Re: Eurick (1834-1902) and Emil John Schaer
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In reply to:
Eurick (1834-1902) and Emil John Schaer
2/07/99
Hi,
My name is Marcie Schaer Van Deren. Like you I have always wanted to trace my Schaer lineage. It is quite hard, because they came to the US in 1905. I did find out that a lot of the Schaers from Kanton Berne came from Gondiswil. The Swiss have a civil registration that took effect in 1859, I think. Each individual family has to be registered in the family hometown. All the records, or at least copies, even now, from Zurich, Berne, Tavannes, etc. are sent back to the family town. Theoretically, the hometown has to take you in if you are homeless, destitute, etc. But now they contract out to other city governments to do this, etc. (A Swiss gentleman, staying in our RV Park in August, explained all this to me.)
Anyway, my Schaers mostly live in Reconvilier, a small village northeast of Tavannes which northeast of Biel/Bienne. I thought that they had always lived there. Not so. My g-g-grandfather, Jean/Johan Schaer and his wife Rosina Lanz moved from Gondiswil to Reconvilier after 1860. Since they were living in Gondiswil in 1859, when the civil registration went into effect that is my "Schaer" hometown. I did a search on Mapquest! interactive atlas for Gondiswil, Switzerland and it took me right to it.
On the Swiss Genealogy Homepage, I don't remember the URL, but you could try the WorldGenweb site. usgenweb.net that will take you to a link for it.
There are surnames, etc. I know that Picton Press Camden ME, publishes the Familienbruche, anyway, something to that effect, of the surnames and hometowns in German as well as ENGLISH! They have the contract with the Swiss government to do that. According to this paper I have, from a cousin in Switzerland, there are about 13 groups of Schär/Schaer in Kanton Berne with different hometowns.
Also, once you find the hometown, you probably, but not always can find the church records.Hope this helps,
Marcie Schaer Van Deren
[email protected]
More Replies:
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Re: Eurick (1834-1902) and Emil John Schaer
Paul Schaer 12/11/04