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by Daphne Amacher Jenkins
My grandparents, Adolph Amacher and Amalia Hollenweger came to the United States from Switzerland in 1914. Adolph was from Wilderswil in Bern, and Amalia from Danikon in Zurich.
Adolph had studied genealogy in Switzerland and brought some records with him. He was very interested in genealogy and they went without many things in order to pay the Swiss researcher, Julius Billeter for their genealogy.
After Adolph died in 1943, Amalia continued the work until her death in 1964. I picked up the records in 1965 and worked on the original books until about 1982. I then turned over the work to my aunt Leah Holmstead who continues the work with the original books.
Adolph had Billeter research his and Amalia's grandparents' lines back to the beginning of the parish records, or about 1500. More information on Billeter and his research can be found in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
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Amacher |
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Bern |
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Wyss |
Wilderswil |
Bern |
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Hollenweger |
Danikon-Dallikon |
Zurich |
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Staeger |
Lauterbrunnen |
Bern |
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Temperli |
Gutenswil |
Zurich |
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Balmer |
Interlaken and Wilderswil |
Bern |
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Zurschmidi |
Wilderswil and Gsteig |
Bern |
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Tschiemer |
Matten-Gsteig and Habken |
Bern |
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Von Almen |
Lauterbrunnen |
Bern |
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Haller |
Albisrieden |
Zurich |
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Braem |
Schlieren |
Zurich |
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Hofer |
Langnau |
Bern |
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Galli |
Lauterbrunnen |
Bern |
The books begin with one common ancestral couple and contain their descendants for whom records could be found. Each family is neatly documented as a group and numbers are used to link them to others in the book, i.e. "this husband is son of number 34 on page 65". Each book has thousands of names, so a great deal of work has been done. The original books were microfilmed in the 1940's and can be viewed by requesting film #128,124 from the Salt Lake City Family History Library or any of its 900 branches.
We hope this information helps you, because we have gotten letters from those who spent considerable time and money researching Swiss records, only to learn the research had already been done by Adolph and other clients of J. Billeter.
Research done by Adolph is becoming available through the International Genealogical Index (IGI). Although individuals in the IGI are not joined by family groups or pedigrees, you can search by name for christening and marriage data gleaned from the parish and town records. Librarians at any Family History Center will help you use the FamilySearch computer databases. The Ancestral File, also part of FamilySearch, has family group sheets and pedigree links.
You can email me at: djenkins@alaska.net