A Swiss Calendar Maker in Colonial America: The Life and Work of Johannes Tobler (1696-1765) Between Appenzell Ausserrhoden and South Carolina

Authors

David Aragai

Keywords

SAHS review, Swiss calendar, Colonial America, Johannes Tobler

Abstract

Johannes Tobler was a self-taught mathematician and astronomer. He published the first “Appenzeller Kalender” in 1721, an astronomical almanac in the style of the then popular genre. This almanac was the first periodical of Appenzell Ausserrhoden and is still issued today. After Tobler became a magistrate in the council of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, he found himself on the losing side of an internal conflict, called the Landhandel. As a result, he emigrated with his family and nearly two hundred citizens of Switzerland to South Carolina in 1736/37. After several years in which he built a new livelihood and became Justice of the Peace in his new home town of New Windsor by the Savannah River, he again started to issue almanacs, this time in English and under his anglicized first name of John. With “The South Carolina and Georgia Almanack” from 1752 onwards, Tobler published the first almanac in the southern part of the British Colonies in America. Furthermore, he served as philomath (calculator of the Calendarium) for a number of other American almanacs. He died in New Windsor in 1765.

Recommended Citation

Aragai, David (2023) "A Swiss Calendar Maker in Colonial America: The Life and Work of Johannes Tobler (1696-1765) Between Appenzell Ausserrhoden and South Carolina," Swiss American Historical Society Review: Vol. 59: No. 3, Article 5.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol59/iss3/5