1711 · Bern → Rhine → Amsterdam → Groningen, Kampen, Deventer, Harlingen · Swiss Brethren, Amish
Population figures for every place on the route: Anabaptist population by place.
Everyone named (346 passengers, the leaders, prisoners and settlers) is in the separate roster 1711 Rhine exodus - full passenger roster, kept outside the family tree.
Main source: Ernst Müller, Geschichte der Bernischen Täufer (1895), ch. XVI–XVIII, pp. 279–330, built on the letters of the Dutch envoy Johann Ludwig Runckel and the Amsterdam Mennonite relief committee’s records. Passenger lists signed by Runckel at Schaffhausen, 23 July 1711.
How it came about
- In 1710 Bern tried to deport Anabaptist prisoners to America; the transport broke down on the Rhine and they were freed in the Netherlands (32 of the 54 prisoners let go at Mannheim for age and weakness; the other 22 freed at Nijmegen; Müller pp. 269, 278). Many walked straight back to Bern.
- Under Dutch and Prussian diplomatic pressure, Bern issued an amnesty on 11 February 1711: Anabaptists could leave with their property, but lost their citizenship and had to vow never to return. Reformed spouses who went lost theirs too and paid a 10% exit tax.
- Dutch Mennonites raised about 50,000 guilders. The King of Prussia offered farms in Lithuania (62 farms of 30 acres); the Swiss scouts liked the land, but the settlers in Holland would not move again.
- Runckel had four boats built in Bern, planned for about 500 people.
The split shaped who went
The emigrants were mostly Amish — Jakob Ammann’s party from the Bernese Oberland (Frutigen, Simmental, Thun, Hilterfingen, Oberhofen on Lake Thun). The Emmental congregations of Hans Reist refused to travel with people who had banned them. Most stayed hidden at home; Reist-party prisoners who were put aboard left the boats at the first chance to join the Swiss in the Palatinate.
The voyage
%%{init: {"flowchart": {"useMaxWidth": true}}}%% flowchart LR A["Bern<br/>13 Jul 1711"] --> B["Aare → Wangen<br/>1 runs off"] --> C["Basel<br/>5 run off"] --> D["Breisach<br/>Hans Bürki + 12 leave;<br/>30 board"] --> E["Mannheim<br/>Samuel Reber + 30 leave"] --> F["Mainz · Koblenz · Köln<br/>Düsseldorf · Wesel"] --> G["Emmerich<br/>Dutch border"] --> H["Utrecht"] --> I["Muiden → Amsterdam<br/>3 Aug 1711"]
- Four boats: the Emmentaler (89 people, mostly released prisoners), the Oberländer (68; Daniel Richen, “general inspector”), the Thuner (77) and the Neuenburger (Hans Anken, Peter Lehner).
- 346 left Bern: 67 married men, 76 married women, 21 single men, 35 single women, 147 children; 21 were Reformed spouses.
- About 340 reached Amsterdam on the evening of 3 August 1711. They were housed for two weeks in malt-house warehouses on the Zandhoek. Crowds came to see them, and the collection boxes at the door took in 1,045 guilders.
- On the boats they sang their own hymns, for example “wer nit ein eid wil schweren, der soll zum land ußgahn” (“whoever won’t swear an oath must leave the land”).
Where they settled (sailed 20 August 1711 across the Zuiderzee)
| Place | People | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Groningen (Sappemeer, Hoogkerk, Helpen, Vinkhuis) | 126 | Joined earlier Swiss refugees known as “Pfälzer”. Split in 1720 into “old” and “new” Swiss. Self-supporting by 1721; some later went to Pennsylvania. Merged with the Mennonites 1824. |
| Kampen | 87 | 18 farms bought; lost all their cattle in floods in 1717. Merged with the Mennonites 1822. |
| Deventer | 116 (Müller’s detailed list: 106) | Did not take root; most moved to Kampen and Groningen. |
| Harlingen / Gorredijk (Friesland) | 21 | The Reist-party families; went back to the Palatinate in Nov 1713, and “most found refuge in America”. |
Family connections
No direct ancestor of Christopher is on the lists. Surnames and places from the tree that do appear:
| On the list | Detail | Connection |
|---|---|---|
| Elsbeth Neuenschwander, wife of Hans Schallenberger, of **[[Trub | Trub]]** | Emmentaler boat; left |
| Anna Habegger of Trub | left | Habegger (Verena Habegger, Stauffer line) |
| Katharina Stauffer, wife of preacher Hans Gaffer, of Lauperswil | left | Stauffer surname |
| Daniel Neukomm of Eggiwil | left at Mannheim | The Ramseyers’ home parish |
| Katharina Galli of Höchstetten | left at Mannheim | Gallis married Eggiwil Ramseyers |
| Anna Blank, wife of preacher Daniel Richen of Frutigen | arrived | Blank/Plank (Joseph Hochstetler married an Anna Blank) |
| Marg. Plank, wife of Christ. Neuhauser | arrived | Plank surname |
| Bendicht Lehmann | prisoner allowed to stay for old age | Lehman surname |
| Peter Habegger | Reist elder who refused to go | Habegger surname |
| Hans Gaffer (75), Bendicht Stöckli, Anna Aeschbacher, Elsb. Binggeli — of Schwarzenburg | arrived | Hochstetler, Mast and Mishler home district |
Christen Neuenschwander at Langnau, July 1711
When the Reist leader Hans Bürki and preacher Daniel Grimm were arrested at Langnau, Bürki’s children, Grimm’s sons and a Christen Neuenschwander fought back “with pitchforks, sticks and cudgels” (Bern council minutes, 9 July 1711; Müller p. 299). A Langnau Neuenschwander of the Reist party, about two generations before Christopher’s documented Neuenschwanders. Relationship unknown.
Why the Ramseyers weren’t on the boats
Christian Ramseyer (bapt. 1672) and Christina Gosteli were openly Anabaptist at Eggiwil in 1706–08. As Emmentalers they were almost certainly Reist party, the group that refused to go. Their son Christian Ramseyer (bapt. 1700) next appears in 1724 as “Christ Ramsier von Erguël” in the Jura and then Neuchâtel (Staker): the Jura route most Emmental Anabaptists took instead of the Rhine.
Ancestors alive at the time
Jacob Hochstetler (c.1666–c.1722) (then at Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines in Alsace — expelled by Louis XIV the next year), Christian Ramseyer (bapt. 1672), Christian Ramseyer (bapt. 1700), Ulrich Mishler (b. 1688), Joseph Ulrich Mishler (c.1700–1756), Anna Dorothea Mueller (c.1700–1789), Johann Fieguth (1707–1780).
Sources
- Müller - Geschichte der Bernischen Täufer (1895), pp. 279–330 (OCR text and page images saved by ChatGPT in
Documents/Codex/2026-10-29/tr/work/rhine1711-sources/) - Swiss Mennonite Conference - Bernese Anabaptist History outline
Governments: Republic of Bern (the deportation) and Dutch Republic (which negotiated and paid for the exiles’ passage).
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.