1659 · Dürsrüti, near Langnau im Emmental · Swiss Brethren
What happened
Ausbund Hymn 139, “Ein Lied von etlichen Brüdern, die gefangen worden sind zu Dürsrüte in der Schweitz”, tells of a meeting “in the fifty-ninth year” (1659) on a hill at Dürsrüti, where the congregation had gathered to hear the Sermon on the Mount. Men with torches and weapons burst into the room “like wolves among the sheep”, led by a man named Simon; four brothers were taken. Ully Baumgärtner was led away bound to Trachselwald castle, and the bailiff sent the prisoners to Bern, to the Zuchthaus (prison), where two old “shepherds” (ministers) were already held. The scholars tried for a year to argue them out of their faith; Baumgärtner answered that he would not leave the faith given him by the maker of heaven and earth. In all ten brothers were held; in the end they were sent “auf die Marck”, out of the country. Anthony Himmelberg, “a shepherd of the sheep”, is also named.
That same year Bern created the Anabaptist Chamber (1659 Bern creates the Anabaptist Chamber).
Why it matters for the family
Langnau is the parish of the Langnau Täufer register that records the tree’s Neuenschwander, Lehman/Leeman and Fuhrimann families. Christopher’s ancestors there in the 1600s lived through exactly this persecution, and some may have known these men. No tree surname appears in the song.
Dürsrüti’s location near Langnau rests on a Mennonite Family History article, “The 1659 Song of Dürsrüti (Dürsrütilied)”, in a series on the Anabaptists of Langnau in the 1600s (Masthof, back issue 94), not yet read.
Follow-up
- Get Mennonite Family History back issue 94 (“The 1659 Song of Dürsrüti”) and the series “Anabaptists of Langnau in the 1600s” (Masthof, paid) and check them for tree surnames task/human
- Bern Täuferkammer / Turmbücher 1659–60 for the Dürsrüti prisoners (Ully Baumgärtner, Anthony Himmelberg) and any tree surname task/ai
Sources
Record compiled 31 October 2026.
About this research
Supporting documentation is linked throughout. This project is an exercise in AI-assisted research and development, and I haven’t manually verified every link or conclusion. All transcriptions and translations of Swiss parish records were made with AI, and their accuracy should be treated accordingly.