September 11-13, 2018 - Switzerland

Following a weekend to recover and do laundry, we flew to Zurich Switzerland to visit family historical sites for Elder Burkinshaw's maternal grandmother's line, the Kunz Family.  Some background on Switzerland is helpful.

Switzerland is landlocked bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south,  and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.  It has four official languages which are, in order of predominance, German, French, Italian and Romansch.  Romansh is a Latin-based language spoken predominantly in the southeastern Switzerland.  The population of Switzerland is 8.4 million and is about one-quarter of the size of Oklahoma.  Zurich and Bern Switzerland were primary centers of the Protestant Reformation in Europe under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli beginning in 1519.  The Reformed Swiss Church was an important part of our Swiss ancestors lives and reflected the values of independence and neutrality.  Switzerland became independent of the Holy Roman Empire in 1648, is not part of the European Union and did not join the United Nations until 2002.  Switzerland strongly values privacy and greatly limits microfilming of historic records for family history research and has long been known for confidential bank accounts.  Thus what happens in Switzerland stays in Switzerland.  The official name in English for Switzerland is 'Swiss Confederation' which, in Latin, is Confoederatio Helvetica, which is abbreviated CH which explains the mystery of why Switzerland is always abbreviated as CH!

Arriving in Zurich, we rented a van and drove about 70 miles to Bern which is the capital city of Switzerland.  Our first stop was the Temple there which was the first temple in Europe, dedicated in 1955 and is very similar to the London Temple.  

Elder and Sister Burkinshaw at the Bern Temple on a very warm (82°F) and sunny day.

When we arrived at the Bern Temple, we visited with several missionaries who had attended an earlier endowment session.  Among them was Elder Tingey, who is the son of Bishop Tingey of the Fair Oaks Ward in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma which is where the families and Elder and Sister Burkinshaw's daughters Kathleen and Sarah live.  We took a photo and sent to Kathleen and Sarah to share with Bishop and Sister Tingey.

Elder and Sister Burkinshaw, Aunt Robyn, Uncle Mark and Aunt Wendy at the Bern Temple.

The Bern Temple and grounds.

The sidewalk cafe in Bern where we ate dinner following the endowment session at the Bern Temple.  Interestingly, we had to deal with cigarette smoke when we ate outside whereas smoking was prohibited inside the restaurant.

At the beginning of our visit to the Kunz Family sites, we met at the Oey-Diemtigen train station.  Uncle Mark, Aunt Robyn, Elder Burkinshaw, Paul-Anthon Nielson (a professional genealogist who lives in Switzerland and Elder Burkinshaw's first cousin twice removed) and Stephanie Lynn Capener (Elder Burkinshaw's third cousin).

To provide a reference point for the Kunz Family, here is a pedigree chart with the Kunz line in yellow.  Much of the historical information provided in the blog post has come from the book "Kunz and Jakob - Fifty Family History Sites - Switzerland" by Judy Walk Park and edited by Paul-Anthon Nielson.

The Kunz Family line shown by the yellow line.

As we began our drive through the Diemtigen valley where our Kunz forefathers lived, we were taken by the beautiful and lush meadows, despite this having been one of the driest summers on record here in Switzerland.  For mid-September, it was surprisingly warm.

The rolling hills, verdant meadows, beautiful trees and blue sky in the Diemtigen valley.

Granite mountains towering above the Diemtigen Valley.

Our first stop is this home which has been modernized but is the original home of the Straubhaar Family in Niederstocken and is where Magdalena Straubhaar, wife of John Kunz III gave birth to their first son William John Kunz in 1865 while her husband was working as a cheesemaker.  William John Kunz is Elder Burkinshaw's great-grandfather and the father of his maternal grandmother Sophie Olive Kunz Bateman.

A side view of the Straubhaar home.

The Schwand (or Blattenschwand which referred to area of the forest cleared of leaves and therefore trees) home of John (Johannes) Kunz I where he was taught the gospel after seeking and receiving a healing blessing for his 25-year-old daughter Rosina from Elder Ulrich Buhler.  John Kunz I and his daughter Rosina were the first members of the family to be baptized 22 June 1862 in the town of Thun about 25 miles from their home.  

Elder Burkinshaw, Uncle Mark, Cousin Stephanie and Aunt Robyn in front of the Schwand home in the Meniggrund hamlet in Zwischenfluh borough of Diemtigen.  The home is no longer in the family but it originally belonged to Rosina Katharina Klossner's parents.

The Schwand home viewed from the mountain across the valley.

Schwand was the home where Johannes Kunz I first heard about the healing power of the Mormon missionaries.  His daughter, Rosina, was suffering from a disease of the spine and the doctors did not know what she had or how to cure it.  They told her she would never be well again as long as she lived.  Her brother, John Kunz II heard that the Mormon missionaries were able to heal people.  He wrote a letter to his sister Rosina telling her about a church which had the power of healing.  He thought if she could find them, they could cure her of the disease the doctors said was incurable.

In 1862, Johannes I and his daughter Rosina left Schwand to walk to the city of Thun about 25 miles away.  There they found Ulrich Buhler who was the local presiding Elder for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Rosina was given a priesthood blessing which resulted in her being healed from the disease.  Rosina and her father Johannes Kunz I were taught the gospel and were baptized 22 June 1862.  They then walked back to Schwand.  Because of the negative feelings in the area toward the Church, they did not tell anyone about their baptism.

Several years later, Ulrich Buhler and an unnamed companion visited Schwand.  When news of their presence reached the neighbors, a group of men decided to run the Mormon Elders out of the village.  The door on the Schwand house had a upper and lower half.  Upon hearing the noise of the group gathered on his farm, Johannes I opened the top half of the door and was confronted by his friends and neighbors, including his son John Kunz II .  Johannes I protected the missionaries and stood up to the mob and told them to go home.  Although the residents of the Dimetigen Valley remained bitter towards the Church, the Schwand home was always a safe place for missionaries to teach the gospel.

During the summer months of 1863, Katharina, the twin of Rosina (who had been cured) was baptized as was Anna Wampfler and her daughters who were living at Lower Blatten.  In the summer of 1866, Ulrich Buhler baptized 13-year-old Johann Gottfried Kunz, the son of John Kunz II, despite his father's bitter feelings towards the Church.

Elder Willard Brigham Richards visited Schwand in the spring of 1868 when he ordained Johannes Kunz I as a priest.  In November 1868, Karl G. Maeser, president of the Swiss German Mission and Elder Willard B Richards came to Schwand and conferred the Mechizedek Priesthood upon Johannes Kunz I and ordained him an Elder.  After attending some of their meetings, John Kunz III and his wife Magdalena Straubhaar were converted and baptized in 1868.  Rosina Katharina Klossner, wife of Johannes Kunz I and grandmother of John Kunz III was also baptized at this time with other family members.  Of Johannes Kunz I six children, only Christian did not join the Church and remained bitter because all his siblings and his mother emigrated to the United States.

John Kunz III was baptized on 15 November 1868 along with his wife Magdalena Straubhaar by Karl G. Maeser in the cold waters of Meniggrund Creek (less than a mile below the Schwand home of his grandfather John Kunz I) at Zwischenfluh, Diemtigen.  He emigrated to the United States on the S.S. Nevada from Liverpool, England and arrived in Utah on 2 July 1873 and eventually moved to Bear River County Idaho where Magdalena Staubhaar died 22 May 1874 in Bern Idaho.

The Zwischenfluh cemetery where Johannes Kunz I was buried.  Unfortunately the Swiss culture is to "repurpose" grave markers and cemetery plots so his headstone is gone.

Elder Burkinshaw with the John Kunz II home in Riedern borough, Diemtigen Valley

Sister Burkinshaw looking down the scenic Diemtigen valley from the John Kunz II home.

"Auf dem Moos" was the home of John Kunz II and his wife Rosina Knutti and where most of their children were born.  In February 1869, John Kunz II had yielded to the persuasion of his son, John Kunz III and Elder Willard B. Richards taught the gospel here in this home.  John Kunz II agreed to be baptized with all his family conditioned on the stipulation that he would not be asked to immigrate to America.  Ironically, at his own initiative, John Kunz II was the first immigrate in July 1870 with his wife and eight unmarried children.

As we traveled around the Diemtigen Valley, we could always hear the cows in the fields because they each had a bell around their neck and there are a variety of bells.

Here overlooking the Schwand home is the dairy and restaurant where we ate lunch.  On one side is a barn with several new calves and cow bells for the herd. 

Here are the milking machines they use and which provide the feedstock for the cheese that will be produced.

We had lunch at the home of Arnold and Barbara Wiedmer, fourth cousins and direct descendants of Christian Kunz. They run this dairy and restaurant.

The "Welcome" sign on the restaurant side.

Here is the "spread" for our lunch of Raclette cheese with boiled potatoes, bacon, onion and a variety of vegetables.

We each had a stove powered by about 10 candles underneath to melt the raclette cheese and warm the vegetables and bacon, then we would put them on top of boiled potatoes.  They also served peppermint tea to help digest the cheese! ;-)

Elder Burkinshaw decided that the lunch was excellent and as long as you don't breathe, even the peppermint tea was delicious. ;-)

This is the view from the porch of the restaurant/barn.

This was the home where Christian Klossner (1667) and Katharina Schwingruber (1675) lived.  They were the forebears of the wife of Johannes Kunz I, Rosina Katharina Klossner.

The wood on the front of the house has the engraved year 1693 and the prayer "Bless this house and all who come therein."  Some of the letters are backwards to ward off evil spirits.

This is the Allmi cooperative dairy barn built in 1841 where three generations of the Kunz family milked their cows and made cheese in a large copper pot over a fire.   

The Diemtigen Swiss Reformed Church which is built on the original foundation from the 1200's.  In May 1527, the valley adopted the new faith of the Protestant Reformation through the efforts of Reformer Peter Kunz.

This beautiful mural painted in 1815 depicts women and the ascension of the resurrected Christ.  It celebrates women and their love for Christ.  Johannes Kunz I and his wife Rosina Katharina Klossner and their children we christened and married in this Church.

The Erlenbach im Simmental Swiss Reformed Church where Peter Kunz was the first pastor of the Swiss Reformation.

Beautiful floor of stones set in a circular design in squares outside the Erlenbach Church.

The Erlenbach pulpit and chapel.  The verse on the top of the wall says,
"God, you are our refuge forever and ever."

The pipe organ in the Erlenbach Swiss Reformed Church.

The "Poor Man's Bible" mural in the Erlenbach church painted in the 1100's.  These murals of Bible stories was the way the illiterate general population were taught the Christian Gospel.  In the 1500's when Switzerland began the Swiss Reformed Church, nearly all Catholic symbols were destroyed.  Although the majority of churches removed wall paintings by chiseling them from the walls, Peter Kunz chose to whitewash the walls to hide the paintings.  Thus when they were rediscovered in 1863, they were restored.

One of the "Poor Man's Bible" murals is the Garden of Eden with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (which has two trunks representing good and evil) and the tree of life.  The fact that two trunks were used in the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which was an advanced theological concept in Catholicism, have convinced scholars that whoever painted the murals must have been trained in Rome. 

Plaque recognizing the contributions of Peter Kunz, a cousin of Beat Kunz (1554) who is our first Kunz ancestor of record.  The translation from German is as follows:
"Peter Kunz of Erlenbach - Reformer from Siebenthals born in Baueert Eschlen -  Augustinian choirmaster of the Interlaken Monastery - Priest since 1517 and first reformed pastor of this place of worship since 1535 recognized by the occupation council Munster to Berne - The same died  11 February 1544."

Following our visit to the Kunz Family sites, our kind and gracious host, Paul-Anthon Nielson, treated us to delicious cream pie and a chocolate-raspberry tort.  We are very grateful for Paul's kindness and years of research and experience.  We would recommend that anyone wanting to visit these sites contact Paul and secure his services.

The beautiful living room of our host Paul-Anthon Nielson.

Following our visit to Bern, we returned to Zurich where we went on a day tour to Mount Titlis in the Uri Alps, located on the border between the cantons of Obwalden and Bern. At 10,623 ft above sea level, it is the highest summit in Central Switzerland. It is famous as the site of the world's first rotating cable car. 

On our drive to Mount Titlis, we stopped in the beautiful city of Lucerne.  Here we saw the Lion Monument of Lucerne designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen (who is the sculptor of the Christus statue used in many of our visitors center and hewn in 1820–21 by Lukas Ahorn. It commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

The Lion Monument of Lucerne designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen (who is the sculptor of the Christus statue used in many of our visitor centers) and hewn in 1820–21 by Lukas Ahorn. 

Elder and Sister Burkinshaw, Uncle Mark, Aunt Robyn and Aunt Wendy as the Lucerne Lion Monument.

The Lucerne Lion monument commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed Tuileries Palace in Paris.

The Kapellbrücke (literally, Chapel Bridge) is a covered wooden footbridge spanning diagonally across the Reuss River in the city of Lucerne. Named after the nearby St. Peter's Chapel and dates back to the 17th century.  

Aunt Robyn and Elder Burkinshaw on the Kapellbrücke.  Sister Burkinshaw found a very nice carved and painted nativity to add to her collection at home.

The Kapellbrücke is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe, as well as the world's oldest surviving truss bridge. It serves as the city's symbol and as one of Switzerland's main tourist attractions.

Chateau Gutsch Lucern Hotel which looks more like a castle up above the city.

The Bavarian-style buildings along the Reuss River in Lucerne.

After a stop in Lucerne, it was off to Mount Titlis, which is the highest mountain in the central Alps.

Mount Titlis from the road near Lucerne.

The first tram on the way up to Mount Titlis, over 10,000 feet above sea level.

Sister Burkinshaw, Aunt Robyn and Uncle Mark on the first tram up to Mount Titlis.

The valley below from the first tram up to Mount Titlis.

The lake in the valley below from the second rotating tram on the way up to Mount Titlis.

The first station where we depart the conventional red and white tram for the rotating tram.

The rotating tram near the top of Mount Titlis.  The tram only makes one 360° rotation on the way up to the top of the mountain.

Once at the top, you can take a regular ski lift across the glacier to the other side of the mountain but you have to cross this suspension bridge.  Here is Aunt Robyn on the bridge.

Aunt Wendy, Uncle Mark, Elder Burkinshaw and Aunt Robyn preparing to board the ski lift to cross the glacier on Mount Titlis.

The ski lift across the glacier on Mount Titlis.  If it were skiing season, we could have skied down the mountain! ;-)

Looking down upon the glacier you can see the faint blue color, familiar to all glaciers.

Sister Burkinshaw in the midst of a snow flurry which was caused by a snow-making machine.

At the summit, we had the best ice cream we had ever tasted!  Sister Burkinshaw had chocolate, Elder Burkinshaw had coconut and Aunt Robyn had raspberry and white chocolate.

The scene as we returned to the valley on the tram from Mount Titlis.

Beautiful scenery at the end of our ride to the top of Mount Titlis.  The Alps are breathtaking!

Following our day trip to Mount Titlis, we stayed overnight in Zurich and left early the next morning for London with a greater appreciation for our Swiss heritage and the beauty of Heavenly Father's creations.  It was a trip we will long remember.

Elder and Sister Burkinshaw