Jacob (Hostettler) Hochstetler (bef. 1669 - abt. 1728)

Born before 7 Feb 1669 in Winterkraut, Bern, Switzerland

Ancestors

Husband of Verena Zimmerman — married 6 Feb 1696 in Wahlern, Bern, Switzerland

Descendants

Died about 18 Jan 1728 after about age 58 in Winterkraut, Guggisberg, Bern, Switzerland

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Bruce Fosnocht [send private message]

Biography

Born: before 7 Feb 1669 Winterkraut, Bern, Switzerland^[1]

Bapt: 7 Feb 1669 Winterkraut, Bern, Switzerland^[2]

Sponsors: Hans Binggeli; Jacob Beyeler; Madlena Zand^[3]

Married: 6 Feb 1696 Wahlern, Bern, Switzerland^[4]

Died: 18 Jan 1728 Winterkraut, Guggisberg, Bern, Switzerland^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ Wahlern KB 2/334
2. ↑ Wahlern KB 2/334
3. ↑ Wahlern KB 2/334
4. ↑ Wahlern KB2/872
5. ↑ Wahlern KB18/1

Research Notes of Bruce Fosnocht(Fosnocht-12)

I am continuing my research into the Hostettler surname in Europe on behalf of the Jacob Hochstetler Family Association (JHFA). I have in my possession a spreadsheet containing every Hostettler birth and marriage entry in the church books of Wahlern and Guggisberg parishes, from inception in 1577 through about 1730. I have recently added some Hostettler death records, which did not begin until 1728. The present position of the JHFA has been that the man called Jacob Sr. (father of the 1738 immigrant Jacob) died about 1721 in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines in Alsace, France. This was apparently the latest record anyone had yet found. Also, the wife of Jacob Sr. has long been unknown. One of the items shared with me by members of the JHFA was a descendant chart they received from the Rev. Paul Hostettler of Berne, Switzerland, who was a widely published researcher of the Anabaptist movement in Switzerland. The chart was the first page of his “Grafische Darstellunge der Taufer-Linie, 1555-2008”. The process of verifying Paul Hostettler's Taufer descendant tree and putting all those relationships into my existing spreadsheet helped me to see that (after a long gap since 1629) there were just 4 Jacob Hostettlers born between 1669 and 1701. Putting their relationships in the chart into the spreadsheet and sorting the data in several ways allowed me to see this, and I was able to separate them and identify their marriages and families according to their parents and family locations. The first to marry was Jacob Hostettler, the 1670 son of Hans Hostettler and Barbara Marti of Nidegg, an Anabaptist enclave far to the north of Wahlern. He married Christina Buntsch, and later died in 1747 in Nidegg. Another Jacob in the Taufer chart was the 1671 son of Christian Hostettler and Maria Roli, also of Nidegg. Rev Hostettler listed no marriage or children for him and he is presumed to have died young. Another Jacob, the child Jacob Samuel Hostettler was born on July 17, 1701 in Romainmôtier (in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, but at that time it belonged to Bern). From his parents, though, it is known that his father Christen resided in Winterkraut, the Schwarzenburg Anabaptist enclave and, following the early death of her husband after 1710, that his French-speaking mother Isabel Roch/Roux/Roth went to live in Winterkraut with the children. She was living in Winterkraut in the 1715 pastor’s register with sons Jaggi, Christen, and Gabriel. No son Samuel was listed, so she must have called her son Jacob. There is no marriage record for this Jacob, but the Guggisberg Chorgerichtsmanual states that he had been raised on charity, was living in Stossen, and was seeking to marry (Unknown) Wenger. He and Barbara Wenger had their first child in 1724. Thus having disposed of the other 3 Jacobs, I have concluded that Jacob Sr., the 1669 son of Ulrich Hostettler and Anna Beyeler, must be the one who married Verena Zimmerman on 6 Feb 1696 in the Wahlern church. There were no children baptized in Wahlern, and Jacob Sr. was documented as being in the Markirch Anabaptist community in 1697. I had felt for a long time that Jacob, Sr’s death is this one from the Wahlern death register 18, page 1. “18 Jan 1728, Jacob Hostettler of Winterkraut, from the parish Guggisberg, because of "the road blocked by snow" (someone else's translation)”. Of the 2 Jacob Hostettlers of Winterkraut, Jacob Samuel lived through 1736 in Stossen, so the death on 18 Jan 1728, must, by default, be that of Jacob, Sr., who apparently was allowed to return home to die.