1666 Verena Burkhart, daughter of Jacob Burkhart and Barbara Graber was baptized on September 9, 1666, at the Reformed Church, Sumiswald, Bern, Switzerland. Test. Hans Jorg?, Verena Burkhard, Barbara Sa?. [1] [2]
1688 Casper Schürch and Verena Burkhart were married at Sumiswald on January 12. [3]
1689 Verena, [daughter of] Caspar Schürch and Verena Burkhardt was baptized on February 10 at Sumiswald. Test. Uli Maÿster, Verena Tulisler?, Elsbeth Rauch? [4]
1691 Barbara, [daughter of] Caspar Schürch and Verena Burkhardt was baptized on January 15 at Sumiswald. Test. Uli Meÿster(?), Madlena Krÿst, Babi Brandt? [5]
1693 25 May, eodem at Sumiswald. [6]
Uli, [son of] Caspar Schürch ein ausgetrettiren
undidricten ? has sein kind har
gesainds Zu taufens?
Verena Burkhardt ist ? ?
Tauferrin
Uli Aschliman, Uli ?islear, Maria Summer
1695 Madlena, [daughter of] Caspar Schürch and Verena Burkhardt was baptized on June 2 at Sumiswald. [7]
Diese Eltern sind ausgetreten
Taufer, und haben mir des Kind
zu Taufen eintrieren? Zedul zu geschickt
Tauf Zeugen [Witnessed by] Christian Ramseöger, Madlena Elleiburgen, Madleni Kring.
Jürg Rettenmund reports the following about Ulrich Schürch [perhaps the spouse of Barbara Grundbach] [8]:
As three boats with Anabaptists departed Bern, down at the "Matte", for Holland on July 13th, 1711, on board was also someone from Sumiswald with his family: Ulrich Schürch from the village of Vogelsang, today’s Gsang by Wasen. The family comes originally from the upper Tanne area on the Schonegg where, records show, they have been since 1425. Right up to the 20th century, the upper Tanne has also been called "Schürchtanne". The first indication that these Schürch turned to the Anabaptists is found in 1667.
Continually intensified
Over the course of the 17th century the city of Bern continually intensified the persecution of the Anabaptists. However, during this difficult time the Anabaptists had allies: their companions in faith, the influential Mennonites in the Netherlands. In 1710 they made it possible for the Anabaptists to leave the country legally a year later.During the persecution, among the Tanne Schürchs, some left the Anabaptists. Nevertheless, the records show that Ulrich Schürch (1663–1739) was in prison among the interned Anabaptists in Bern from the summer of 1710 on. He was released in January of 1711 so he could prepare himself for the exodus. He left the boat, along with most of the Emmental Anabaptists already in Mannheim in the Palatinate region of Germany. There they did not step onto a land that was totally new for them: since the end of the thirty year war (1618–1648) Bernese Anabaptists found refuge in this ravaged and depopulated country and a new place to live.
It is not known where Ulrich Schürch and his family stayed after they left the boat. 17 years later he arrived in Philadelphia on the Mortonhouse ship. Also, in this second phase of his emigration, Schürch was following along prepared paths: the English Quaker William Penn (1644–1718) had also invited the Anabaptists living in the Palatinate to immigrate to Pennsylvania (which was named after him), where he wanted to create a new place to live for the persecuted religious minorities from Europe. The Anabaptist Franz Georg Pastorius and 13 families from Krefeld were the first to accept this invitation and, in 1683, founded Germantown – today a part of Philadelphia.
Center in Lancaster County
Among the "palatiners" that migrated to Pennsylvania one encounters Swiss Anabaptists again and again. In 1710 ten Swiss Anabaptist families were especially mentioned that settled on the headwaters of the Pequea Creek in Lancaster County. This county became a center for Anabaptist immigrants. In 1717 the stream over the Atlantic began to swell with three ships and over 300 settlers and, from 1727, a wave of immigration set in with several ships a year. In 1732 Ulrich Schürch also found a new place to settle in Lancaster County: Most likely in memory of his place of origin, he named his new settlement Schoeneck. However, Pennsylvania did not only become a paradise for the Emmental Anabaptist emigrants as was promised them by William Penn. In the American War of Independence (1763–1789) they were once again caught between the fronts. Those who opposed the creation of the new United States of America then moved northward into today’s Ontario where fruitful and favorably priced tracts of land beckoned that were still under the English crown.In 1789 and 1793 two grandsons of Ulrich Schürch were among them. They settled on the north shore of Lake Eire and named their settlement Sherkston. Today, there is a large number of Ulrich Schürch descendents widely scattered throughout the whole of North America …
Research Notes:
Mennonite card file: Casper Shirk/Schurch, child of Jacob Shirk/Schurch and Anna Muhmenthaler, was born in 1649. Casper Shirk/Schurch and Verena Burkhard were married in 1688. They had children named Casper Shirk/Schurch, Verena Shirk/Schurch, Barbara Shirk/Schurch, Uli Shirk/Schurch, Madlena Shirk/Schurch and Joseph Shirk/Schurch. [9]
We are researching Joseph Sherk, who married Catherine Forney/Forrey and was an immigrant to America. The identity of his parents is not known with any certainty. Based on the current evidence, it is plausible that Joseph's father was Casper Schürch, who married Verena Burkhart, as we show here. Casper and Verena Schürch were Mennonite.
Casper Schürch married Verena Burkhart, but which Caspar? There were two possibilities. Both parentages lead back to the common ancestors Casper Schürch and Margaret Trüssel in Switzerland:
1649 Caspar, son of Jacob Schurch and Anna Mummenthaler was baptized on January 1, 1649, at the Reformed Church, Sumiswald, Bern, Switzerland. Test. Hans Züricher, Bendicht Wisler, Elsbeth Meister. [10] [11]
1657 Caspar Schürch, son of Joseph Schürch and Elsbeth Güntlisperg, was baptized on April 9, 1657, at the Reformed Church, Sumiswald, Bern, Switzerland. Test. Hans Reist, Hans Summer, Verena Reuch?. [12] [13]
Two brothers, Joseph Schürch and Jacob Schürch had sons named Casper. I don't know which, if either, might be the husband of Verena Burkhart. We currently show Casper Schurch, son of Jacob and baptized in 1649, as the spouse of Verena Burkhart because so many other researchers show this choice. However, Casper, baptized in 1657, had a father named Joseph (perhaps a namesake for Casper's son Joseph the immigrant), had Hans Reist (perhaps a well-known Anabaptist [14]) as a witness at his baptism, and has a better age match to his spouse Verena who was baptized in 1666.
1649 Casper Schürch, son of Jacob Schurch and Anna Mummenthaler, was born on January 1, 1649. Test. Hans Zuriches?, Benedich Ususles?, Elsbeht Müster?. [15] [16]
1657 Casper Schürch, son of Joseph Schürch and Elsbeth Güntlisperg, was baptized on April 9, 1657, at the Reformed Church, Sumiswald, Bern, Switzerland. Test. Hans Reist, Hans Summer, Verena Reuch?. [17] [18][René Schürch suggests that this family was near a military center, an unlikely place for a Mennonite family to be living, while Richard Warren Davis, in Research Report A7, 2005, provides evidence suggesting that it was a different family living at the military center]
Research Notes:
We seek evidence to clarify the possible relationship of Casper Schürch and Verena Burkhart to Joseph Sherk, whose will was dated June 30, 1770 in West Hempfield Twp, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, spouse of Catherine Forney. We show Casper and Verena as the parents of Joseph, based on the research of others.
1693-95 Casper Schürch and his wife were called Anabaptists at the baptisms of their children in 1693 and 1695. They left Sumiswald sometime after 1695 and perhaps went to live in the Pfalz.
1738 Jacob Sherrick, relationship unknown, warranted 150 acres in Lancaster county adjacent to George Fowler and Michael Wolfe, returned 27 June 1785. [19] [20] [21]
Circumstantial evidence suggests that Joseph [Sherk immigrant code C] and Caspar Schurch [Sherk immigrant code H] were brothers, based on their close proximity in America in time and place. No definitive birth records have been found for them. [22] [23]
Assuming that Joseph and Casper were brothers, the identity of their parents is uncertain, but several researchers speculate that their father was this Casper Schurch, as shown here. [24] [25][René Schürch, Schuerch Von Sumiswald, Bremgarten bei Bern, Switzerland, 1986, p 6.7] dna research suggests that they shared a common male ancestor, but do not have identical haplotypes, so they might not be full brothers [Schürch Family Association of North America].
A genealogy of son Casper Shirk has been published by Lyle Shirk. [26]
Schürch family website for Caspar Schürch ancestors. [27]
See Schürch Family Association Family Tree: [28]
Some accounts name Ulrich Schürch as the father of Joseph. [29] With little evidence, we show Ulrich as a brother of Joseph Schürch.
1739 The death of Casper Schurch has been reported in July in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, but these sources also report Verena's death in the same month in Sumiswald and report her birth on April 9, 1657 (which is the baptism date of alternate Casper Schürch). These reports show Casper's baptism in 1649, with the parents we name above for that baptism. There are many trees at Ancestry.com grouped together showing similar ancestry. The trees have no sources. Perhaps they were copied from each other, despite the apparent conflict in the reported death places.
[1] Schweiz, Katholische und Reformiert Kirchenbücher, 1418-1996, [FamilySearchRecord].
[2] Staatsarchivs des Kantons Bern, Sumiswald, K Sumiswald 2, Taufrodel 1617-1668, 490, entry 55, [BernStateArchivesImage], [BernStateArchivesCatalog].
[3] Staatsarchivs des Kantons Bern, Sumiswald, K Sumiswald 25, Eherodel 1637-1753, 67, [BernStateArchivesImage], [BernStateArchivesCatalog].
[4] Staatsarchivs des Kantons Bern, Sumiswald, K Sumiswald 3, Taufrodel 1669-1699, 290, entry 9, [BernStateArchivesImage], [BernStateArchivesCatalog].
[5] Staatsarchivs des Kantons Bern, Sumiswald, K Sumiswald 3, Taufrodel 1669-1699, 320, entry 6, [BernStateArchivesImage], [BernStateArchivesCatalog].
[6] Staatsarchivs des Kantons Bern, Sumiswald, K Sumiswald 3, Taufrodel 1669-1699, 358, entry 39, [BernStateArchivesImage], [BernStateArchivesCatalog].
[7] Staatsarchivs des Kantons Bern, Sumiswald, K Sumiswald 3, Taufrodel 1669-1699, 388, entry 31, [BernStateArchivesImage], [BernStateArchivesCatalog].
[8] Jürg Rettenmund, On the trails of the Sumiswald Anabaptists [English translation], [URL].
[9] Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, Genealogical Card File (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].
[10] Schweiz, Katholische und Reformiert Kirchenbücher, 1418-1996, [FamilySearchRecord].
[11] Staatsarchivs des Kantons Bern, Sumiswald, K Sumiswald 2, Taufrodel 1617-1668, 312, entry 3, [BernStateArchivesImage], [BernStateArchivesCatalog].
[12] Staatsarchivs des Kantons Bern, Sumiswald, K Sumiswald 2, Taufrodel 1617-1668, 402, item 29, [BernStateArchivesImage], [BernStateArchivesCatalog].
[13] Richard Warren Davis, Mennosearch.com Family Notes, Casper Schurch A83, son of Joseph A8 and Elsbeth Guntlisberger, [Website].
[14] Wikipedia article about Hans_Reist, content subject to change, [Wikipedia].
[15] Staatsarchivs des Kantons Bern, Sumiswald, K Sumiswald 2, Taufrodel 1617-1668, 312, [BernStateArchivesImage], [BernStateArchivesCatalog].
[16] Schürch Family Association of North America Newsletter, 22A (April 2004), 13.
[17] Staatsarchivs des Kantons Bern, Sumiswald, K Sumiswald 2, Taufrodel 1617-1668, 402, [BernStateArchivesImage], [BernStateArchivesCatalog].
[18] Richard Warren Davis, Mennosearch.com Family Notes, Casper Schurch A83, son of Joseph A8 and Elsbeth Guntlisberger, [Website].
[19] Pennsylvania Land Warrant, Lancaster County, S252, [PALandWarrantLinks].
[20] Pennsylvania Archives Land Office Survey, A57-181, [PASurveyBookLinks].
[21] Pennsylvania Land Patent, P3-430, [PAPatentBookLinks].
[22] Josephine U. Graybill, Preacher John Shirk's Genealogy (Selingrove, PA: McLain Press, 1961), 1.
[23] A. G. Seyfert, "Joseph Shirk, Astronomer, Mathematician, and Inventor," Historical Papers and Addresses of the Lancaster County Historical Society 29 (1925), 87.
[24] Richard Warren Davis, Mennosearch.com Family Notes, A83, ?father of Joseph A835 and Casper Sherk A836, [Website].
[25] Schürch Family Association of North America Newsletter, 22A (April 2004), 13.
[26] Lyle R. Sherk, Sherk-Shirk 1732 Freundschaff 1982 (1982), 6.
[27] Schürch family website, [URL].
[28] Inactive Link https://wc.rootsweb.com/trees/220123/I118/caspar-schrch/registry, Schürch Family Association Family Tree: Caspar Schürch descendants.
[29] Morris N. Sherk, Christian Strickler Sherk His Ancestry and Descendants (1994), 9.