Introduction, pp. IX–XIII
Transcribed by Claude from Christopher’s photos (IMG_2221–2225), 2026-10-31. Spelling as printed. The text breaks off at the foot of p. XIII, in the middle of Nicholas’s paragraph; pp. XIV–XVI were not photographed. Compared with the vault in Ramseyer Family Record 2002 - cross-reference and wish list.
The Ramseiers of Eggiwil (p. IX)
When putting together a genealogy, at some point you must decide where to start. You must pick an ancestor and say, “Okay, from you on, let’s go!” Johannes Ramseyer, born in Mancenans, France in 1780, is the starting point of this genealogy. But, before telling his story and that of his descendants, it is important to explore the lives and times of those who created the framework for his life. That is why we must first travel back 250 years before Johannes was born, to a time that truly did shape the lives of its future generations.
Der Stammvater (Ancestral Father)
In 1535, Peter Ramseier (Ramseyer) (Pierre Ramezir – Fr.) was born in the small Swiss village of Signau, the area near Eggiwil. Peter has been given the designation of Der Stammvater, ancestral father. This is likely because nothing is known of this branch of the Ramseyers earlier than him. The 1500s were a time of great persecution, the European Reformation. Men like Martin Luther were preaching that it was the Bible, not church tradition, upon which the church should be guided. While the teachings of Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli started the wheels of the Reformation, there was a growing number of people, such as Conrad Grebel, who felt they stopped short. In January of 1525, Grebel held a Bible study with a small group of people in Zurich. During the meeting, George Blaurock requested he be baptized after confession of his faith, and several others followed. From this, the Anabaptist (rebaptizer) movement was born.
The established church did not look well on this movement. It loosed their control and authority. As the established Reformed Church and government were closely entwined, it did not take long for severe persecution to begin. Nearly two years to the date of the first adult “re-baptism,” Felix Manz, who had been re-baptized with Blaurock, was drowned by Protestant authorities in the Limmat River. His was the first of over 5000 deaths.
It is not known which Ramseier (Ramseyer) first took hold of Anabaptist beliefs. Peter was born a year before Menno Simons left the priesthood in the Catholic Church. It does not appear that Peter and his wife, Christina, embraced the Anabaptist beliefs, as the records indicate infant baptism of their children and grandchildren. There is a record in Lauperswil (near Eggiwil) of Peter’s wife, Christina, being present at a baptism, although it is not known if it was that of a child or an adult. Records appear to indicate that their children and grandchildren were baptized as infants.
Our line follows Peter’s son, Ludwig (1568); grandson, Hans (1594); great-grandson, Ullrich (1640); and his son, Christian (1672), whose story we go to next.
Der Taeufer (Anabaptist) (p. X)
The first indication of Anabaptist affiliation was with Christian (born 1672), the great, great-grandson of Peter. He and his wife, Christine Gosteli, were known as “Taeufers” (Anabaptists). However, it is possible the family became Anabaptist earlier or at least closely associated with them. Records indicate business and inheritance transactions with persons in the area known to be of these beliefs. Additionally, it is thought that the family lost its privileges, meaning citizen’s rights and property rights, during the 1600s as a result of Anabaptist beliefs, specifically that of peace and non-resistance. There were many territorial and religious wars in the area during the 1500-1600s. During the 1600s, persons who refused to participate in war were stripped of basic rights and property. There is a record of property purchased in 1629, by Hans (1594), to farm. His son, Ullrich (1640), was a “saddler,” who worked with leather, not a farmer, who moved several times during his marriage.
Issak, grandson of Christian (1672), son of Christian (1700), lived in the area of Mancenans, France. Issak’s son, Johannes, moved throughout the Mancenans and Maiche areas during his adulthood, apparently going where he could find work farming. History records that families chose the date of March 11 to move from farm to farm. This was a date used throughout the area. It is not known what significance the date had to the culture. Perhaps because it was the time just prior to spring planting, it presented the most opportune time to find a farm position.
Der Familia Johannes (The Family of Johannes) (pp. X–XI)
Johannes Ramseyer was born in Mancenans, France, on April 3, 1780, to Issak and Anna Augsburger. He married Barbara Kaufmann on May 30, 1800, in this same town. They lived first in Moos, probably held by France. Their first child, Johannes, was born there May 28, 1801. Johannes moved his family to Mancenans, France, sometime during the next three years. This is known because their daughter, Anna, was born in Mancenans on May 1, 1804, followed by Barbara (Babeli) on February 6, 1806. Eventually, they settled in the Maiche area of France, where their other children were born; Marguerite (March 3, 1808), Catherine (February 19, 1810), Marie (April 10, 1812), Joseph (June 12, 1814), Elizabeth (July 13, 1817) Nicholas (March 28, 1821), and Peter (November 5, 1822).
In 1830, the government created the military draft. For Anabaptists, who did not believe in using force by any means, this created a dilema, especially for families with sons. Johannes and Barbara faced this issue, and decided to investigate emigration to America. In 1834, they sent their son, Joseph, who was twenty years of age, to explore this new country. There were no steamships or railroads at that time. It took him a whole year to make the trip, investigate the new land, and return to the family. He liked what he saw around the area of Canton, Ohio, and he returned with a favorable report. One of the interesting things about his trip that has been remembered and passed down through the generations was that his sisters made him sixty white shirts! This was to free him from the worry of laundry during his journey away from home. Soon after his return, Johannes and Barbara made the choice that many families had to choose: to leave their ancestral homeland. They made plans and preparations for their journey to Stark County, Ohio. In 1835, Johannes and Barbara set sail on The Richmond, with six of their children (Catherine, Marie, Joseph, Elizabeth, Nicholas, and Peter). Catherine was married to Jacob Schwartz, and they journeyed with their three children (Barbara, Marie, and Catherine).
It was a six-week trip to the United States by sailboat. Like most immigrants, they entered through New York City. Then they journeyed up the Hudson River to Albany, New York, where they took the Erie Canal to Buffalo and Lake Erie. The family traveled across the Great Lake to Cleveland and took the Ohio-Erie Canal. They traveled down the canal on a boat pulled by a team of horses. The group got off the boat at either Canal Fulton or Bolivar and finished their journey by horse and wagon to Minerva, Ohio.
One month after they arrived, on August 13, 1835, according to the Stark County Auditor’s records, Johannes and Barbara bought sixty acres of land for $400, with half in mortgage to the previous owner, Joseph Sommers. It appears they had two years in which to pay off the mortgage, and they did so by July 1836. Here they built a cabin for the family on the land and farmed. This farm is located along Paris Avenue, about two miles west of Minerva, in Stark County on the south side of Section 33.
Barbara died in 1844; the exact date is unknown. Johannes died nine years later on July 4, 1853. It is believed they are buried in the Stark County cemetery (Old Beech Cemetery) where their son, Peter, and his wife are buried, with a century of grass and soil covering their markers.
As noted earlier, Johannes and Barbara had ten children. All were faced with the choice of staying in the homeland or immigrating. And all had their own stories and experiences as they continued the family of Der Stammvater.
The ten children (pp. XI–XIII)
Johannes, Jr., born May 28, 1801, made the decision to stay in the homeland of Mancenans, France. He married Maria Anna Klopfenstein and it is known had four sons (Christian, Johannes, Nicklaus, and Peter). Christian’s son, Josef (Johannes, Jr.’s grandson and the great-grandson of Johannes and Barbara), born in 1862, came to the United States in 1886, heading for Whitewater, Kansas. He stayed there for a year, attending the Swiss Mennonite Church, where his cousin, Christian Rich, was the pastor. Then, both families (Ramseyers and Richs) traveled to the area of Salem, Oregon. Joseph farmed, but some of his family worked in wool factories, preparing wool and weaving. Some of the family eventually moved to the State of Washington, but, even today, there are Ramseyers in Salem.
Anna, born May 1, 1804, married Johannes Schwartz in France. They did not join her parents on the journey to the United States in 1835, but later sent two of their sons (John and Joseph) to Stark County, Ohio, arriving in February 1853. The sons were to establish a farm home for the family, but by the time they arrived, little land was left in the area to purchase. They learned more land was available in Indiana, specifically in Adams and Allen counties where other Amish Mennonites were settling. In April of 1853, the sons traveled with a group of fifty-two people with eleven teams of horses and wagons, going west to Indiana. Here they found land to buy that was suitable for farming. In May of 1853, Anna and Johannes made the decision to move from France to the United States, joining their sons and friends living in Adams and Allen counties, Indiana.
Barbara (Babeli), born February 6, 1806, married Joseph Rich in France. They had fourteen children when he died in 1853. At the time of his death, it appeared to be easier for her to emigrate than to find work in their homeland. In 1856, Barbara made the decision to emigrate to the United States with her younger children. She lived about two years in the Orrville area with the Wenger family before moving to Iowa in 1858. Barbara had sent two sons ahead to find suitable land in the area of Marshalltown, now known as Wayland, Iowa. Some of her family stayed in Ohio, others eventually moved to Kansas, Colorado, Oregon, and Idaho. Barbara remained in Wayland, Iowa where she is buried in the Sommer Cemetery.
Marguerite, born in Maiche, France, on March 3, 1808, married her second cousin, Johannes Ramseyer (the grandson of Abraham Ramseyer, Isaak’s brother). She did not emigrate; she died after the birth of her sixth child. Her husband later married Barbara Amstutz, having four more children. Their genealogy begins on page 797. Marguerite’s fourth child, Johannes, emigrated to the United States, settling in Whitewater, Kansas. He married, adopted two children, and is buried in the Swiss cemetery located east of Whitewater. Marguerite’s fifth child, Annie, married John Roth in Europe. They had fourteen children when they also emigrated to Whitewater, Kansas. Later they moved to Oregon, but returned to Whitewater to finally settle. Marguerite’s stepson, Frederick, (Barbara’s fourth child) emigrated at a later date to Wayne County, Ohio, and lived near Sterling. Some descendants still live in the area.
Catherine, born in Maiche, France on February 19, 1810, married Jacob Schwartz, a brother of Anna’s husband (Johannes Schwartz). They and their three children, Barbara, Mary, and Catherine, came with her parents and siblings in 1835 on board The Richmond. Catherine died in Stark County, as the family, including her children born in the United States, was preparing to move to Allen County, Indiana, in 1853. After her burial in the Old Beech Cemetery, the family continued the move to Indiana. Jacob died a year later, in 1854. The younger children were placed with families in the area. Elizabeth lived with the Christian Graber family, and Jacob with a Delagrange family.
Marie (Mary), born April 10, 1812, in Maiche, France, came with the family in 1835 on The Richmond. She helped care for the younger children on the farm. Soon after arriving, she met Andrew Becker, who had already settled in the Louisville, Ohio area. They married December 15, 1835 and had four children, Anna (1837), Jonas (1840), Andrew (1842), and Mary (1844). Andrew died in 1845 and Marie died the following year. They are buried in the cemetery by her brother Peter’s farm, the Old Beech Cemetery. (The Old Beech Cemetery is along Paris Avenue, about two miles east of Louisville, Ohio.) Their small children were cared for by families of the community.
Joseph, born in Maiche, France on June 12, 1814, was twenty when the family came to Stark County. He married Barbara Klopfenstein, having seven children. After her death, he married Marie Sommer, and had one more child. Joseph was called to the ministry and brought forth the idea of starting Sunday school, which was not accepted by the church at that time. He had a large family of sons, and as the Civil war approached, decided to move to Canada. Joseph had strong objections to the war, including the frequently used option of paying another man to go in place of a son. He continued his ministry in Canada and is buried in Baden, Ontario. It is interesting to note that Michael, Joseph and Barbara’s fourth child, died when his children were young. His family moved in with the grandparents, Joseph and Marie. Joseph was very spiritual and obviously had great influence on their lives. All the children but Mary, who died in her twenties, became ministers. His grandson, Joseph (J. E.) Ramseyer, started the Fort Wayne Bible College, and was associated with it for the rest of his life. Another grandson, Henry, was secretary of the Northern Bible Society and traveled to churches in many states with his ministry. Grandson Michael was a pastor of a Missionary Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Barbara married Rev. M. R. Honderich and together they pastored a Church of God in Clare, Michigan. Some family members are still around the Kitchener and Waterloo area of Ontario and northern Michigan.
Elizabeth, born in Maiche, France on July 13, 1817, also traveled on The Richmond with her family in 1835. She married Michael Zehr in 1844. After their fourth child was born, the family moved to Indiana. Michael, their fifth child, was born in 1853 before his father’s death in 1855. Elizabeth later married Joseph Schwartz, and had two more children, Joseph and Elizabeth, before her death in 1860. The 1860 Allen County census reports Jacob Schwartz living with three Zehr children and one Schwartz son. They were a motherless family. Two Zehr children died young and it is believed the Schwartz daughter born in 1860 also died, leaving three Zehr children and one Schwartz son.
Nicholas, born in Maiche, France on March 28, 1821, married Barbara Sommer, who was the daughter of Joseph Sommer, the man from whom Johannes and Barbara bought their farmland. Nicholas and Barbara decided to move to Fairbury, Illinois, where they met an Apostolic minister from Switzerland and joined his church. They moved with a group from the church to Harper, Kansas. Nicholas died in Harper and is buried in the Apostolic … [continues on p. XIV, not photographed]
Peter (born 5 November 1822, Christopher’s ancestor) would follow on p. XIV.
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.