Baumgarten and Röthenbach Bösiger’s

After sorting out the Schenk family of Signau that lived in Vechigen I move onto the Bösiger family.  The Bösiger family lived in Herzogenbuchsee kirchgemeinde.  It is commonly written Boesiger, since umlauts were not used in American research (ö = oe).   This kirchgemeinde has 14 gemeindes in it.  Our ancestors are found in the gemeindes of Röthenbach and Graben.  The research for this family was conducted about 1964, submitted 1966.  

What is unique about Graben is that the registers generally do not mention Graben by name but the hamlets within the gemeinde.  Baumgarten is a small area within the Gemeinde; north of there is Burrach and south of there is Kleinholz.  In familytree and many old family group records the place is simply written Baumgarten without a mention of Graben or Herzogenbuchsee.  With the breakdown of the families in these specific hamlets it becomes easier to sort the numerous Bösiger’s in the area.  

I focused on the 1st and 2nd families of Hans Bösiger.  He married Ursula Gränicher in 1743, after she died in 1762, he then married Maria Gygax in 1763.  There are 13 children between the two marriages, of which 7 or 8 survived into adulthood. View the family in the familytree, it is a work in progress

In the first family the 4 marriages of the children were incorrect or missing, and a key name in that family was altered from Urs to Ursula.  Urs Bösiger is found as a witness to many of the baptisms of his siblings. In the second family only one marriage was incorrect.  To view the genealogy as it was submitted in 1966 see film 564385, item 5.  These 5 marriages result in 5 new families which adds 30 new people to the tree, and many others in the following generations. Since the incorrect data has been around for 50 years or more I would expect some people to be baffled by the changes.

I also have come to realize that Hans Bösiger married a Maria Gygax born in 1842 rather than 1835. The Gygax family is from Thörigen gemeinde.   The witnesses to the baptisms of the children of Hans Bösiger and Maria Gygax align perfectly with the Maria Gygax born in 1742.  There is also a match for the Maria born in 1835 who married Joseph Staub in 1766.  The death records for the 2 Maria’s are yet to be found, and that would provide absolute proof.  It appears the Maria born in 1835 was chosen simply because of her age.

This is the same scenario of Hans Ulrich Schenk.  He married and had a family with his wife, when she died after about 20 years of marriage, he married a 20 year old, which means that the oldest children from his first marriage are about the same age as his new wife.  He then went on to have numerous children with his new wife.   

Within the family of Hans Bösiger and Maria Gygax I have found three descendants who have who joined the Mormon Church.  

If the Bösiger’s, Gygax’s, or any other family in Herzogenbuchsee are to be properly researched and or organized, they need to be noted in the familytree or any genealogy with the gemeinde they come from not the parish, Herzogenbuchsee, since there are 14 gemeindes.  The same surname will be found in numerous gemeindes within the parish, and there is no point in trying to connect them since they will not be related. In the case of Graben, it is hamlets, since the records separates the families by hamlets.