When you feel like you’re constantly chasing down different ancestors across the globe, it’s hard to choose just one location as your most treasured. But I’ll give it a shot here!
Week 17: Favorite Place
There’s a particular village which I like to refer to as “the motherland.” It’s the ancestral home of my paternal 2nd great grandmother, Ester (Sauvain) Eggenberger, and it’s half way around the world in Eschert, Bern, Switzerland.
Ester (Sauvain) Eggenberger with granddaughters Vera, Louise, and Alta circa 1915.
This little pocket of land near the border of France has likely been deemed my favorite, because Ester was my most recent immigrant ancestor to the United States. It was also one of the first international homelands of my ancestors that I was able to pinpoint the actual town name.
Ester came over at the age of 13 in 1854 with her parents, Emmanuel and Sophia. The excerpt of the 1860 federal census below was the first enumeration of the family together in the United States. Unfortunately, as you can see, the image cataloguing their residence is severely faded, to the point where it’s nearly impossible to read the names of those living in the household. This particular scan is from FamilySearch’s holdings (as well as being inverted and adjusted for better contrast). Ancestry.com’s scan is even worse. But take my word for it, it includes Emmanuel and Sophia Sauvain with their daughter Ester and their other children living in Baughman Township, Wayne County, Ohio.
"United States Census, 1860," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GBSF-N9B?cc=1473181&wc=7QCB-VRB%3A1589432777%2C1589424766%2C1589434315 : 26 Apr 2021), Ohio > Wayne > Baughman Township > image 45 of 45; citing NARA microfilm publication M653.
The village of Eschert is just a tad larger than 2.5 square miles, and it’s mostly agrarian, with more than half of it being forest area. To give you an idea of how small that is, as of 2019, Eschert’s population was only comprised of 367 individuals.
In 2015, I went on my first European vacation, joining a group bus tour of Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Liechtenstein. During our stay in Switzerland, we had a ½ day entirely to ourselves. Our hotel was in the city of Bern, so I jumped at the opportunity to hop on a train and take it out to basically the middle of nowhere to walk in the footsteps of my 2nd great grandmother!
Collette bus travel group, Switzerland, September 2015.
This was certainly a bit of a risk, as I was completely on my own, in an area that spoke almost only French (a language of which I know nothing), I hadn’t charged my phone completely even though I was relying on GPS (dumb move!), and our group was travelling to our next destination the following morning – so if something ended up detaining me, I was dooming myself to be separated from my traveling companions in a foreign country.
Train from Bern to Grandval, Switzerland, September 2015.
Eschert doesn’t have its own train stop, but the neighboring village of Grandval does (which Ester’s parents were originally from). So my plan was to take the train from Bern to Grandval and then find my way to Eschert. I realized once I made it there, I hadn’t worked out any game plan past that point.
Grandval, Switzerland platform.
Here’s the Grandval “train station.” I think it’s understandable why I would put train station in quotes here… I almost didn’t even get off the train, as I thought we were stopping unexpectedly at what looked to be an outhouse or public restroom!
Grandval, Switzerland train crossing.
When I disembarked, it really hit me that I was alone and far from any sort of safety net. But the slight feeling of dread quickly faded as a woman out on her daily run came past and waved with a friendly, “Bonjour!” as if she knew me. It put me at ease. I decided at that point I really needed to decide what my plan here actually was!
Grandval, Switzerland, September 2015.
There was a walking path / road that led from Grandval to Eschert. I figured I’d need to get moving if I wanted to walk to Eschert!
The stroll definitely took longer than Google Maps was claiming it would. When I snapped this photo of the city signs, I wasn’t paying attention to the times it would take BY CAR. Google had most certainly told me this was the distance BY FOOT. Google definitely lied.
But I was soaking in the sights, feeling, and smells, thinking about how my ancestors would most certainly have walked those same steps back in the 1800s, as it was the only road connecting the neighboring villages. A couple cars passed me and all of the passengers gave a friendly wave. My guess is they all must have thought I was a visiting family member of someone in town, considering it’s not a tourist area.
There was one unsettling moment as I passed by a house with an unchained, barking dog. It appeared to be very protective, but luckily didn’t leave its porch. And then, of course, the moment that the road turned through a shallow forest and I became acutely aware of the fact that Bern’s official state animal is none other than a BEAR.
The question of how large the bear population might be at this point in time weighed heavily on my mind. I certainly did not want to have a run-in with a bear.
Statue in Gstaad, Switzerland.
Statue in Bern, Switzerland.
Luckily, that did not come to pass, and the forest quickly opened up to clear skies. On the other side of the forest was Eschert!
Eschert, Switzerland, September 2015.
I traipsed around the village for a bit, but with a dying phone battery, realized I really didn’t have time to waste and I needed an exit plan. I learned that in the NEXT town over, Moutier, there was an actual train station (not an outhouse-like one!) and the last train leading back to Bern for the night was leaving in about an hour. It was going to take 40 minutes to walk there, so I didn’t have any spare time to chat with a resident about local history, let alone, search through any archives that might exist in town.
Train ticket from Moutier to Biel/Bern.
I wondered how I might remember my heartfelt journey and decided the best way would be to take part of Eschert home with me. So I scooped up some of the dirt on the side of the road and loaded it into a plastic bag – I literally took home “the motherland.” (And yes, I did lie to Homeland Security at LAX and neglected to reveal this information).
When I got back home, I had a necklace capsule engraved with Ester’s name and birth/death dates, I filled it with some of the soil from Eschert, and added a small printout of her connection to Switzerland within. I also made one for my sister. It’s such a special keepsake from my travels!
Necklace capsule filled with dirt from Eschert, Switzerland.
For now, Eschert definitely makes claim to my favorite place – until my next grand heritage adventure, that is.
Eschert, Switzerland, September 2015.
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