It was not the first visit from the USA that Ruedi Gut-Leuthold receives at his farm in Knonau. In recent years, the retired farmer has been intensively involved with the history of the Baaregg estate on the edge of the village, less than three miles from Kappel where Huldrych Zwingli died in 1531 in the war between the Swiss Reformed and Catholics.

Ruedi Gut also came across ancestors who belonged to the Anabaptists in the 15th and 16th centuries. For Don and Joanne Siegrist-Hess, the encounter was a “highlight” of their Swiss journey. As their names reveal, the Mennonite couple from Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, have Swiss roots. For many years they have maintained intensive contacts with members of the Reformed Church in Switzerland. The statement of regret in 2004 of the Zurich Reformed Church and the memorial plaque for Felix Manz and other Anabaptist leaders drowned in the Limmat River during the Reformation were the trigger for this lively exchange.

For Joanne and Don, it was a historic event: “We never dreamed that one day Reformed believers from Switzerland would come to us to apologize for the persecution of our ancestors,” said Don. And Joanne added: “It was beyond anyone’s imagination that those of the Canton of Zurich and Bern would one day begin ‘Steps to Reconciliation.’ Suddenly, doors shut for centuries, opened! For a time, we were stunned. We could hardly believe what we saw and heard.” In recent years, the two of them have led groups from Switzerland around Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, many times, giving Swiss unique contacts to Amish and Mennonites there, many with Swiss roots.

And now they sit in Ruedi Gut’s living room and immerse themselves with him in the history of his ancestors at Baaregg. Today’s farmhouse was built in 1714 and acquired in 1853 by Ruedi’s great-great-great-grandfather Heinrich Gut. In the wood-panelled living room with the old tiled stove, Ruedi Gut proudly shows a brick with the date 1617 from the previous building.

It is obvious that Anabaptists lived and gathered in this area on the border with the catholic Canton of Zug. The religious minority who had been mercilessly persecuted since the Reformation—a dangerous sect from the point of view of the State Church—was most likely to be found in remote regions of the canton.

Ruedi Gut had come across the Frey family during his investigations. They had settled here as early as 1450. In 1622, Gorius Frey was expropriated because he belonged to the Anabaptist community. This deprived the wealthy family of its livelihood so that Gorius Frey had to emigrate with his family to Wingen in Alsace—an area that had been devastated by the Thirty Years’ War. In 1651, the name of the Frey family appears in Sundhausen (Thuringia), while another branch of the family—with Heinrich Frey, born September 13, 1643, in Knonau – settled in Kraichgau (Baden-Württemberg). A daughter of Heinrich Frey married Hans Baer who took over the Birkenauerhof from his father-in-law.

The name “Knonau” is well known to the Anabaptists in the USA. In the appendix to the old hymnbook Ausbund from which the Amish still sing today in their worship services, there is “A true report of the Brothers in Switzerland, in the region of Zurich concerning the tribulations which came upon them, for the sake of the Gospel: From 1635 to 1645.“ It contains several reports of persecuted Anabaptists in the Knonau magistracy. Background was a new mandate from 1628 of the Zurich authorities: “As far as the harmful and erroneous sect of the Anabaptists is concerned, we confirm the already issued mandates: we affirm that our folks will not visit any church or assembly other than where our Reformed Christian religion is practiced and taught.”

The persecution also affected Anabaptists of the Baaregg, namely Felix Urmy, who was imprisoned on December 22, 1635, in Zurich with other Anabaptist leaders and later also emigrated to Alsace. His son, Gorius Urmy had joined the Anabaptists in 1647 and followed his father to Sundhausen in Alsace. He was married to Margaretha Baer.

Under the preaching of Felix Urmy, it is also probable that Heinrich Frick of the Buchhof farm in Baaregg joined the Anabaptists. He was a wealthy young farmer and an ensign in the military. As an Anabaptist, he refused military service, was imprisoned three times, and finally also emigrated to Künheim in Alsace. His name appears there in a list of Anabaptists dated February 4, 1660.

What motivates Don and Joanne Siegrist-Hess to travel to Switzerland again and again? It is the search for their roots: their family roots, but also their religious roots: “Both our family ancestry and our Anabaptist faith go back to Switzerland; thus, we are here to visit our ancestral homeland and our new-found Swiss friends. Since 2005, we have visited Switzerland 11 times. Fortunately, we have visited in the homes of many Swiss folks and always we were and are received with gracious hospitality. It’s like we have discovered long-lost relatives. What a blessing!”