CLAUS OBLINGER A SWISS PIONEER c.1678 – 1730 by Willard L. Oplinger Gerald G. Oplinger, Robert L. Hess, PhD. 2015 CLAUS OBLINGER, A SWISS PIONEEER, c.1678-1730 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Background 2 New Information 3 The Pennsylvanian Claus “Oblinger” 5 The Nicolaus “Oberleger” at Schwarzenau 18 The Swiss Niclaus “Oppliger” 22 Niclaus/Claus’s Family 29 Appendices I. Sources for Church Records from Switzerland 31 II. Anna’s Gravestone 32 III. The Immigrants’ Surname 33 IV. Schwarzenau and the German Baptist Brethren (Dunkards) 35 V. Name of Claus’s Widow”? 37 Bibliography 39 1 Evidence is presented here that a Niclaus Oppliger from Bern Canton, Switzerland, was the Claus “Oblinger” who emigrated with his family to Pennsylvania in the late 1720s, thus solving a nearly two-century enigma as to the place of his European origin. BACKGROUND John D. Watkins was the first family historian to collect information and write specifically about Claus Oblinger and his family. His work was done mostly in the 1930s 1 and 40s.0F The most complete and accurate history of the Oblinger-Oplinger-Uplinger 2 family was written in 1964 by Wm. H. Rinkenbach. 1F Many people having those surnames trace their lineage back to one person, a Claus Oblinger, who came to America in the 1720s. Rinkenbach collected his information through genealogical research as well as by attending family reunions during the 1940s and 50s. His focus, however, was not on Claus himself, but rather on document-ing and recording the family trees of Claus’ descendants up until the mid-twentieth century. Rinkenbach was able to ascertain very little of Claus’ history prior to his arrival here. He and others do offer suggestions as to where Claus might have come from, but they were only guesses based on place names that seem very loosely similar to the spelling of the Oblinger surname. The single previous clue to Claus’ past life was the inscription on the tombstone of his youngest child, Anna, who died in 1804, seventy-four years after Claus’ death (see Appendix II). Anna’s gravestone claims that she was born in Schwarzena[u], Germany. And Rinkenbach therefore assumed that Claus was also born somewhere in Germany. We now know he was from Switzerland, and our findings lead to a corrected and expanded revision of the First and Second Generations in Rinkenbach’s history. 1 Watkins, Sketch of the Oplinger Family (available online by a google.com search for My Oplinger Family Site.) 2 Rinkenbach, History of the Oblinger-Oplinger-Uplinger Family (available to free subscribers at familysearch.org searching for title under Books). 2 NEW INFORMATION Three clues initially suggested that Claus “Oblinger” came from Switzerland: 1. In Pennsylvania the earliest phonetic spellings of his surname, ending in “-iger,” are readily recognized as a uniquely Swiss-German spelling, as opposed to similar German names commonly ending in “-inger.” 2. “Oppliger” is documented as a Swiss name in the official book of Swiss surnames (Familiennamenbuch der Schweiz), in Bern Canton 3. There exists a village of Oppligen in Bern Canton, Switzerland from which the surname Oppliger was most likely derived. 3 The Familiennamenbuch2F provided further information to focus our search, as it lists only five communities in Switzerland where families named Oppliger (by any spelling) held citizenship prior to 1820. These were the villages of Heimiswil, Röthenbach-im-Emmenthal, Signau, Sigriswil, and Sumiswald. All five of these communities are located within a few miles of Oppligen. Our detailed search through the church books of these five communities succeeded in discovering the man we believe was the immigrant Claus “Oblinger.” He was the Niclaus 4 Op(p)liger baptized in Röthenbach-im-Emmental in 1678.3F This Niclaus/Claus then married (1) 5 Verena (Vreni) Niderhauser in 1701 at Signau,4F where they had children including sons named 6 Christian and Niclaus, Jr.5F In 1725 he married (2) Elsbeth Schuppach, also at Signau. There was no other Niclaus Oppliger, by any spelling, in any of these church books (except for his own son, Niclaus Jr., and a grandson). This Niclaus Oppliger of Signau, with second wife Elsbeth and sons Christian and Niclaus, Jr., appear to have left Switzerland in the late 1720s. No entries for them appear after 1726 in the church books of Signau or any other of the five communities. Further, there is no record of the death of Niclaus, his second wife, Elsbeth, or his sons, Christian and Niclaus, Jr., in the Signau death register, their official community of citizenship, indicating they did not die in 7 Switzerland.6F 3 Familiennamenbuch; under “Oppliger” before 1810. 4 Röthenbach baptism register, Vol. IV. 5 Signau marriage register, Vol. III. 6 Signau baptism register, Vol. 3. 7 By Swiss law, the name of a deceased Swiss citizen was recorded not only in the town or village where he /she died, but also in the church records of that person’s original community of citizenship. 3 The immigrant Claus Oblinger in Pennsylvania in 1730 is known to have had two sons, Christian and Nicholas (Jr.).8 His wife there was reportedly Elizabeth. Based on this knowledge, and supported by the details discussed in the following pages, we conclude that this Swiss Niclaus Oppliger was the Claus “Oblinger” who emigrated to Pennsylvania. For clarity and brevity, in the following pages the Swiss Niclaus Oppliger will sometimes be referred to simply as “Niclaus,” the Nicolaus Oberleger in Schwarzenau as “Nicolaus,” and the Pennsylvania Claus Oblinger, as “Claus.” (In reality, all three were presumably known by either a version of Niclaus or Claus.) THE PENNSYLVANIAN CLAUS “OBLINGER” Claus came to America in the late 1720s, arriving in Philadelphia with his wife, two sons Christian and Nicholas, and three daughters, Catharine, Maria, and Anna.9 Until now, the date and place of his birth were not known. Although Rinkenbach suggests his date of birth as 1685, that was only an estimate. Family historians have speculated that Claus might have come from various places in Germany with names such as Öhringen, Überlingen, an area near the arm of the Lake of Constance called the Überleger See, or Oberlechen (in Austria). These were all unsubstantiated guesses, and not very believable since they were all Catholic areas and Claus was of anabaptist (radical Protestant) faith. It is clear, however, that he came from a Germanic-speaking area and that he did live in Germany for a time before he emigrated to Pennsylvania. Interestingly, although Claus is now most often referred to as Claus “Oblinger,” it is evident his surname was never spelled as “Oblinger” during his lifetime. Claus was not able to write his name and marked his will with an “O.” 10 Whoever wrote his name had to spell it as best he could according to the pronunciation as Claus and members of his family spoke it. His surname was phonetically spelled as “Oblieger,” in his will (see Figs. 3 and 4), and as “Ubliger” on the inventory of his estate (see Fig.5), both written in August, 1730. These early spellings in America are indicative of Claus’ own voice coming down to us almost three hundred years later, as evidence of how this name was 8 Rinkenbach; page 7. 9 Rinkenbach; page 7. 10 Claus Oblieger’s will (see Figs. 3 and 4). 4 actually pronounced. Notice how closely these match the pronunciation of the Swiss surname, “Oppliger,” an important clue to his Swiss origin (see Appendix II). Beginning in the late 1730s and early 1740s, substantial numbers of educated pastors and schoolteachers began arriving from Germany to serve the German and Swiss immigrants in Pennsylvania. They brought with them the literary language called “Standard German,” preaching it as the source of all “correct” grammar, pronunciation, and spelling of German words -- including family names. Concurrently, it was becoming increasingly imperative that names of German and Swiss people become readable and pronounceable by the English-speakers in Pennsylvania. By the time of the second generation of Claus’ descendants in American in the 1740s, multiple options were available for the spelling and pronunciation of the family’s surname. Eventually Oblinger, Oplinger, and Uplinger became the common spellings. (See Appendix II for the spellings and pronunciations of Claus’s surname.) The area where Claus and his family settled, called Indian Creek, was some twenty miles northwest of Philadelphia in what are now Franconia and Lower Salford Townships, in the part of Philadelphia County that in 1784 split off as Montgomery County. The following extract from local histories is descriptive of this area when first settled11: The first residents had immigrated from Germany, Alsace, Switzerland, and Holland, with the overwhelming majority being German. Many were Mennonites, attracted by the religious freedom they found here. As most of these settlers came from an agricultural background, farming was their means of livelihood. Due to their ancestry, German (or one of its several dialects) was the language of the larger number of them. Local residents and church congregations built their own one-room schoolhouses and hired German or “Pennsylvania-Dutch” speaking teachers. Total transition to an English- speaking culture was slow and many of the area continued to speak Pennsylvania Dutch as their primary language well into the Twentieth Century. Claus bought a farm of 158 acres there in November 1729.12 It was located in Franconia Township, on the boundary line with Lower Salford Township (and facing on what is now Schoolhouse Road in Franconia Township).13 This became his family’s home plantation. 11 www.franconiatownship.org/home/history.aspx and www.lowersalfordtownship.org/history/ 12 J.C.Munro, p. 36.