On December 14, 1595, my ninth great grand uncle Christian Gungerich was born in Oberdiessbach, Canton Bern, Switzerland to Hans Gungerich and Anna Schindler. Christian was the brother of my 9th great grandnmother Barbara Gungerich.
Christian is notable because he was an Anabaptist teacher and was imprisoned twice for preaching, eventually dying in prison. If he was executed, I do not have that information.
Christian’s family’s surname was originally Gundrich and appeared in records as early as 1389, in Konolfingen, near Oberdiessbach. By the late 1500s there were several Gungerich families living near Oberdiessbach. In 1669, Christian had been captured and imprisoned in Schwarzenegg Prison. He managed to escape. So he was hunted again and taken to Waisenhaus Prison in Bern. Waisenhaus was a former orphanage converted into prison for Anabaptist preachers.
There is not an exact date of death for Christian. As noted above, if he was executed, I don’t have that information. By 1671 his house and lands (inherited) were seized by the government church. Because they kept a case file regarding his property that survived all of these years, and it listed the relations of Christian that came forward to claim the property, we would not know the parentage and siblings of Christian, and he would not be in my tree. He never married and, as such, had no children.
I always wondered who could have been his teacher or “converted” him since the birth of Anabaptism was approximately 70 years before his birth. I read there were several other teachers in his area of Bern already.
His mother, my 10th great grandmother Anna Schindler, shares the surname of an Andres Schindler, an Anabaptist who attended the Anabaptist Debate in Bern in 1538. He was from the area of Oberdiessbach. My theory that she and Andres could be related is just a theory.
Christian’s sister Barbara married Peter Strubel (Rubeli). Remember them? The Rubelis escaped to the German Palatinate and eventually had their farm burned down by Louis XIV when he had the Palatinate scorched. I have written several posts on that branch of the tree.
Barbara also asked after her brother’s estate in April of 1671. These are all ancestors of my Grandmother Leies.
Are we related, or do you have a correction, or addition? Please email me: cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net.
Cinziarosa's Descendants (c) 