Christen Stockli (1641)

Born 18 Apr 1641 in Guggisberg, Bern, Switzerland

Husband of Anna Marti — married 31 Oct 1664 in Guggisberg, Bern, Switzerland

Descendants

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

Biography

Born 18 Apr 1641^[1]

Sponsors: Christen Rothen; Hans Wasem; Barbara Mischler^[2]

Married 31 Oct 1664 Guggisberg, Bern, Switzerland^[3]

Research Notes of Bruce Fosnocht(Fosnocht-12)

Benedict Stockli and Anna Glaus were married about 1695 and had 3 children while living in the Anabaptist enclave of Winterkraut before they were exiled to Holland about 1711. There were six families with a son named Benedict who would be of an age for this marriage, so the task was to research each of these families for clues as to which were the correct parents of this Benedict. The marriage records at this time did not name the parents of the groom, so it is very difficult to advance to the next generation.

My personal spreadsheet contains every birth and marriage record in this time period, as well as a multitude of other data from church court records, tax/tithe records, and the pastor's register of the town/farm residences of his parishioners. I can filter, sort, and analyze this data in multiple ways. Family group sheets were made for all 6 families, including location data (when available) as well as the names of all the baptismal sponsors. These were then compared to the family sheet for Benedict Stockli/Anna Glaus. There was no location data for any of the 6 families which would link them as parents of Benedict from Winterkraut.

The next step was to examine the baptismal sponsors of the six families to see if there were any unique sponsors who might have a relationship with the family of Benedict of Winterkraut. For 5 of those families, there were some unique individuals (or couples who were both sponsors), but they had no firm or unique connection by relationship or location to Benedict of Winterkraut. But for the family of Christian Stockli/Anna Marti (who had a son Benedict in 1671), there are many connections, as follows:

1) One unique sponsor for son Jacob of Christen Stockli in 1685 was Benedicta Hostettler. She was married to Hans Stockli and living in Winterkraut from 1689 to 1715. She also sponsored son Hans of Benedict Stockli of Winterkraut in 1697, thus providing a direct connection between the 2 families of Christen the father and Benedict the son.

2) One unique sponsor of son Hans of Benedict Stockli of Winterkraut in 1697 was Jeremias Binggeli. He was born 1652 in Durrenboden, married Anna Risen in 1685, and had properties in Durrenboden and in Wyden, where he died in 1733. In 1674, Jeremias Binggeli sponsored a child of a unique person named Christina Mulistein. (She was the daughter of Hans Mulistein/Anna Binggeli of Furen, a family I know well from my Binggeli research). Christina was married to Peter Stoll of Furen, and they had several reciprocal sponsorships with the family of Christen Stockli/Anna Marti. This is a bit indirect, but it is still a connection (through 2 unique sponsors) between Christen the father and Benedict the son.

There is no specific data showing where Christen Stockli/Anna Marti lived, but they had children sponsored by 2 unique married couples in which both partners were sponsors. They were:

3) The unique couple Ulrich Hostettler(in 1675) and Anna Beyeler(in 1671) of Winterkraut, who happen to be the parents of the twins Jacob and Peter Hostettler and their brother Michel.

4) The unique couple Benedict Koli(in1682) and Barbara Zbinden(in 1676) also of Winterkraut.

I stopped here because it's clear that we have a cluster of Anabaptist families, related by marriage or religion, in and around what Paul Hostettler has called the "Taufernest" of Winterkraut. (Durrenboden, Furen and Wyden are within 3 km of Winterkraut.)

From among the six possible candidates, I must declare that the father of the immigrant Christian Steckley is Benedict Stockli, the 9 Mar 1671 son of Christen Stockli/Anna Marti. The others don't even come close.

Sources

1. ↑ Guggisberg KB3/49
2. ↑ Guggisberg KB3/49
3. ↑ Guggisberg KB4/29