Swiss American Historical Society Review
Keywords
Emigration, Lucerne, Chicago, Swiss American, Family Tales
Abstract
Working on a list of the members of the Parliament of Ct. Lucerne from the district Entlebuch, I have attempted to identify all of these cantonal representatives, to discover their life dates, and to present their biographical data. The extant accessible sources provide the desired detail with but one exception. Although parish records concerning Anton Marbacher of Escholzmatt, born 1780, member of the Large Council from 1833 to 1839, provide the date of his baptism and marriage, they are silent about the date of his death, as are sources of other communes and those available in the State Archive of Lucerne. Yet in the newspaper Entlebucher Anzeiger of July 1, 1899, I discovered an essay on the earlier district prefects (Amtsstatthalter) where Anton Marbacher, the third such official, is mentioned with the remark: "Later emigrated to America." This reference explained his disappearance from the local civil registers, but sparked the will, all too familiar to historical researchers, to know more about this enigma. The search for traces proved most exciting and, by assembling all uncovered detail, a family history emerged which in its outline does not conform to rural everyday life between 1830 and 1850.
Recommended Citation
Aregger, Manfred
(2007)
"From Escholzmatt, Canton Lucerne, to Chicago, Illinois: The Emigration of the Family Marbacher,"
Swiss American Historical Society Review: Vol. 43:
No.
2, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol43/iss2/4