GENEAL-FORUM

A young man emigrated to Poland in 1870’s from Rufi (near Schänis) because there was no work where he lived. Why would he go to Poland and not go to America where a brother was living? Were other young men from that area going to Poland at that time? If so, why go there? It seems many people from Poland were moving to America at that time.

Hello Joanne,

I don't think there are any general answers to your question. If you'd mention the name of the person emigrating (incl. all info you have about him) or at least the family's name, researching his closer relatives at the time (in Rufi) might give some hints what influenced his decision.

Best regards - Wolf

Hello Joanne,

In addition to Wolf's comments, it would also be important to know to which city or region in Poland he emigrated in 1870. In the 19th century, many Swiss also moved to East Prussia and Russia and worked there as milkers (so-called Schweizer) or in similar professions on a large estate, quite a few over time also in managerial positions.

Peter

Person who went to Poland was Johann Babtist Egli (youngest brother of my ancestor Johann Josef Anton Egli, who went to America). I have the genealogy of Babtist's family. He went to Oels/Schlesien at age 17 (he was born 1851 to Josef Anton Egli and Antonia Knoebel, who lived in Dorf near Schänis). Babtist married Praxeda Pawlicka. Babtist died 1923 in Dammer (near Oels). He was a cheesemaker. My main interest was to learn why he went to Poland, maybe it was less expensive to go there than to America.

The family sheet with Johann Baptist's parents and siblings can be viewed at http://www.staatsarchiv-sg.ch/index.php ... 32-033.jpg … as this link is supposed to become non-functional in spring 2023 (see comment below) I am attaching a copy: For Johann Josef Anton (*1826) neither wedding nor death date is mentioned - often an indication of emigration … which is confirmed by Joanne. For Johann Baptist the marriage 1779 is mentioned as well that he died in 1923 in Dammer. For all others (but Maria Elisabetha) wedding and/or death dates are given - so they most likely stayed in Switzerland. Unlike with some other families not the entire family or at least several siblings emigrated together, we seem to have two separate emigrations of two individuals.

Father Joseph Anton was Sternenwirt in Rufi with 14 children (from two wifes) … at least 8 lived with the parents when Johann Baptist emigrated in 1868. So it's not a surprise Johann Baptist was hoping for a better perspective by emigration. The open question remains - why did he emigrate to Schlesien (at that time part of Preussen)?

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Johann Baptist Egli (1851-1923) von Rufi SG emigriert 1868 nach Schlesien (Preussen). Seine Eltern und Geschwister findet man im obigen Blatt aus dem Bürgerregister Schänis - die Familie des Sternenwirts. Zum Zeitpunkt der Emigration leben noch 8 Kinder bei den Eltern - kann durchaus ein Grund sein, sein Heil in der Emigration zu suchen. Der ältere Bruder Johann Josef Anton (*1826) war vorher schon nach Amerika ausgewandert - die anderen Geschwister (soweit nicht jung verstorben) scheinen in der Schweiz geblieben zu sein. Warum wandert Johann Baptist nach Schlesien aus - anstatt seinem Bruder in die USA zu folgen?

Wer erforscht die Familie Egli und kann etwas zu den Hintergründen berichten - oder befasst sich mit der Auswanderung und ihren Gründen in der Region?

Johann Baptist Egli therefore emigrated to the province of Silesia in Prussia, not to Poland. The region came to Poland only after the 2nd World War.

In contrast to the USA, emigrants to Prussia (and also Russia) usually already had a promised job in prospect. Many of them worked in the agricultural sector. The risk was therefore not so great as in the USA. In addition, the language in Prussia was not a problem for the Swiss and the journey was naturally much less arduous.
In the Dammer address book of 1921, Johannes Egli is already listed as a tenant of a dairy. Furthermore, in the address book of Oels in the same year, another Johann Egli appears, who made it to the city council. So it is quite possible that the young Johann Baptist Egli found his way to Silesia through a relative who was already established there.

Did his wife and descendants stay in Poland after 1945 or did they return to Switzerland?

Peter

Parts of Schlesien (not sure about Oels) became Polish already after the 1st World War.
In the Schänis Bürgerregister the death of Johann Baptist is given as 04 June 1923 in "Dammer, Kreis Oels, Polen" - which (unless the Bürgerregister is wrong) indicates that Kreis Oels was Polish at the time of Johann Baptist's death - although he had emigrated to Prussia.

Hallo Wolf, da ist m.E. Wikipedia richtig. Wurde der Todeseintrag eventuell später erst erstellt?

Peter

Thanks to Peter and Wolf for your input. The genealogy of Babtist Egli that was given to me by a descendant of his indicates that most or all of his family stayed in Poland or Silesia. The genealogy I have is written in German so I'm having to use Google translate or my own translation attempts to figure out much of the information in that genealogy. I also have several copies of Schänis area histories and other publications (all in German and one or two in the old German). I'm wading through a couple of those to see if there is mention of other emigrations. I am of the opinion that Babtist probably knew someone in Oels area and that's why he went there. At the time I received the genealogy of Babtist Egli from a grandson (or maybe he was a great-grandson), he was living in the area of Landsberg, Germany. I am not sure just when he left Poland. And at the time I was not interested in why his ancestor left Switzerland.

I have several correspondences from Albin Egli who compiled the very large Egli Stambaum that was given to me on my first trip to the area of Schänis (1987).

Thanks to you both for offering input and discussion.

Peter.D hat geschrieben: Fr 30. Dez 2022, 18:57 Hallo Wolf, da ist m.E. Wikipedia richtig. Wurde der Todeseintrag eventuell später erst erstellt?
Peter

Wie gesagt, ob das mit 1919 für Oels zutrifft, hatte ich nicht kontrolliert. Dass das Sterbedatum (1923) erst nach 1945 eingetragen wurde, erscheint mir wenig wahrscheinlich, wenn auch nicht ausgeschlossen ... aber selbst dann wäre die Angabe "Polen" wohl falsch.

Joanne hat geschrieben: Fr 30. Dez 2022, 21:20The genealogy I have is written in German so I'm having to use Google translate ...

I recommend https://www.deepl.com/translator ... much(!) better than Google.

Wolf: Thanks for the translation site. I'll give it a try. I have way too many documents to scan or somehow get translated. Not sure I will live long enough!

Wolf hat geschrieben: Fr 30. Dez 2022, 16:33… as this link is supposed to become non-functional in spring 2023 ...

Das liegt an der Umstellung auf den "Digitalen Lesesaal", der nach meiner Meinung allerdings (Stand 31.12.2022) noch an Kinderkrankheiten leidet. Das Bürgerregister Schänis (Band 1) kann neu unter https://dls.staatsarchiv.sg.ch/records/979578 aufgerufen werden - dort gibt es im Moment 2 Möglichkeiten:

1) Auf "Viewer" klicken - dann kommt bei diesem Band (wie auch bei den meisten anderen) die Meldung "Die Datei ist zu gross, um angezeigt zu werden." mit dem Angebot "Original herunterladen". Vorteil: die komplette Datei kann auf der eigenen Festplatte abgespeichert werden / Nachteil: bei grossen Dateien kann es ein Weilchen dauern, bis man etwas zu sehen bekommt.

2) Unten auf der Seite "Sachverwandte Unterlagen" öffnen: dort findet man derzeit noch die alte URL (die man allerdings mit copy&paste in die Adresszeile kopieren muss) … wie das aussehen wird, wenn diese URL nicht mehr funktioniert, muss abgewartet werden.

Wolf: Re: translation site: https://www.deepl.com/translator

I see this is a subscription site after a free trial. I didn't look at the cost for subscription yet. Not sure I can do that just now.

Joanne hat geschrieben: Sa 31. Dez 2022, 21:39 Wolf: Re: translation site: https://www.deepl.com/translator
I see this is a subscription site after a free trial.

They offer a professional version (subscription after free trial) mainly for companies. Their online version is free ! I had a few doc-files translated (free version) but usually just copy&paste texts (like French in the forum) into the text field, language is detected automatically, and choose the language I want it translated to (as I live in a German speaking region, German is default).

Die Chronik der Ortsgemeinde Rufi verfasst von Ortschreiber Albin Egli im Herbst 1990.
Der Text wurde mir von Joanne (Nachfahrin eines ausgewanderten Egli von Rufi) zur weiteren Verbreitung zur Verfügung gestellt.