European line ends: what can be researched
Christopher asked (2026-11-07) which lines of the tree end in Europe, and which of those can still be pushed back. The list starts from the edges in To-do section 4: 108 ancestors with an unknown parent. About 75 of them end in Europe or with an immigrant whose European home is unknown. The rest end in America.
The big change since the edges were first searched: the Bern parish-register download has finished. It holds 439 volumes, about 11 GB, for 37 parishes, in an offline folder. Many Swiss line ends that were “searched” online can now be read page by page offline.
Tier 1: the records are already on disk (Bern registers)
| Line | Ancestor(s) at the line end | What to read | Coverage on disk | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ramseyer, 1500s | Peter Ramseyer (c.1534) × Christina Trachsel (16th c.); Ludwig Ramseyer (16th c.) × Madlen Huser (16th c.); Anna Haldimann (16th c.) | Lauperswil baptisms (from 1528); Signau (from 1589) | Lauperswil 16 vols; Signau 10 vols | The chain rests on the Family Record and Staker, probably from Adolf Ramseyer, uncited. Checking it is the most valuable task here. 1500s hands are hard; Signau has a gap 1618–1650 |
| Ramseyer, 1600s | Barbara Stauffer (17th c.) (m. Eggiwil 1663) | Eggiwil baptisms and marriages from 1648; Signau before 1648 | Eggiwil 29 vols | Her baptism c.1635–45 would be in Signau, inside the 1618–1650 gap. Try Eggiwil and Signau marriages and her siblings’ baptisms |
| Ramseyer, c.1700 | Christian Ramseyer (bapt. 1700)‘s wife: Christina Gosteli (register) vs Edith Balsiger (compiled) | Mühleberg (from 1651), Bolligen (from 1553), Wohlen (from 1595) | Mühleberg 7, Bolligen 15, Wohlen 6 | Settle the wife conflict, then trace Jacob Gosteli (fl. 1665) × Anna Zoss (fl. 1665) |
| Mast | Jacob Mast (1738–1808) (lead) | Guggisberg baptisms 1733–34 and 1740–46 | Guggisberg 21 vols | Already half-searched; continue the open years |
| Mishler | Ulrich Mishler (b. 1688); mother of Joseph Ulrich Mishler (c.1700–1756) | Wahlern baptisms 1686–1690; Guggisberg | Wahlern 9, Guggisberg 21 | The WikiTree birth date may be a guess |
| Hochstetler | Jacob Hochstetler (c.1666–c.1722), of Winterkraut (Schwarzenburg district) | Wahlern baptisms c.1660–1672 | Wahlern 9 | Guggisberg 1665–73 already read with no result; Winterkraut belongs to Wahlern |
| Sprunger | Conrad Sprunger (fl. 1757) × Elsbeth Grober (wife of Conrad Sprunger) | Pieterlen baptisms and marriages 1745–1765; Sumiswald for a Grober baptism | Pieterlen 8, Sumiswald 16 | Grober “of Sumiswald” is an uncertain reading |
| Röthlisberger | Anna Röthlisberger (b. 1762), born Kirchberg | Kirchberg baptisms 1762 | Kirchberg 18 | Straightforward if the 1762 volume reads well |
| Fuhrimann | Joseph Fuhrimann (fl. 1788); mother of Anna Fuhrimann (b. 1788) | Rohrbach (Oeschenbach) | Rohrbach: only the 1782–1806 baptisms | Anna’s 1788 baptism should be there. The parents’ marriage (c.1775–88) needs another Rohrbach volume (not downloaded) |
| Jura Anabaptists (Neuenschwander side) | Peter Neuenschwander (shoemaker, m. 1810) × Elisabeth Hutmacher (m. 1810); Barbara Lehman (1796–1877); Anna Moser (1798–1843); Ulrich Leeman (fl. 1782) × Maria Thüler (fl. 1782) | Langnau 36 (the Anabaptist citizenship roll); Moutier, Corgémont, Tramelan, Court, Sornetan, Tavannes | Langnau 37; Tramelan 14; Corgémont 8; Moutier 3 (Perrefitte 1799–1815, marriages 1816–67) | The Jura Anabaptists often avoided the Reformed registers. The Langnau roll and the French civil records of 1793–1815 are the best routes |
Tier 2: free online records, not yet downloaded
| Line | Ancestor(s) | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| French Anabaptists (Montbéliard, Belfort, Alsace) | Peter Kaufmann (d. 1803) (Florimont); Barbara Klopfenstein (fl. 1779); Anna Augsbourg (fl. 1780); Christian Gerig (fl. 1800) × Elizabeth Goldschmidt (fl. 1800) (Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines); Barbara Elisabeth Schmucker (1770–1825); Christian Stauffer (1802–1892) (born Alsace); Jacob Conrad Sr. (1757–1829) | French civil registers from 1792–93, on the free online viewers of the Archives départementales: Territoire de Belfort, Doubs, Haut-Rhin | Births, marriages and deaths of Anabaptists are in the civil records after 1793. Before that, look in the Montbéliard church-register copies in Adolf Ramseyer’s papers (Bern State Archives, N Ramseyer 9) |
| Prussian Mennonites (Wiebe side) | Margarete Wiebe (fl. 1810) × Peter Claassen (fl. 1810) (lead: Ladekopp 1800); Maria Wiens (1788–1872) (lead); Sara Harder (1773–1869); Agnetha Wölke (1759–1829); Anna Penner (fl. 1744) and others | The other Vistula congregations’ books, transcribed free on mennonitegenealogy.com (Fürstenwerder, Tiegenhagen, Rosenort, Elbing-Ellerwald), plus the 1772/1776 and 1789 censuses | Heubuden (1772–1806) and Ladekopp are already read. Johann Fieguth (1707–1780) is blocked: no Ladekopp records before 1772 |
Tier 3: immigrants whose European home is unknown
These are the 1700s Pennsylvania immigrants: Abraham Kurtz (arr. 1749), Barbara Bolinger (arr. 1749), Christian Daniel Miller (c.1734–1777), Wounded John Miller (fl. 1760), Michael Troyer Sr. (d. 1807), Michael Holly (arr. 1750), Hans Blank (arr. 1751), Peter Keim (fl. 1768), Johann Jacob Stutzman (arr. 1727), Henry Rickenbach (arr. 1740), Casper Schrock (immigrant), Barbara Yoder (widow, immigrant), John Melchior Plank (m. 1767), John Slabaugh (elder, immigrant) and Christian Nisly (emigrated 1804).
Route: find each one’s home village first, then read that parish. Free tools:
- Faust and Brumbaugh, Lists of Swiss Emigrants in the Eighteenth Century to the American Colonies (2 vols, 1920–25; free on archive.org). Volume 2 covers emigrants from Bern and Basel, including Anabaptists.
- Bern’s Anabaptist Chamber and 1711 deportation lists (1711 Rhine exodus - full passenger roster).
- Surname maps: the Familiennamenbuch der Schweiz gives each surname’s citizenship villages before 1800.
- Candidates already suggested by surnames:
- Holly/Hooley, Blank, Mast and Troyer came on the same ships as Guggisberg and Schwarzenburg families. The Guggisberg and Wahlern registers are on disk.
- Rickenbach/Reichenbach is a Swiss name.
Tier 4: hard, or not records-based
- Nathan Smiley (1797–1872), born in Ireland: no ship record, and the Irish route is weak.
- The English-ancestor tradition (Miller side): a family story with no document yet (English ancestor recollection (Miller side)).
- Jacob Hochstetler (1712–1776)‘s mother, at Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines: the Markirch Anabaptists kept no registers.
Suggested order
- Ramseyer 1500s–1600s chain (Lauperswil, Signau, Eggiwil): verify the family’s oldest claimed line, the one Adolf Ramseyer probably built.
- Jacob Mast and Ulrich Mishler (Guggisberg, Wahlern): leads already open, same volumes.
- Röthlisberger, Sprunger, Fuhrimann: single-parish, single-year lookups.
- Faust and Brumbaugh vol. 2: a free text search that could give home villages for several Tier 3 immigrants at once.
- Jura Anabaptists via Langnau 36 and the French civil records.
Progress, 2026-11-07 (first pass of steps 1–5)
| Step | Result |
|---|---|
| 1. Ramseyer chain | The Hans (1594), Ulrich × Barbara (1663) and Christian (1672) links were already checked; the open links are Ludwig’s 1568 baptism and Ulrich → Hans. Barbara Stauffer: online trees make her the daughter of Daniel Stauffer × Barbara Walli. The Eggiwil register confirms that marriage (8 May 1652) but it is too late to be hers, so the trees are very likely wrong |
| 2. Mast and Mishler | Major lead: Darvin Martin’s Mast pedigree traces the Bishop’s family to Hans Mast × Anna Mischler, married Guggisberg 3 March 1693. Confirmed in the register, along with their son Jacob (bapt. 10 May 1705) and daughter Anna (bapt. 17 Apr 1707). The Bishop’s father “Joseph” was not found 1705–09; 1694–1704 still to read. See Jacob Mast (1738–1808) |
| 3. Single-year lookups | Röthlisberger (Kirchberg, Dec 1762) and Fuhrimann (Rohrbach, Feb 1788): not in the Reformed baptisms, which fits Anabaptist families. A “Maria Fu[hr]man of Oeschenbach” witness in Jan 1788 is a possible relative. Their births should be in Anabaptist (Täufer) lists instead |
| 4. Immigrants | Faust and Brumbaugh vol. 1 (Zurich) has no family surnames; vol. 2 (Bern) is free on HathiTrust (catalog record 009026718) and still to search. Web leads were added to Kurtz, Bolinger, Stutzman (origin disputed, one claim says Spiez on Lake Thun), Holly (parents Johannes Hooley × Veronica?), Blank (Bern, then the French side of the Rhine) and Schrock (Switzerland or Saales, Alsace) |
| 5. Jura Anabaptists | Verena Habegger: an online tree gives her birth as 9 Apr 1822 at “Le Trondai” near Moutier (her obituary’s “Trunda”). Other Jura lines: no new web results; the Langnau 36 roll and the French civil records remain the routes |
Paywalled or login-only (for Christopher): Ancestry and MyHeritage trees for these surnames; FamilySearch’s Guggisberg and Neuchâtel (La Sagne) films; GRANDMA for the Wiebe side. Several free tree sites (Wolfe genealogy, WeRelate, GAMEO) are behind bot checks and were not opened.
Reading method: the registers are handwritten. Use the study’s method (Handwriting recognition tests (2026-11-01)): Opus and Fable read separately, then disagreements are settled on the image. The fine-tuned local model may soon give a cheap first pass for scanning whole volumes for a surname.
Record compiled 7 November 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.