Looking in Earnest now!

Hans on the left, Paul on the right.

We have arrived in Bern, Switzerland. We are meeting with Paul Hostettler. This gentleman does not speak English so we'll have an interpreter. This will be a first for me! I will take notes. We have our trusty GPS and get close, however, we see a gentlemen walking on the sidewalk. Yes, it's our man!!! He directs us in to park and then we walk a short distance to his home.
  We meet Hans, the interpreter. Mearl tells them what he would like to see from this meeting and the objective is to see if we can find a link that will tell us for certain that we've found the man.
  This is very interesting, they have books, computer info and Paul has done a lot of studying on the Krehbiel's (Grabill's).  There is still no definite proof. The interesting fact for me was the names of the people, so many Ulrichs, Christians, Peters and etc. We learned that they had godmothers and godfathers during that time. Probably with the uncertainty of life, they wanted to make sure their children were taken care of. Often, the children were given names that came from a family member earlier.

Studying hard, Mearl questioning.

   They have copies of the ship papers that list families that were deported. The man's name was usually listed and if the children were over 16, their names were also listed. This leaves a gap with no women's names listed and the children under 16. Hans gave us a CD with the records on them. Very interesting.

Paul's wife Lucie serves us some goodies, and they were good. Tea from her garden. She enjoys gardening. She didn't speak English either but she and I had an interesting few minutes together.

  The next morning, Paul meets us at the hotel  and we're off. We meet Hans in a small town where a lot of records are kept.
The top row has very old books. We didn't look at these. We then went to another area and sat down and Hans showed us the books that have the lists in. A father and son team by the name of Shank (sp) wrote or copied these names down. The son was 8 and it's speculated that he was practicing his writing skills. The name of Krehbiel is in there. We have a picture of that also. Hans left us and we left with Paul and traveled the rest of the day around the area where the Krehbiel's/Grabill's could have been. Small villages where we stopped and took pictures and met folks.

  We went to a museum that morning, it was really interesting. The museum had lots of rooms and each room represented something the people did then or a room of their home in early times. We've seen so much and experienced so much, I hope we can give you that idea.

  Keep on the journey with us!

Sharon (Grabill) McMillan

Traveling Around

I'll go back to Weierhof, Germany. I put pics of the church but didn't have some of the tombstones, but now I have Mearl's pics and he took pics of the tombstones with the Krehbiel name on them. You'll have to click on the 2nd one to make it bigger, but you'll see the Krehbiel name on them. We can't prove that our family is part of these families but we could be.

We went on to Pfrimmerhof, Germany. This is a small village and a campground now. There is a Frederich Krehbiel that still lives there and has lived there (his family for about 200 years). He's almost 80. The owner of the camp lives near Frederich. His name is Walter Hetch. His family has also lived there for about the same amount of time. They aren't related (we don't think) but the families have lived as neighbors for a very long time.  Walter can interpret for us, but we haven't been able to get together with them yet. We'll try on our way back through to Frankfurt on the way home. Again, they aren't sure if we are related to the Krehbiel that is there now (or family). But it's probable that our ancestors had to have passed this way. This was a place where the family came after being pushed out of Switzerland. The Anabaptists as they are called there did not want to submit to authority and wanted to remain in the background. It makes finding out facts difficult. The Anabaptists were hiding in these kinds of places, Pfrimmerhof is not a documented village, so our GPS couldn't find it. Interesting, huh!! Can you imagine if you were one of these Anabaptists and you were running from the authorities you would find places that were not documented and hard to find. This was the case with Pfrimmerhof. And other places as well. Some were in the hills, and in caves.

I'll include some pics here.

Walter points to the older part of the house.
This  was a house and barn connected,
usually the case in this time.

The Krehbiel home - Walter Hetch and Sharon

This building was the original church in this homestead of the Krehbiel's and Hetch's.
Walter is renovating these buildings as he has time and funds. He just installed the bell
in the steeple. He will restore the area in the lower part as near to the original church as he can.

There is a graveyard for the Krehbiel's and the Hetch families. The graves are well kept, flowers, benches to sit on and reflect on those who've gone ahead. This graveyard is up in the field behind the house. Again, we could see where the Anabaptists wanted to be separate, not easily found, and not easily documented for the government to find. 

One of the Krehbiel graves.

Another Krehbiel grave, an older grave.

Just an interesting place to visit and although, not proof, to think about those who may have traveled this way. Mearl and I are looking forward to head back this way and talk to Frederich. It's really hard when we can't communicate very much. Should say not at all.

I will close for tonight, I thought I lost this just a few minutes ago, not anxious for that to happen. Sometimes I can get it to cooperate, other times, it doesn't like me at all.

Thanks for journeying with us. 

Sharon (Grabill) McMillan

Observations

Some observations Mearl and I have wondered about:

1.  No washcloths, makes me wonder if they wash their faces.

2.  People walking/biking/walking dogs, young and old and in all kinds of weather. They have a lot of bike trails. People with walking sticks, very good idea! They really do walk or ride bikes a lot.

3.  Food is pretty good, the breads are excellent. All kinds and flavors. Fruits are great. Tasted what I think was oatmeal this morning, but it was cold and had apples in it and was thick. I took a spoonful just to taste it, was good. Water leaves a lot to be desired. Bought 2 packs of 6 each. It is the bubbly water, not so great! Have to get some with no bubbly!!!

4.  Beds are interesting, but I love the "ticks" as Mearl calls them. They only have the one bottom sheet and then this tick. It's a down comforter, as I would call it. No top sheet, just the tick. So very comfy to curl up under. Wonder if they'd notice if one was missing???  Then how would I get it in my suitcase???

5.  Driving - they put blocks on the side of the street, maybe on both sides spaced apart, and not on the same side. We thought it was to slow you down in the villages, when we were with Hans Peter, he confirmed  that.

6.  People are very friendly, take time to smell the flowers. You'll see benches out in the open for a rest stop. They also have parks in a lot of places.

7.  Instead of lawns, they have flowers in the front of their house.

8.  GPS has been our lifesaver and sometimes a curse!!

9.  Have seen cows, sheep, goats, and horses.

10. Mearl and I are still speaking to each other!!!!

I can't find a photo right now to show you the road blocks, but I'll find one and post it later.

Thanks for journeying along!

Sharon (Grabill) McMillan  and Mearl

Using anything for flowers

Flowers!

We are really here!

Beautiful vines!

Pizza and Sandwich Maker!

&

My pizza, Mearl's sandwich. I had leftovers.

Mearl eating his sandwich, notice cat! Cat was happy here! 

  

Switzerland here we come!

We got to Switzerland this afternoon about 4:00, an earlier day than we've had. Mearl wanted to show me a cathedral in Strasbourg, France but that didn't work out. We continued on our way to Bern, Switzerland.
  We haven't found any new facts about the family but have seen several places where they might have been. Especially in Weierhof, there were a lot of Krehbiel's, although again, not entirely sure of the ancestry facts. At Weierhof, there is a cemetery, behind the old church. The cemeteries are beautiful there. Along one wall of the old church (that was all that was left of the church), were old tombstones, a lot of them with Krehbiel names on them. Gary told us that when the graves are 30-35 years old and they need room, when they dig graves for the recently deceased, if they find bones, they keep them and they are buried with the next person. They do not embalm and only have wooden caskets and that's what is in the ground. People do not complain, but the tombstones are preserved or given to family members if they want them. Just walking through the village was interesting, thinking of those who might have gone before us, or if our line wasn't from there, it would have been close to what the people might have gone through.
   There is still a Mennonite church in Weierhof today, a congregation of about 300 people. Some from right there in the village and some travel from a little ways away. That church has hosted quite a few conferences and seems to be one of the oldest churches in Germany.
   We visited another cemetery at Sippersfeld, that cemetery was again beautiful and I'll try to include some pics of that. Makes ours look pitiful. One of the most recent graves was a Krehbiel and the date of death was 9/21/2012. The roses and other flowers on the grave were still fresh.
   We went on to Pfrimmerhof (a small village, campground, restaurant). Very old village. A man by the name of Frederich Krehbiel still lives there. We met him, but he didn't speak English and our German lacks a LOT!!! The owner of the campground and that area still lives there and he does speak English and can interpret. Stopped back there yesterday but neither one was home, found a camper that does speak English so we'll try and get back there on our way back north before we leave.
    That's all for today, I'll add some pics if this will let me and I'll be back in touch tomorrow evening.
    Thanks for journeying along. I'll get better at adding pictures, I hope!! Thanks for being patient!

Sharon (Grabill) McMillan

First look at Germany.

Notice the Street Name Crayenbuhl 

Weierhof Mennonite Church

Church in Sippersfeld

One of many graves

Krehbiel died 9/21/2012

Leaving on a Jet Plane!!!

We made it to Germany!! When I envisioned this trip, I thought we'd have access to the 'net all the time and I could update this every day. But that's not the case or hasn't been. We may have it now in the evenings anyway.
   We've had a great trip so far. One interesting observation, why would anyone in their "right" mind rent a car to people that don't know the language, don't know the country, and reading a map of a different country. By now, Mearl is doing well with the car (a stick shift) and I am much more in touch with the map. The GPS is working better for us. This all was an experience.
   The really interesting experience is meeting people. The people we've met have been really great. We've met with several people since Wednesday. They give us a lot of time, interested in what we're doing and help in any way they can. We went to one genealogy office, a lot of books, extensive card file, and a lot of files that had letters in them from people that were looking for other family members. Very interesting!!! We didn't find anything of value there though.
   We stayed with an older gentlemen (Ernst Neff) for two nights. His home was in the village of Weierhof, Germany. He reminded me a lot of my Dad. He lives alone but in a home connected to a daughter's (which was his homestead.) Somewhat similar to Amish parents homes. Weierhof had a library and the man we met there was great (Gary Waltner). He helped us with Mearl's cell phone, our GPS, and suggested people we contact also.  Both Gary and Ernst learned German and English in their schools. Gary is from SD and lived in a German community so learned German. Ernst was from Germany and learned English.
  I am having trouble with the internet. I will close for this time. Thanks for your notes and I'll include some pictures tomorrow evening if I can. I've taken probably 400 pics so far. I know you don't want to see all of them, but I'll include a few!!!
  Thanks for journeying with us!!
 

Night before!!!

Dear Ones,

    The top country is Germany and the bottom one is Switzerland.  Or if you can read that language, you're all set. 

    We are about ready to go. I'm not packed yet but have things ready to put in the suitcase, Mearl says he's getting close also. We will leave about 9:00 in the morning, we fly out of Chicago at 3:40 p.m. (Chicago time), getting to Frankfurt, Germany about 7:00 a.m. the next morning. Mearl and I will sing Happy Birthday to all of you with birthdays on the 26th!!!!

   Thanks for taking the journey with us.  S & M  

Ready to go?!!

Dear Ones,

   Mearl and I are about to start a journey. Well, actually, we've already started the journey, but now we'll be able to go and put feet to our genealogy. On Tuesday, the 26th, we will be leaving Chicago for Frankfurt, Germany. Mearl has done a lot of background work and when we arrive in Germany, we will be meeting some people that will help us learn a lot of the Grabill and Miller ancestry to hopefully document the beginning of both of the families. 

   We invite you to join us as we begin our journey and read the detail of our days. I'll be posting pictures as we go along the way. (That is if the internet is available and the computer cooperates and my learning to BLOG becomes better!)  

   I've also posted this to Facebook for those of you that are on FB. 

   Thanks, and enjoy the journey with us.

Sharon McMillan and Mearl Grabill