Mennonite, Lutheran, and Reformed Brubakers of Lancaster County trace their roots to Wi:idenswil, Zurich, Switzerland. Swiss Bruppachers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania by Jane Evans Best ight Bruppacher families were recorded between 1553 and 1568 in the church book of the parish of Wadenswil on the west side of Lake Zurich, ESwitzerland. 1 Three of these families had descen­ dants who I believe were immigrants to Lancaster Coun­ ty, Pennsylvania. This article reconstructs parts of the Rutschli Brubacher (BL), Werni Bruppacher (BK), and Cunrad Bruppacher (BJ) families in outline form, and discusses the history of Zurich and Lancaster County as it per­ tained to members of these and other immigrant families. Wadenswil About 150,000 years ago, a dense sub-tropical primeval forest completely covered the Swiss middle­ land plateau of which Wadenswil is now a part. In the subsequent final ice age, the giant Lindt glacier covered Hinter Mugeren, pictured here, is on a farmstead in the and compacted this vegetation. On melting away in the parish of Wadenswil, Switzerland, and was first mentioned final warming period, the glacier unevenly deposited its in 1270 in the tax list of the Cistercian Abbey of Wettingen. rubble-moraines over the Wadenswil Berg, Zimmerberg, The family of Michel Bruppacher (BK74) and Susan Apli and Horgenberg hill ranges. This created a lived at Mugeren from 1637 to 1649. · "morainescape" of moors, swamps, peat-bogs, small lakes, and meadows with soil rich in bio-mineral nutri­ Some methodical clearing of the forests for farmland ents, ideal for future farming.2 began in earnest. A temporary shelter had to be erected In 1000 A.D., most of the hillsides surrounding the for those woodsmen before enough forest had been Lake Zurich basin were covered with dense forests of cleared to build a modest farmstead with connected barn hardwood and coniferous trees. This rich wooded land and cowshed. Venison was plentiful for the supper had various owners, among them monasteries, convents, table, but there was a scarcity of other foods, enough abbeys, knights, churchmen, noblemen, and freemen .. only for two basic daily meals. Water was plentiful Some of the peasants working these fiefs3 received or underground but a shallow well had to be dug. Interest­ were permitted to buy up acreage and establish their ingly, few farmsteads were built along the brooks, possi­ bly because of periodic flooding. There were eventually own farmsteads, with or without rights of succession. several mills around the Wadenswil Berg area, and their Up to the fourteenth century the feudal owners of these lands had little incentive to undertake the task of seri­ canalization system proved helpful in controlling the rush of water. Life was harsh for these peasants, but ously working them. Other than a selective felling of a few trees for a small carpentry use or firewood, there eventually they succeeded and their farmsteads provid­ was little methodical clearing. However, by the fifteenth ed a good living for them. Names of farmsteads that blossomed on cleared lands were called "ruti" or century, these owners became increasingly needful of "schwend", such as Riiti, Riitiboden, Giesenriiti, Lan­ income from these properties. griiti, and Oedischwend.4 1LDS microfilm 0995912, Wadenswil Church Book, item 1, 1552-1647 The tax list of the Cistercian Abbey of Wettingen5 in (missing 1570-1595); item 2, 1647-1699; item 3, 1700-1767. All LDS micro­ 1270 contains the first recorded mention of the farm­ films mentioned in this and other Best articles are now on permanent steads of Gisenriiti, Mugeren, and Kotten in the present loan at the newly opened Family History Center, 1210 East King Street, Lancaster, PA 17602, instead of at the York, PA, Family History Center. parish of Wadenswil. The family of Michel Bruppacher 2James Murray Luck, A History of Switzerland (Palo Alto, Cal.: Sposs, (BK74) and Susan Apli lived from 1637 to 1649 at Inc., 1985), pp. 1-4. Mugeren, which is about a mile northeast of Spitzen in JAn estate leased from a feudal lord. the parish of Hirzel,6 where Petter Bruppacher (BL11) 4Peter Ziegler, Wiidenswil, vol. l (Wadenswil, Zurich: Stutz and Co., and Anna Pfister, Anabaptists, lived in 1633. 1982), pp. 41, 65. This and other translations by Robert E. Brubaker (BJ5571.6a551.12) are included in the Robert E. Brubaker (Brupbacher) Also on that tax list of 1270 was Hergesperch, now Papers at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society. Herrlisberg, which was one of the individual farmsteads SThis abbey, which owned the land and had the taxing rights, was mentioned in a document of February 5, 1347, as owned founded in 1227, and stood in a curve of the Limmat River approximately by Freiherren (freemen, not serfs) of Wadenswil. In 1357 12 miles north of the city of Zurich. 6Jane Evans Best, "A Visit to Hirzel, Switzerland," Mennonite Family a Peter Meier exchanged his farmstead of Hergisberg for History 9 (Apr. 1991): 48-52. Lehnhof, a possession of the Kloster Kappel, another Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 19 july 1993 Cistercian abbey in the Canton of Zurich.? After 1531 church property was controlled by the Zurich City Council, which was strongly influenced by the guilds, and many of the farms were sold to the hereditary ten­ ants. Hans Rudolf Brupbacher (BJ5571.6a5) (1801-1876) lived at Herrlisberg. In 1450 Hans Blattman was the owner of Widen on Hergesberg, and was a member of the Knights of St. John, a Roman Catholic order associated with the Cru­ sades. In 1483 the order leased to Heini Fuchs their farmstead of Furthof on Herrlisberg. In 1549 the Knights of St. John sold Wadenswil, Richterswil, Hi.itten, Scho­ nenberg, Uetikon, and part of Hirzel to the c_ity of Zurich, providing that its citizens were to be considered as citizens of the city of Zurich with certain privileges.s This Map of the Wadenswil area Shows the town along the On Wednesday, June 25, 1525, a Hans Bruggbacher west side of Lake Zurich, Hinter Mugeren, and Spitzen home in from Zumikon southeast of the city of Zurich was bap­ 1633 of Peter Bruppacher (BLqq) and Anna Pfister, Anabaptists. tized with others by Felix Manz and Jorg Blaurock at nearby Zollikon , the center of the oldest Anabaptist barns or the woods or in farmer Hans Landis's house. community in Zurich. The following Monday, Blaurock, Funds were donated for the support of the poor. Manz, and all the peasants who had been baptized in In the summer of 1613 Hans Landis (LS3) of Hirzel, recent days, all told about thirty, were captured. Blau­ Hans Meili (ML2) of Stallikon, and Stephan Zehnder from rock was exiled and later burned at the stake in Inns­ Birmensdorf were among those incarcerated. Meili bruck, and Manz was later drowned in Zurich's river accepted emigration, but Landis and Zehnder were led to Limmat.9 Hans Brubacher was seized early in 1530 in the border at Solothurn. They later escaped from prison, the Zurich Unterland and cross-examined with others. but were recaptured. Hans Landis was beheaded on Sep­ His statements offer an interesting insight into the faith tember 29, 1614, after a courageous journey to his death of the Swiss Brethren of that period.IO which only heightened his esteem among the people.14 A Heinrich Brugbach had been recorded in 1335 in The cause of the last Anabaptist persecution in Kittenmiihle in the parish of Herrliberg, also on the east Zurich came in 1635 when Heinrich Frick (FR316) from side of Lake Zurich. In 1470 Junghennssly Bruggbach Hof Buch near Knonau quit his position as Amtsfiihnrich and his brother, Hennssly Bruggbach, lived there. In (district standard bearer) to join the Anabaptists. His 1548 five Bruppacher brothers lived on the Hasenach~r refusal to bear arms, and his adherence to pacifism came 11 farm in the parish of Herrliberg. Most of these fami­ less than two years after a dangerous moment, when lies are believed to have always had friendly links to the General Horn with his Swedish army at Stein am Rhein government of the city of Zurich and their reformer 12 and Gottlieben entered Swiss territory to attack Kon­ Zwingli. stanz, and nearly brought the Thirty Years War into There is no apparent connection between Herrliberg Switzerland. The refusal of military service by officer on the east side of Lake Zurich and Herrlisberg on the Frick was viewed by the officials as provocation, and west side, but in the middle of the sixteenth century they feared that others might follow his example.1s members of the Bruppacher family crossed the lake and On August 17, 1635, a disputation was arranged in settled in the parish of Wadenswil. February 27, 1553, is Knonau, to which all the Anabaptists in the districts of the earliest mention of a Bruppacher in the Wadenswil Gri.iningen, Wadenswil, and Knonau were invited. Dis­ church book, which was started in 1552. putations were held in Zurich on August 22, and Sep­ At the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the sev­ tember 8, 1635, after which individual Anabaptists were enteenth centuries, Anabaptists made their appearance asked to reply in writing whether they were ready either on the Horgenberg and Wadenswilberg (hillsides on the west side of Lake Zurich) just as in the older established 7Ziegler, Wiidenswil, vol. 1,, pp. 70-73. Anabaptist districts of Griiningen and Knonau. The B[bid. Reformed state church intensified its efforts to lead them 9Walter Baumann, "Zentrum der altesten Taufergemeinde," trans­ back into the fold and terminally block their activities. lated by Robert E. Brubaker. lOMennonite Encyclopedia, p. 441, s.v."Hans Brubacher," by Neff. The consequence of its published mandate of 1585 was a 11Hans Ulrich Pfister, "Earliest Known Bruppachers," Brubaker Fam­ mass emigration, principally to Moravia, where they had ily Tour booklet (1985), p.