This & That

Recent Changes

     The following is a list of the more recent changes made to the website (other than additions of, or corrections to, isolated individuals):

7 Feb 2012 A newspaper picture of the 90th birthday party of Margaret Schneider (b. 1831), widow of Casper Wenner, has been added to the Photo Album and the Slide Show.

29 Jan 2012 A picture of a Siegenthaler (Trub) crest dated 1700, which was sent to us by Barbara Lewis, has been added to the coats of arms. It can be seen by clicking on the Siegenthaler coat of arms on the homepage.

24 Dec 2011

YOUNGEST PERSON NOW ON THE WEBSITE
Maria Rose Witmer
Born 24 Dec 2011 in Boulder, CO, USA
Parents: Frank and Erin (Whitney) Witmer
21 Dec 2011 For a long time we have been concerned that we have able to trace the Wenners back no further than Casper Wenner (b. c.1826). Now, thanks to Bob Heller, the husband of a Wenner descendant, Pat Anken, we now know not only Casper's father, Gaspard (the French form of Casper)(b. c.1800), but also the siblings of Casper and some of their offsprings.
21 Dec 2011 Over the years that Wenner-Siegenthaler.com has been on the internet we have become increasingly concerned about the privacy issue relative to the data for living individuals. At this point in time we felt it was desirable to no longer show dates and places of events such as birth and marriage for such people. Because of some of the limitations of our genealogy software package, this "black out" will now apply to anyone born after 1920 who has no recorded (in our database) date of death. (Note: it may take a while before such dates and places no longer show up in search-engine results.)

Since we do not have the ability at this time to create the so-called Cascading Lists (the listing of descendants of our earliest ancestors) with the "black out" on living descendants, these lists will not be available for the time being.

29 Aug 2011 The database was increased almost 50% to over 6300 people, of whom almost 2200 are Siegenthalers by name. The new additions were provided by some genealogical websites and several individuals, including most notably Gabi (Siegenthaler) Caduff of Switzerland, who has been most helpful in supplying new entries to the database and clearing up some questions on others. (See Sources for other contributors and resource websites utilized)
29 Aug 2011 Because Hans Siegenthaler (c. 1660) (who is not, as far as we can determine, related to Hans Siegenthaler (c. 1595)) now have so many descendants on this website, we now are providing a listing of his and wife Maria Gerber's dependents. (See homepage)
29 Aug 2011 A new page named Entries with Questions has been added to the website. This page identifies some entries which are thought to have significant areas of uncertainty. We thought it preferable to include those entries as you see them, with a warning, rather than exclude the questionable aspect altogether.
29 Aug 2011 There are two new features below. One lists the unions through marriage of the Trub and Schangnau branches. The other lists the marriages of two Siegenthalers to each other.
18 Oct 2010 Some individual photos have been added to the website. They are indicated, where available, by the camera icon () adjacent to the individual's name. They can be accessed through either the Family Group Sheets (via the Full Name Index) or the Descendants of... listings.

We would very much welcome additional photographs of individuals to add to the website. There are now only nine individual pictures and we would like many more! See Photo Submission for details.

Handling of the Two Main Siegenthaler Branches

     Based on our research we have found that there are questions as who the parents of Hans (ca. 1595) and Hans (ca. 1660) are (see Questionable Entries). Although we have included their likely/possible parents (and other ancestors), we believe treating the two Hanses as the respective "patriarchs" of their branches will be most recognizable to most people. Accordingly, they are given more prominence in various places on the website (e.g., the Descendant listings and Cascading Lists).

Mergers of the Trub and the Schangnau Siegenthaler Branches

     The following are cases (which we are aware of) of the marriages of descendants of Hans S. (c. 1595), primarily from Trub, with descendants of Hans S. (c. 1660), primarily from Schangnau:

Trub Branch Schangnau Branch
Barbara Siegenthaler (1678)– Hans Krähenbühl (1670)
Barbara Jakob (1731)–Benedikt Siegenthaler (1732)
Katharina Jakob (1734)–Niklaus Siegenthaler (1737)
Barbara Zimmermann (1772)–Christian Siegenthaler (1765)
Johannes Siegenthaler (1795)–Katharina Egli (1801)
Maria Siegenthaler (1835) –Johannes Siegenthaler (1833)
Sophie Zürcher (1838)–Daniel Fankhauser (1822)
Daniel Siegenthaler (1838)–Elisabeth Siegenthaler* (1850)
Johann Ulrich Siegenthaler (1858)–Anna Elisabeth Siegenthaler (1866)
  *Actually, Elisabeth is a descendent of Ulrich S. (1638), who is reportedly the brother of Hans S. (ca. 1660)  –  see Questionable Entries.

"I, Christian Siegenthaler, take thee, Christina Siegenthaler, to be my..."

     With so many Siegenthalers living in relatively small areas with low mobility historically, it is not surprising to find cases of Siegenthalers marrying one another. Here are the examples we have come across in our database:

Coats of Arms

     Coats of arms for a family can vary over time. If you click on the Siegenthaler coat of arms on the home page, two other versions will appear. Clicking on the Wenner crest will enlarge it.

What's in a Name?

     If you are a Wenner or a Siegenthaler, do you have any idea what your name means? We have an idea, but only an idea  –  we're not sure. Various possible meanings for each name have come to our attention.

     Wenner might mean flag bearer  –  or maybe it means maker of baskets!

     We've seen Victors of the Valley given as the meaning of Siegenthaler. It conceivably could mean those living in the valley of the river Sieg, which meets the Rhine across from Bonn, Germany. More authoritatively, based on information from the book The Lineages and Coats of Arms of Emmental (Emmentaler Geschlecter- und Wappenbuch) by Hans Rudolf Christen, the various sources of the name Siegenthaler are as follows:

Speaking to the varied pronunciations, and resulting implied spellings of Siegenthaler, Heinz Siegenthaler writes, "In my local dialect (city of Bern) I am called Sigetaler, the Emmentalers from Trub say Sigitaler, and in High German it is, of course, Siegenthaler."

Lake Wenner

     On a map in the 1936 Encyclopedia Edition of the Winston Simplified Dictionary the largest lake in Sweden (and the third largest in Europe) was labeled L. Wenner. The Swedish word for the lake is Vänern. Take a look!  Note Wennersborg (Vänersborg) at the foot of the lake.

Map of Switzerland

     Thanks to Heinz Siegenthaler we have a map of Switzerland that has been further annotated to pinpoint several locations of significance to Siegenthalers. Check it out! (If the entire map is contained on your screen such that you cannot read the writing, it should be enlargeable.)

Residences

     The narration in the Descendants of C. Wenner and Descendants of H. Siegenthaler sections now contains the place of residence of those individuals for whom it is known. Where a person (has) lived in more than one locale, generally only the principal place of residence is shown. Also, since residence in this context refers to residence as an adult  –  and given the longer-view nature of genealogy  –  places of residence of younger adults are, as a rule, not included.

Some Unrelated Siegenthalers?

     A branch of Siegenthalers  –  descendants of Hans (ca. 1666)  –  were previously thought to be descendants of Hans (1595). Now, however, all indications point to their not being related to us, at least, not through Hans (1595). They remain, however, in the database and can be seen together in one of the cascading listings.

Hey, I Get Lost in All Those Siegenthalers!

     If you begin in Descendants of Hans Siegenthaler and try to progress down to a particular individual or family, it's easy to get lost. Most of the Siegenthaler descendants we are familiar with stem from Johann(es) & Maria (Knöri) Siegenthaler and their children Maria, Luise, Johann(es) (Hans), Gottfried, Gottlieb, Friedrich (Fritz), Jakob, Magdelene (Mädeli), Alfred and Elisabeth (Bethli) and will recognize where they are when they get to them. But how does one get to them? Here is the path:

Hans → Benedikt → Peter → Benedikt → Ulrich → Ulrich → Johann(es) (Hans) → Johann(es)

     Actually, anyone who has difficulty finding his way from Hans S.(B. 1595) to another person may want to do this: (i) go first go to that person via the Full Name Index, then (ii) progress back in time through successive parents until reaching Hans, noting the pathway in the process, and finally (iii) start with Hans in Descendants of Hans Siegenthaler and simply reverse the pathway.

Song and Dance

     Have you been given the old song and dance lately? Well, here's one for you. It's called Wenner Achter . (In this case Achter is a Tyrolean dance for eight couples.) We have it in three versions: abridged for dial-up, abridged for DSL or cable, and original, uncut.

If you see additions or changes that you
think would improve this website, let us know.

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