio_20.html accessed Feb. 8, 2017.

57 Françoise Naas, “Les Mennonites et le Concordat,” Souvenance anabaptiste, No. 26 (2007), p. 18, reproduces the document of 1834 that is signed by eight church leaders on behalf of six congregations in Haut-Rhin requesting the government to provide financial aid to the Mennonites as it did to Catholics, Reformed, Lutherans, and Jews. One of the leaders signed his name as “jaque Liechty.” This is likely the father of Joseph Liechty. In an email of Sept. 12, 2018, Robert Baecher explained that there were three Jacob Liechtys who all signed their name as “Jacob Liechty” in the civil documents. Two lived in German-speaking towns, but Joseph’s father lived near Belfort, a French-speaking town, so he was the one most likely to sign using the French version of Jacob (even though he wrote “Jacques” as “jaque”).

58 Don Gable, John Holdeman: Life, Labors, Legacy, 1832-1900 (Moundridge, Kans.: Gospel Publishers, 2010), p. 78.

59 In 1872, Holdeman wrote a letter to his wife while in Archbold, perhaps staying at the Aeschlimann home because in closing, he states: “Sister Aeschliman wished you comfort in your position” (ibid., p. 54). Christian Aeschlimann became a deacon in 1881 (ibid., p. 415).

60 Christian Gearig was ordained in 1876 (ibid., p. 409).

61 Ibid., pp. 80-81, 106-7, 427-38.

62 “Damages against a Church: A Mennonite Obtains $2,500 for the Alienation of the Affections of his Wife,” New York Times, Mar. 8, 1878, p. 8.

63 http://williamscountyohiogenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/10/divorce-action-in-williams-county-ohio_20.html, accessed Feb. 8, 2017.

64 Ibid.

65 Ibid.

66 Gospel Herald obit. of Christian S. Liechty, Mar. 9, 1944, http://mcusa-archives.org/MennObits/44/mar1944.html, accessed Jan. 11, 2019.

67 http://williamscountyohiogenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/10/divorce-action-in-williams-county-ohio_20.html, accessed Feb. 8, 2017. According to an email from Marjorie Liechty, Dec. 29, 2016, the stated location is Snavely Mill Dam, which is near Evansport, Ohio.

68 http://williamscountyohiogenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/10/divorce-action-in-williams-county-ohio_20.html, accessed Feb. 8, 2017.

69 Gospel Herald obit. of Mary Liechty, Mar. 1915, http://www.mcusa-archives.org/mennobits/15/mar1915.html, accessed Jan. 11, 2019.

70 “Church officials, John Holdeman, Conrad Haire, Max Seiter, Christopher Eisehelman, Christopher Gearig, and Frank Seitner, on June 1, 1875, formally excommunicated Joseph for failing to make himself a ‘useful, ornamental, or popular member of this Church’” http://williamscountyohiogenealogy.blogspot.ca/2010/10/divorce-action-in-williams-county-ohio_20.html, accessed Feb. 8, 2017.

71 “Family stories report that Grandma (Marie) always spoke French with her sisters but German with her immediate family and friends,” email of Nov. 14, 2018, from Marjorie Liechty. And she was happiest when with her sisters, conversation with Marjorie Liechty, Dec. 8, 2018.

72 “United States Census, 1880.” Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch org : 14 June 2016. Citing NARA microfilm publication T9. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Ohio, Fulton Co., German Twp. ED22 images 10/45 and 11/45, accessed Jan. 8, 2019.

73 Clarence Hiebert, The Holdeman People: The Church of God in Christ, Mennonite, 1859-1969 (South Pasadena, Calif.: William Carey Library, 1973), p. 212, states, “One of the most critical moments in the church’s faithful practice of avoidance came in 1878 when Joseph Liechty, a member of the church, was excommunicated for persistent drunkenness.” “Holdeman said that all who were involved in this went through a deep experience of repentance. This did not end the matter for him; it was fuel for his opposers for years to come” (p. 215). There was even disagreement about whether the “Liechty Story” should be torn out of the remaining copies of the church’s publication, Ein Spiegel der Wahrheit.

74 Étobon, (Haute-Saône, commune de), Listes nominatives, Recensement 1856, vue 6/14 http://archives.haute-saone.fr/, accessed Mar. 15, 2019. Living with the family was Pierre Jacques Bugnon, “leur domestique,” age 58. All the adults are listed as “cultivateur.” Étobon had 622 inhabitants, 106 houses, and 139 households.

75 “Les mariages se font entre Mennonites, parfois arrangés par le diacre ou l’ancien” (“Marriages among the Mennonites were often arranged by the deacon or elder”) in Ernest Hege, “Les églises anabaptistes Mennonites de France au cours du XVIIIe et du XIXe siècle,” Souvenance anabaptiste, No. 22 (2003), p. 32.

76 Christ m. Ida Prickett (1863-1945), and they had three sons: Floyd, Glenn, and Ray (Vonier, pp. 25-27).

77 Springer, p. 753.

78 Ibid., p. 909.

79 Issans, (Doubs, commune de), Tables décennales de l’état civil 1853-1862 http://recherche-archives.doubs.fr/, accessed Dec. 17, 2018. There was no record of anyone born or dying with last name Riche in Issans during this time.

80 Vonier, p. 6.

81 Ibid., p. 6.

82 Ibid., p. 6.

83 Ibid., p. 4. However, André’s name has not been located on any ship list.

84 Ibid., p. 4.

85 Étobon, (Haute-Saône, commune de), État civil, Naissances/Mariages/Décès, 1863-1872, Naissance de Neuhauser Jean-Abel, #4 vue 160/220, Naissance de Neuhauser Anna, #1 vue 175/220, Décès de Neuhauser Jean-Abel, #13 vue 174/220, Décès de Neuhauser Anna, #61 vue 203/220 http://archives.haute-saone.fr/, accessed Dec. 18, 2017.

86 “New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1891.” Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch org : 14 June 2016. Citing NARA microfilm publication M237. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. NARA Roll 352 – 21 Dec 1871-6 Feb 1872 image 38/485, #59 accessed Dec. 17, 2018. Her name is written as “Catharine Nevser.”

87 Vonier, p. 24.

88 “New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1891.” Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch org: June 14, 2016. Citing NARA microfilm publication M237. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. NARA Roll 388 – 23 Mar 1874-25 Apr 1874 images 238-239/612, #75-89, accessed Dec. 17, 2018.

89 Vonier, p. 4.

90 Conversation with my grandfather Enos Aeschliman.

91 Marie’s husband, Charles Paul Thierry, had imm. on Dec. 1, 1873, http://www.castlegarden.org/quick_search_detail.php?p_id=4912384 accessed Sept. 30, 2018.

92 http://crewfamily.com/tombstones/volume_1_page_161.htm accessed Sept. 30, 2018.

93 Vonier, various pages.

94 Springer, p. 692.

95 Springer, p. 550.

96 Springer, p. 513. These men were grandchildren of the four sisters’ brother, Christian. More information available at http://etobonstory.squarespace.com/journal/ and sikhchic.com, accessed Mar. 23, 2019.

97 http://www.memorialgenweb.org/memorial3/html/fr/resultat_patronyme.php; archives.haute-saone.fr/ark (search under “Soldats”), accessed Mar. 23, 2019.

98 http://postcardsfromstmaurice.blogspot.com/2016/06/etobon-and-guemann-family.html accessed Mar. 23, 2019.

99 Vonier, p. 6.

100 Catherine Guemann with Andreas Vonier and Marie Neuhauser with Paul Thierry.

101 Catherine Guemann in 1847 and 1855, Françoise Guemann in 1856, Catherine Neuhauser in 1870, and Annette Neuhauser in 1871.

102 This type of stigmatization was suggested in a conversation with the Mennonite genealogist, Hélène Widmer, in Trevenans, France, on May 2, 2014.

103 Conversation with Joe Springer, July 27, 2017.

104 Mary Ann Augsburger Eng, “The Historical Reality of Matriarch Elizabeth Holly,” Mennonite Family History 34:3 (July 2015), p. 96.

105 The author is a great-great-granddaughter of Catherine Guemann and great granddaughter of Marie-Françoise Vonier (1862-1956), known as Fannie Vonier Aeschliman in Ohio.