Events of the Day...
Wuelflingen and the Meiers (There are no words to describe this day.)

We left the hotel about 10 am and drove about 1 hour to Lauferstrasse, which is a beautiful water fall about half an hour north of Wuelflingen. The falls were great, but watching mom enjoy them was even better.




Our next stop was to 2 civil records offices in Winterthur. I have been emailing a few wonderful people there over the past 5 months. They had about 40 or 50 names for me to pick up plus documentation on the Meier family. It was pricy but exciting to find new names.

From there we went to the protestant church in Wuelflingen. In the 1800s the records for the entire town were kept at the church. Hartman and Elizabetha's records were kept at this church. We can only assume that Hartman and Elizabetha attended there. The historian at the Civil Records Office said that in 1889, when Hartman died, most people were buried in the cemetary behind the church - so that is probably where Hartman was buried.

But the best part came last.

Lilian, the researcher from the Civil office gave us a map that showed the farm that was owned by the Meirer family for about 300 years. It is owned by a different family now, but based on her records, Hartman, his family and his brother lived there until Hartmans death. He died about 3 months before Elizabetha and their oldest son Henry left for America.

Spencer has a well tuned sense of direction. He followed her map, winding through country roads, up and down hills and through tiny villages. Getting directions from someone speaking German is difficult, no matter how much pointing is involved. And, it is a good thing gas is only $8 a gallon.

Finally we wound around a hill and there, in front of us was a farm with several red buildings. It had to be the right farm! We slowly drove past, stupidly looking for an address marker. Nothing. So we drove to the top of the hill and looked back down at this farm. It had to be the right farm. This had to be where Hartman Meier grew up, where his father Jakob, his grandfather Jakob and his great grandfather Jakob grew up. This was where Mina and Tilda played in the fields when they were young. This was the farm where Elizabetha had to work hard to help support the family because Hartman had become crippled. And this was the farm where the missionaries taught the gospel to this little family. More correctly, Elizabetha met somehow met the missionaries and became converted. Then she explained the gospel to the rest of the family and they were all baptised. In that little red farm house, where the barn is part of the house, filled with cows and all that go with them, Elizabetha explained that Christ had paid the price for our mistakes, and that, if we accepted Him for our Savior, we could be made whole. And they received testimonies which changed the direction of their lives forever.

In Aunt Lillians history she records that, because of the persecution, the family walked to the river in the middle of the night, broke the ice and were baptised. Was this really the house they lived in? We took 1000 pictures, hoping - assuming that we were right.

Then, we drove by again, moving slowly, taking pictures out of the car window. No one wanted to go up to the door and ask if we could see the house since we used to live here 300 years ago, and by the way, could we use the bathroom!!! During one of our U Turns, Spence suggested we drive over the mountain and see what is on the other side. As we slowly drove by the house - again, there was a lady working in a small garden. Spence shouted to her, of couse in english, asking her if this was the Aschau Farm. She came, trotting, actually to the car and then, somehow she and Spence communicated enough to find out that this was the correct farm. Two minutes later, a man on a tractor came along, trying to turn into the driveway which we were blocking. The lady told us to pull up into the driveway - the man was her brother and she would get her mother. Within about 1 1/2 hours we had all become friends. Spence and Hans had an amazing ability to communicate. At one point Hans ran into his home and brought out a brown envelope holding old documents. They were the deeds to the house, and there, right in front of us was the deed documenting the Meirer family selling the farm to his family. It was astounding. As we stood in the middle of this 1800 "period" photo (the barn is still part of the house - and all that goes with it!) Hans ran into his house again and quickly scanned a copy of the deed.

Eventually, after somehow talking about feed for the Cows, the age of the house, when the property was divided in half, where the dividing line is, our ages and where we each live, Spence asked about the closest River. It is the Toss - across the fields towards Winterthur.

We exchanged contact information and we were on our way.

About 3 miles from the farm is the Toss River. If you walked straight toward the river from the farm, cutting through fields, one would meet The Toss where there is a gentle curve and a small waterfall. At the base of the water fall the water pools. The water is quiet and still, a little deep and just about perfect for the baptism. As we stood there, we felt that this had to be the place, at least within a few feet of where Mina, Tilda, Henry, August, Elizabetha and Hartman were baptised, late one winter night in 1877.

We are changed somehow, we are now connected to the old red farm in some tiny way.