The Swiss Settlement of Vevay, Indiana: The settlers, their relatives, their associates
Marc François KESSELER (ID #I2469)
(male)
- BIRTH: 08 MAY 1775, Morges, Vaud, Switzerland
- BAPTISM: 21 MAY 1775, Morges, Vaud, Switzerland
Father: Jean Christophle KESSELER (b. 13 APR 1743, d. bef 1801)
Mother: Rose Magdelaine GUIGNARD (b. abt 1741, d. 03 JUL 1786)
Family 1
:
Marie SCHULZ (dates unknown)
- MARRIAGE: 10 MAY 1801, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
Family 2
:
Jeanne Louise LONGCHAMP (dates unknown)
- MARRIAGE: 26 OCT 1806, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
A settlement with his creditors in Lausanne was announced in the Gazette de Lausanne in April, 1813. At that time he was a "seiller" (saddle maker, or a worker in fine leather goods) in Lausanne.
A François Kesseler, son of the late Christophle and Rose Guignard, enlisted in the First Regiment of Napoléon, First Battalion, Fifth Company, arriving at his company on 09 apr 1812. He was taken prisoner in Russia, nothing further is known. He was supposed to have been born at Morges 11 may 1777, but given the relatively clear records at Morges for this period, we must conclude that his date of birth in the enlistment records is incorrect as read. Also, there is a gap in the sequence of children of Christophle Kesseler and Rose Guignard, so it is possible that there was another François baptised in some other parish during the years 1779-1783. A possible clue is found in the enlistment record of his brother Abraham Isaac (no other record of him has been found), son of the same parents, born at Chexbres or Duiliez 21 sep 1781. It seems most likely this should be Duillier.
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_Sebastian KESSELER ____|
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_Jean Christophle KESSELER _|
| (1743 - 1801) m 1767 |
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| |_Anna Margaretha _____ _|
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|--Marc François KESSELER
| (1775 - ....)
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| _François GUIGNARD _____|
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|_Rose Magdelaine GUIGNARD __|
(1741 - 1786) m 1767 |
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|________________________|
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Rodolph Fréderic KESSELER (ID #I2473)
(male)
- BIRTH: 13 APR 1791, Morges, Vaud, Switzerland
- BAPTISM: 03 MAY 1791, Morges, Vaud, Switzerland
- DEATH: 15 JAN 1797, Morges, Vaud, Switzerland
- BURIAL: 17 JAN 1797, Morges, Vaud, Switzerland
Father: Jaques KESSELER (b. 07 SEP 1767)
Mother: Jeanne Louise JAQUIER (b. aft 1765)
_Sebastian KESSELER ____
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_Jean Christophle KESSELER _|
| (1743 - 1801) m 1767 |
| |_Anna Margaretha _____ _
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_Jaques KESSELER _______|
| (1767 - ....) m 1790 |
| | _François GUIGNARD _____
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| |_Rose Magdelaine GUIGNARD __|
| (1741 - 1786) m 1767 |
| |________________________
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|--Rodolph Fréderic KESSELER
| (1791 - 1797)
| ________________________
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| _Jean Jaques JAQUIER _______|
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| | |________________________
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|_Jeanne Louise JAQUIER _|
(1765 - ....) m 1790 |
| ________________________
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|_Jeanne Françoise LEUBA ____|
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|________________________
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George Marc François KESSLER 
(ID #I2451)
(male)
- BIRTH: 03 DEC 1792, Morges, Vaud, Switzerland
- BAPTISM: 23 DEC 1792, Morges, Vaud, Switzerland
- DEATH: 16 SEP 1871, Vevay, Switzerland Co., Indiana
Father: Jaques KESSELER (b. 07 SEP 1767)
Mother: Jeanne Louise JAQUIER (b. aft 1765)
Family 1
:
Elise BORNAND (b. 1803, d. 09 JUL 1890)
- MARRIAGE: 24 APR 1823, Switzerland Co., Indiana
Records of the Golay family say George Kessler was from Morges, Switzerland. While there are several secondary sources giving the years of his birth and death, his obituary in the Vevay Reveille 23 sep 1871 gives his exact dates: born 03 dec 1792 in Morges, Switzerland, and died 16 sep 1871. The date of birth allows us to confirm that he is the George Marc François Kessler who was born on that date in Morges.
In the church records of Morges, the spelling of the name wavers between Kessler and Kesseler. The latter is the spelling that was preferred by the family, according to the Kesseler family papers at the Archives Cantonales Vaudoises (ACV PP 65), which, however, do not mention George or his father. This collection has an "acte d'origine" for George's grandfather Jean Christophle Kesseler.
He is almost certainly the "Georg Kessler" from Lausanne, age 21, saddler, who arrived in Philadelphia 04 nov 1816 on the Amphitrite from Amsterdam. His parents were in Lausanne from at least 1798, as were some of his other relatives. Another "saddler" from Lausanne is listed after him on the passenger list, Christian Tschanne of Lausanne, age 22 (the name should probably be spelled Tschann or Tschannen, two different families).
_Sebastian KESSELER ____
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_Jean Christophle KESSELER _|
| (1743 - 1801) m 1767 |
| |_Anna Margaretha _____ _
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_Jaques KESSELER _______|
| (1767 - ....) m 1790 |
| | _François GUIGNARD _____
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| |_Rose Magdelaine GUIGNARD __|
| (1741 - 1786) m 1767 |
| |________________________
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|--George Marc François KESSLER
| (1792 - 1871)
| ________________________
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| _Jean Jaques JAQUIER _______|
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| | |________________________
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|_Jeanne Louise JAQUIER _|
(1765 - ....) m 1790 |
| ________________________
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|_Jeanne Françoise LEUBA ____|
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|________________________
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John KINNAMON (ID #I4959)
(male)
Family 1
:
Martha Ellen WHITESIDE (b. 29 OCT 1851, d. 1929)
- MARRIAGE: 16 JAN 1900, Brown Co., Illinois
Son of Charles Kinnamon and Amy Hedrick. Marriage return is hard to read, may actually be Kinnamow.
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Susanne KNECHT (ID #I1976)
(female)
Family 1
:
Abraham ROUGE (b. BEF 1575, d. BEF 1620)
- MARRIAGE: 25 FEB 1600, Payerne, Vaud, Switzerland
- François ROUGE (bp. 18 JAN 1601)
- Anne ROUGE (bp. 22 AUG 1602)
- Marguerite ROUGE (bp. 2 SEP 1604)
- Anne ROUGE (bp. 4 NOV 1607)
Daughter of Sp. Berthelemy Knecht, Schaffner of Payerne. Schaffner is the term usually translated in French as Gouverneur, and signified the appointed representative of Bern in charge of the territories that Bern had acquired in 1536 as a result of the division of the property of the former Abbey of Payerne with Fribourg. The Schaffner or Gouverneur's jurisdiction did not include the city of Payerne, which remained under the control of an Avoyer drawn from the town council but appointed by Bern.
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André KRÄMER (ID #I3454)
(male)
- TITLES/'DIT' NAMES/OCCUPATIONS: tonnelier des caves du château de Colombier
- BIRTH: abt 1729, of Lentzweiler (Luxembourg?)
- BURIAL: 01 JUL 1785, Colombier, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Father: George KRÄMER (dates unknown)
Family 1
:
Elizabeth TRIBOLET (b. abt 1727, d. 21 JAN 1803)
- +Jonas KRÄMER (b. abt 1754, d. 03 JUN 1807)
- Jean George KRÄMER (dates unknown)
Pierre-Arnold Borel places his origins at "Lindesweiler en la pincipauté de Deux-Ponts".
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_George KRÄMER ______|
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|--André KRÄMER
| (1729 - ....)
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|_____________________|
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Jonas KRÄMER (ID #I3351)
(male)
- BIRTH: abt 1754, of Lutzwiller, Bas-Rhin, France
- DEATH: 03 JUN 1807, Colombier, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- BURIAL: 06 JUN 1807, Colombier, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Father: André KRÄMER (b. abt 1729, bur. 01 JUL 1785)
Mother: Elizabeth TRIBOLET (b. abt 1727, d. 21 JAN 1803)
Family 1
:
Marianne Henriette DONY (dates unknown)
- +Louise KRÄMER (b. 28 MAR 1788, d. 17 APR 1863)
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_George KRÄMER ______|
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_André KRÄMER _______|
| (1729 - ....) |
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| |_____________________|
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|--Jonas KRÄMER
| (1754 - 1807)
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| _Jacob TRIBOLET _____|
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|_Elizabeth TRIBOLET _|
(1727 - 1803) |
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|_____________________|
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Louise KRÄMER (ID #I2485)
(female)
- BIRTH: 28 MAR 1788, Colombier, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- BAPTISM: 13 APR 1788, Colombier, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- DEATH: 17 APR 1863, Vevay, Switzerland Co., Indiana
Father: Jonas KRÄMER (b. abt 1754, d. 03 JUN 1807)
Mother: Marianne Henriette DONY (dates unknown)
Family 1
:
Charles Emmanuel MIÉVILLE (bp. 30 MAR 1776, d. 1818)
- Charles MIÉVILLE (b. 30 DEC 1810, d. 1810)
- +Louise Henriette MIÉVILLE (bp. 08 APR 1812, d. bef 1841?)
- Charles MIÉVILLE (b. 06 MAR 1813)
- George MIÉVILLE (bp. 22 OCT 1814)
- Sophie MIÉVILLE (b. abt 1818, d. aft 1850)
Family 2
:
George Henri TARDY (b. 19 JUN 1789, d. 05 MAR 1872)
- MARRIAGE: 30 MAR 1821, Switzerland Co., Indiana
- Henry P. TARDY (b. abt 1824, d. 01 APR 1891)
- George F. TARDY (b. abt 1825)
- Adelaide TARDY (b. 11 MAY 1826)
- Josephine TARDY (b. 27 DEC 1829, d. 11 JAN 1911)
- Julia TARDY (b. 18 JUN 1832, d. 01 NOV 1890)
- Eugene Medney TARDY (b. 1835, d. 1917)
Or was her name Melville, as some have read the record of her second marriage? The death notice in the Vevay Reveille for "Louise L. consort of George H. Tardy" gives her date of death as 17 apr 1863 and her age as 75 years, 11 days. These figures yield a birth date of 06 apr 1788, not quite consistent with the information from the church records at Colombier, but the information in the death notice might be in error.
There is documentation of a Charles-Edouard Miéville at Vevay, from Neuchâtel (1776-1818), who left a widow and three children. Jane Mieville, presumably the widow in question, and two daughters, are on the 1820 census in Switzerland County. However, if the dates are correct, Louise cannot be a daughter of Charles-Edouard. The widow evidently planned to remarry to a J. Banderet from Neuchâtel, possibly after returning to Switzerland. This story is relayed in correspondence of the Mairet and Borel families, see Antoine Wasserfallen, Les Borel de Neuchâtel à San Francisco, du savetier au financier (Yens-sur-Morges: Cabédita, 2002, see pp. 36-37). However, this publication was preceded by a dissertation by the same author, Du savetier au financier: La famille Borel, de Neuchâtel à San Francisco (1999, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), in which we find (p. 102) that the person called Charles-Edouard in the 2002 version is called Charles-Emmanuel instead. Which is correct? The Miéville family of Neuchâtel is most numerous in, and most closely associated with, the commune of Colombier. At Colombier, there is a baptism for Charles Emmanuel son of Elie son of the "ancien de l'église" Jean Pierre Miéville, and Susanne Salomé daughter of the late Pierre Samuel Millet of Cudrefin, 30 mar 1776. This Charles Emmanuel had four children with his wife Louise, daughter of the late Jonas Krämer of "Lentzveiller": Charles (born 30 dec 1810, died without baptism), Louise Henriette (baptised 08 (?) apr 1812, Charles (born 06 mar 1813 and baptised 24 apr 1813), George (baptised 22 oct 1814), after which they disappear from the church registers at Colombier. Wasserfallen gives additional references for the part of the story that involved Miéville (Garin, Henry, & Wasserfallen, "La saga des Borel au moulin de Bevaix", Nouvelle revue neuchâteloise 48, 1995).
The dissertation says that Charles Emmanuel left a widow, not named, and three minor children at Vevay. While there was some correspondence suggesting that something should be done to help the widow, perhaps paying her return passage to Switzerland, these plans were dropped when a report surfaced that she would remarry to a J. Banderet from Neuchâtel. That this widow was Louise Krämer is suggested by an entry in Probate Order Book I, 1814-1824, Switzerland County, Indiana: on page 79, regarding the estate of "Charles Mieville Kramer" deceased (FHL microfilm #1310448).
However, when we realized that Louise, wife of Charles Emmanuel (or Edouard) Miéville would be known as Louise Miéville in American records, and that her age would be about right, it became apparent that the widow Miéville and the wife of Greorge Tardy could be the same woman. So far, there is no mention of the names of the Miéville children at Vevay, nor independent corroboration of the name of his widow (Jane, in the 1820 census). It may be that J. Banderet, whoever he was, ultimately was not willing to travel to Vevay or to pay for Louise to return to Switzerland. About that time, George Tardy arrived in Vevay, unmarried, and perhaps proposed to solve Louise's difficulties by marrying her.
Who were the children of Louise and George? The 1850 census shows Josephine, age 19; Julia, age 17; and Eugene, age 14. The 1830 census shows that his wife had reached the age of 40. From this information, Louise was probably one or two years younger than stated, in order to have her last child about 1835-36. From the 1830 and 1840 censuses, the total number of children of this couple was at least six. We can be sure of the names of the children who survived their parents, because the will of George Tardy, dated 08 dec 1869, was contested and found its way to the Indiana Supreme Court. It was published in full, along with the opinion of the court (Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Judicature of the State of Indiana, 46:135-141, 1875, reporting cases from the May, 1874 term), naming sons Henry, Eugene (wife Alice), and George, and daughters Adelaide Oakley, Josephine wife of Henry Todd, and Julia wife of EdwardThiebaud who had since died, she having remarried to David McCormick.
If George's wife was really Louise Krämer, we might find the children of her first marriage in the George Tardy household in the 1830 census. This is indeed what the census shows. In 1830, there are three children born before 1821, when George Tardy married Louise Miéville (a son born between 1810 and 1815, a daughter born in this same interval, another daughter born 1815-1820). The son was apparently still in the household in 1840, the daughters were not.
_George KRÄMER ______
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_André KRÄMER ____________|
| (1729 - ....) |
| |_____________________
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_Jonas KRÄMER ____________|
| (1754 - 1807) |
| | _Jacob TRIBOLET _____
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| |_Elizabeth TRIBOLET ______|
| (1727 - 1803) |
| |_____________________
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|--Louise KRÄMER
| (1788 - 1863)
| _____________________
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| _François David DONY _____|
| | |
| | |_____________________
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|_Marianne Henriette DONY _|
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| _____________________
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|_Susanne Judith BERTHOUD _|
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|_____________________
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Legend: Vevay settler.
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