I wrote a post about my Burkholder ancestors in January 2011 and another with newer findings in June 2014. A friend of mine said, "History doesn't change but what we know about it sure changes." That is true, and our story changes as we find more facts. The Burkholder story has changed dramatically from what we believed for many years. Now it's time for another update on the latest and greatest findings. The credit for finding the facts goes to Dale Burkholder who went to Switzerland to mine the records and find the true story.
As long as I could remember, were told and believed that our immigrant ancestor, Christian Burkholder (1746-1804), was the son of Christian and Elizabeth Burkholder who migrated from Switzerland to Germany before immigrating to Pennsylvania. There was a Christian Burkholder in Gerolsheim, Germany, but he was not our ancestor Christian's father. In the 1990s, tax records were found in the Jura Mountain region of Switzerland showing Christian's parents were Ulrich and Barbara Burkholder.
Ulrich and Barbara lived on one of three farms on the mountain above the village of La Heutte. Ulrich died there and then widow Barbara and her six children immigrated with a group of other Mennonites. They arrived in Philadelphia in October 1754 on the Phoenix.
Another breakthrough gave us Barbara's maiden name. She was the daughter of Ulrich and Elizabeth (Stucki) Schenk. Her parents were not Anabaptists, but the Schenk Chronicle handwritten by a family member in the 1700s confirms she married an Anabaptist, Ulrich Burkhalter from Ruderswil, moved to the Jura area, and immigrated in 1754. A letter the Mennonite immigrants brought with them lists Barbara Schenk as one of the poor people who received assistance from the church in Switzerland for their travel expenses.
Having established that Ulrich came from Ruderswil, it was possible to find his birth in the church records and go back two more generations. Ulrich was baptized Feb. 11, 1699, in the Reformed church in Ruderswil. He was the son of Benedict and Anna (Kohler) Burkhalter.
Benedict was baptized December 1, 1661 at the same church in Ruderswil. He was the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Widmer) Burkhalter.
Joseph lived on a farm named Steinberg on a hill above Ruderswil. The farm was passed on to Benedict and Ulrich grew up there. This is the newer Steinberg house today.
The old Steinberg house is at the bottom of the hill. It probably is not the same house that was there in the 1600s but we can at least see the lay of the land and where we came from. I will never forget standing on the hill looking down at this farm. My heart knew I was Swiss and I had come home.
Although Joseph and Benedict were not Anabaptists, records indicate there were Anabaptists in the neighborhood. In Swiss tradition, the farm was passed to the youngest son. Being the youngest, Ulrich would have been expected to get the farm but it was passed to his older brother Hans. It appears Ulrich became an Anabaptist, was disinherited, and moved to an Anabaptist community in the Jura mountains. Persecution was less severe in this French-speaking part of Switzerland.
There was no birth record for Joseph Burkhalter in Ruderswil so that was as far as we could document our Burkholder line. Thanks to Dale Burkholder's diligent research, we now know that Joseph was baptized June 6, 1623, at Lutzefluh, a village near Trachselwald. He was the son of Jost and Katharina (Kuhni) Burkhalter. They lived on the Haslimatt farm, on a hill overlooking the the village of Trachselwald and opposite the famous Trachelswald Castle where Anabaptists were imprisoned. This photo of Haslimatt farm was taken this month from the tower of Trachelswald castle by our daughter, Cheryl Miller. (Click to enlarge)
Finding Joseph Burkhalter's birth record took us back two more generations. His father, as stated, was Jost Burkhalter. He was baptized at Lutzefluh on November 26, 1587, and married Catharina Kuhni on February 6, 1612, in Trachelswald. Since Joseph was not the youngest son of Jost, he did not inherit the family farm and moved to Ruderswil.
Jost's baptismal record identifies his father as Hans Burkhalter but no mother's name is given. Hans Burkhalter, probably born sometime in the mid-1500s, is now our earliest known ancestor.
Dale Burkholder wrote a beautiful book on our Burkholder ancestors. The title is taken from a song written by Christian Burkholder, Christ is Full of Love and Power. It contains many color pictures and the complete known Burkholder story. It is available from Grace Press, 2175 Division Hwy, Ephrata, PA 17522. Phone 717-354-0475.
Hans Burkhalter
Jost Burkhalter bap. 1587
Joseph Burkhalter bap. 1623
Benedict Burkhalter bap. 1661
Ulrich Burkhalter bap.1699
Christian Burkhalter/Burkholder (1746-1804)
I am the seventh generation of Christian's descendants in Pennsylvania. All of these generations stayed in Lancaster County where he settled until my parents moved across the county line. And there still am I. We find what we like and stick with it!
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