{"id":1593,"date":"2026-10-31T17:35:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T17:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1593"},"modified":"2026-11-02T16:54:42","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T16:54:42","slug":"bange-swiss-research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1593","title":{"rendered":"A Swiss Widmer family to test"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style>.family-topic-breadcrumb{font-size:.95rem;margin:0 0 22px}.family-topic-intro{max-width:68ch;line-height:1.7}.family-topic-menu{display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(2,minmax(0,1fr));gap:14px;margin:26px 0}.family-topic-menu a{display:block;padding:18px;border:1px solid #c9cec8;border-radius:4px;background:#f5f2e9;text-decoration:none;color:#293d30;min-height:52px}.family-topic-menu strong{display:block;font-size:1.1rem}.family-topic-menu span{display:block;margin-top:6px;color:#4f574e;line-height:1.55;font-size:.95rem}.family-topic-related{border-top:1px solid #d8d2c5;margin-top:32px;padding-top:18px}.family-topic-related a{display:inline-block;margin:6px 22px 6px 0}.family-topic-breadcrumb a:focus-visible,.family-topic-menu a:focus-visible,.family-topic-related a:focus-visible{outline:3px solid #98513b;outline-offset:4px}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb){max-width:960px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb)>p{line-height:1.7}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb) :is(h2,h3){scroll-margin-top:24px}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb) a{overflow-wrap:anywhere}@media(max-width:600px){.family-topic-menu{grid-template-columns:1fr}.family-topic-menu a{padding:16px}}<\/style>\n<nav class=\"family-topic-breadcrumb\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/\">Home<\/a> \u203a <a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=11\">Bange family<\/a> \u203a A Swiss Widmer family to test<\/nav>\n<p class=\"family-topic-intro\">The reviewed Swiss children are promising comparisons, not a settled identification with the American brothers. This page retains the differing dates and limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<style>.family-story-lead{line-height:1.8;max-width:70ch}.family-story-lead h2,.family-story-lead h3{font-family:Georgia,\"Times New Roman\",serif}.family-research-notes{margin:2rem 0;padding:1.2rem;border:1px solid #d8d2c5;background:#fffdf8;line-height:1.7}.family-research-notes>summary{cursor:pointer;font-size:1.1rem;font-weight:600;color:#354d3f}.family-research-notes>summary:focus-visible{outline:3px solid #98513b;outline-offset:4px}<\/style><section class=\"family-story-lead\" aria-label=\"The family story\"><h2>A Swiss family that may connect to ours<\/h2>\n<p>The Widmer search leads to a family living at Schlag, near Rothenburg in Switzerland. Joseph Widmer and Anna Boog had children there during the 1840s, including Jakob Anton, Jost Joseph and Johann. Their records also tell of children who died very young.<\/p>\n<p>Those names look familiar from the American family. John\u2019s church marriages name Joseph Widmer and Anna Bog as his parents, strengthening the connection. The Swiss Johann, born in 1845, is a strong candidate for the man later found in Seattle.<\/p>\n<p>There are still differences to explain. Jacob\u2019s American birthday is ten days earlier than the Swiss record. Joseph\u2019s American date matches the Swiss baptism rather than the birth. John\u2019s later records also disagree about his birth details. We are keeping those differences in view rather than smoothing them away.<\/p><\/section><p><a href=\"#research-detail-1593\">Read the sources and research notes below \u2193<\/a><\/p><h2 id=\"research-detail-1593\">Sources and research notes<\/h2><p>The full record details, earlier comparisons and remaining questions are retained below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A Swiss family to test.<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/dls.staatsarchiv.lu.ch\/records\/2284352\">Rothenburg\u2019s original birth and baptism registers<\/a> now identify children of Joseph Widmer and M. Anna Boog living at Schlag: Jakob Anton, born March 17, 1843; Jost Joseph, born March 5, 1844 and baptized March 6; and Johann, born February 11, 1845. The entries refer to the parents\u2019 marriage at Ballwil on August 31, 1840. Twin daughters followed on April 6, 1846: Anna Maria and an unnamed girl who died just after birth. An earlier entry records an unnamed son of Joseph Widmer and Anna Boog, born at Schlag on March 14, 1842, who died immediately after birth. The same parental marriage identifies him with this Swiss household. See <a href=\"https:\/\/dls.staatsarchiv.lu.ch\/records\/2284352\">H9 entry 11 (1842), folio 31, image 593<\/a>, and entries 8 (1843), 11 (1844), 2 (1845), and 16\u201317 (1846).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is a much stronger family to compare with the American brothers, but it is not yet a settled match. Jacob\u2019s American birthday is March 7, ten days earlier than the Swiss record. Joseph\u2019s American March 6 date matches the Swiss baptism date rather than the birth date. New American parish records now give John\u2019s parents as Joseph Widmer and Anna Bog in both 1874 and 1885. Together with the family and household records, they strongly support the American family connection and make his identification with the Swiss Johann born February 11, 1845, strongly probable. That exact birthday is still qualified: later census and Seattle death details conflict. See <a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1592#widmer-will-and-john-family\">the original marriages and family records<\/a>. Rain is recorded as the Swiss family\u2019s citizenship community. Schlag is the children\u2019s recorded birthplace and the family\u2019s residence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<nav class=\"family-topic-related\" aria-label=\"Related pages\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=11\">\u2190 Bange family<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1588#widmer-walter-topics\">Back to Widmer and Walter<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1592\">The American brothers<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1596\">The family recollection<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1605\">Swiss places on the Bange map<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1604\">Full source notes<\/a><\/nav>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home \u203a Bange family \u203a A Swiss Widmer family to test The reviewed Swiss children are promising comparisons, not a settled identification with the American brothers. This page retains the differing dates and limits. A Swiss family that may connect to ours The Widmer search leads to a family living at Schlag, near Rothenburg in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":11,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1593","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1593"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2039,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1593\/revisions\/2039"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}