Pedigree of Johannes "John" Emch of Ohio
The earliest known member of the Emch family to be found in Swiss records is Benedict Emch, who is listed as being granted citizenship in the canton of Solothurn in 1470.In 1484, two brothers, Benedicht and Cunin Emch are listed as having purchased a farm in Gechiwil.Four years later, in 1488, Hans and Cuni Emch are listed in the tax rolls as having to pay a special tax for serving in the military of a foreign prince.By the mid-1500s, the Emch family is well established in Solothurn as farmers.Nearly a century later there are two documented branches of the Emch family.Josef Emch and his wife Barbeli Luder, who were married on 12 November 1649, are the founders of the what is commonly referred to as the "A" Line of the Emch family.Niclaus (or Nicklaus) Emch (I) and his wife Anni Knuchel of Lueterswil, who were married on 2 May 1642, are generally given as the progenitors of the "B" Line of the Emch family.It is unclear why the earlier couple were designated as the progenitors of the“B” Line instead of the "A" Line.Johannes Emch and his descendants, who are addressed in this genealogy are direct descendants of Niclaus Emch (I), founder of the "B" Line as follows:
Niclaus Emch (I) married Anni Knuchel.They were the parents of Hans Emch (I) born on 6 March 1658, in the Swiss canton of Solothurn, Switzerland.Hans (I) married Benedicta Stuber (or Stüber). Hans (I) and Benedicta were the parents of Bendicht Emch, born on 21 December 1680, and died in January 1752.Bendicht married Barbara Tüsher (sometimes her surname is listed as Nischer). They are the parents of Hans Emch (II).
Hans Emch (II) was born on 22 May 1721, in the town of Luterswil, in the Swiss canton of Solothurn.He is believed to have died in circa 1765, in the same area.On 14 August 1750, he married a distant cousin, Anna Emch, daughter of Durs Emch and M. Kursnee.Their marriage resulted in the birth of:
I. Anna Emch, born on 30 January 1751.
II. Hans Emch, born on 1 August 1752 - died in 1769.
III. Benedicht Emch, born on 8 December 1745 - died on 10 June 1821.
IV. Durs Emch, born 18 November 1759 - died in 1776.
V. Niclaus Emch (II), born on 4 November 1764 - died on 14 November 1764.
The third child of Hans (II) and Anna Emch, Benedicht Emch, was born on 8 December 1754, and died on 10 June 1821.He was a school teacher.On 9 February 1781, he married Barbora (or Barbera) Laderader.Their union produced the following children:
I. Benedicht Emch, born on 9 April 1781.
II. Hans Emch (III), born on 20 October 1782, and died on 27 March 1851.
III. Durs Emch, born on 27 January 1785, and died on 25 December 1858.
IV. Niclaus Emch (III), born 16 February 1797, and died on 22 November 1825.
V. Maria Emch, born on 7 December 1794, and died 18 October 1827.
After the death of his first wife, Benedicht married again on 10 March 1803, Magdalena Jacob.
Durs Emch, who was the third son of Benedicht Emch, was born on 27 January 1785, and died on 25 December 1858.He was a school teacher and eventually became a school headmaster. Durs married on 27 January 1809, Barbara Isch, who born in 1789 and died in 1855.She was the daughter of Stephen Isch and Anna Marti.Durs and Barbara were the parrents of:
I. Ursus Emch, born on 27 November 1811, and died on 21 November 1833.He never married.
II. Johannes [John] Emch, born on 21 February 1814, and died on 21 January 1878.
III. Niclaus Emch (IV), born on 6 March 1826, and died on 22 January 1879.
Additionally, it is believed that a fourth son and two daughters were born, but died in early infancy.
Johannes Emch (I) was second son of Durs Emch and his wife, Barbara (née Isch) Emch and was born on 21 February 1814, at the foot of Bucheggberg Mountain in the village of Amti Bucheggberg in the district surrounding the town of Luterswil in the northwestern Swiss canton of Solothurn.The region around Luterswil is noteworthy in that it is the only Protestant area in this otherwise Catholic canton.At 14 years of age, young Johannes was apprenticed to a master stone mason.Years later, after he was accepted into the stone masons guild as a full member, he married Anna Knörr in 1841.In 1857, Johannes followed the earlier example of his in-laws and immigrated to America.Johannes, his family, and that of his brother-in-law, Jacob Knörr, made their way to the Belgian port of Antwerp and bought passage onboard the SS CHARLES COOPER. They reached New York on 3 June 1857, and shortly thereafter made their way west via the Erie Cannel and Ohio River to settled in near Cleveland, Ohio.Johannes Emch (I) died on 21 January 1878, in Ohio.
Little is known of Anna Knörr's family.What is known of Anna’s family is that the Knörr family were early converts from Roman Catholicism to the Protestant Anabaptist Church faith.They were persecuted for their religious beliefs in Switzerland and forced to pay higher taxes and special fees by the region’s Catholic officials.Several members of the family fled from their native Canton of Bern to Germany and the Netherlands during the 1600s.Others moved north to the Canton of Solothurn, which was populated by an enclave of Protestants.Religious persecution may have played some part in Anna Knörr’s parents and younger siblings immigrating to the Ohio Valley in America in the mid-1800s.Anna and her husband, Johannes Emch followed her family to America a few years later. Anna, who was born in 1820, in Switzerland had a brother and two sisters.At some point in time after Anna and one of her sisters had married, her parents, brother, and remaining sister left Switzerland and voyaged to America where they are believed to have eventually settled in or near Cleveland, Ohio.It is known that her sister, who remained in Europe, married a tradesman by the name of Abraham Yost.The sister, who accompanied her parents to America, married a man of Dutch ethnic heritage by the surname of Schaad.Before her death in Ohio on 18 January 1868, Anna borne Johannes Emch (I) the following children: Urs in 1841, Johannes [John] (II) in 1843, a son born dead in 1846, Benjamin in 1847, Maria [Mary] in 1849, Nicholas in 1852, Anna, Rosina, and Alice.