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Baumgartner
book

GENEALOGY OF AMERICAN WELTYS FROM
LAUPERSWIL, CANTON BERN, SWITZERLAND

THE FATHER OF NIKLAUS WAS NOT ULRICH

According to the 1926 Baumgartner book, all of the American descendants of Niklaus Welty are from one son, Johannes (Hans) b.1787, who married Christina Gerber in 1815 [the documented dates are 1794 and 1816 respectively]. The original Swiss baptism (birth) and wedding records for this Johannes and Christina have been positively identified in the church records of the time, as well as the baptism records for all of their children as listed by Baumgartner. References compiled by Peter Wälti , a genealogist living near Bern (yes he is distantly related), are given here , and are consistent with the Baumgartner book except for a few minor discrepancies (see comments).

The baptism record of Johannes b.1794 lists his parents as Niklaus Wälti and Christina Badertscher, not Christina Gerber as given by Baumgartner. Their children are however the same in the church records as in Baumgartner. The major discrepancies between the church records and the Baumgartner book arise in the birth date, parents, and siblings of Niklaus. Since the baptisms of the chidren of Niklaus were registered in Lauperswil, Niklaus (and his male ancestors back at least to the beginning of the Swiss citizenship laws in 1676) must have been citizens of Lauperswil. The baptism of Niklaus should also therefore have been registered in Lauperswil, even if he was born and lived somewhere else (parish priests were supposed to report births/baptisms of local residents to their place of citizenship).

The only known baptism of a Niklaus Wälti at around the right time was recorded in Vechigen (near Lauperswil) on 13 January 1764, naming the parents as Peter Wälti from Lauperswil and Anna Kähr.  A death record from Lauperswil shows that Niklaus Wälti, a Wiedertäufer (anabaptist/mennonite) from Lauperswil, late husband of Christina Badertscher, died on 23 March 1834 and was buried on the 26th at Wintersingen, Canton Basel Landschaft, aged 69 years and 11 months. The age and date of death indicate a birth date of April 1764, providing strong evidence that it was the same Niklaus born 1764 who married Christina Badertscher and later lived in Canton Basel Landschaft.

Further indirect evidence that Niklaus 1764-1834 is the same Niklaus named as father in the baptism record of Johannes b.1794 can be found in the baptism records of the children of Johannes (Hans) with Christina Gerber. The baptism record of the their eighth child Elisabeth, born in 1833, named the father to be Hans, son of Niklaus from Lauperswil. However the baptism record of their ninth child Ulrich, born in 1835, named the father as Hans, son of the late (selig) Niklaus from Lauperswil. This indicates that grandfather Niklaus died between 1833 and 1835, corresponding well to the 1834 date of the death registration.

The Baumgartner book lists an Ulrich Wälti b.1753 as the brother of a Niklaus born in 1750, and an Ulrich b.1728 as their father. This is obviously a mixup, however, since there is good documentation in the church records for an Ulrich Wälti from Rüderswil (an adjacent village) who was born in 1750.  This Ulrich did have a father named Ulrich, and had first and second wives and children with the same names as those given by Baumgartner. Since Ulrich b.1750 was from Rüderswil, his forefathers were also from Rüderswil since at least 1676 (see footnote), so he could not possibly have been a brother of Niklaus from Lauperswil. The y-dna evidence shows that the Wältis from Lauperswil and Rüderswil are related, but the common forefather must have been born before 1676. There was no possible Ulrich from Lauperswil who could have been the father of Niklaus b.1764, so the Baumgartner book is clearly wrong about the parents and siblings of Niklaus Wälti, the progenitor of the American Welty families discussed here.

The identity of Jacob b.1755 , the "third brother" of Niklaus, is probably explained by a generational mixup. The book says that Jacob had 2 sons Fredrick b.1780-85 and Christian b. 1782-1787, and also says that these 2 sons were visited by Fredrick Welty b.1831 when he visited Switzerland in 1896. This is obviously impossible since the brothers would have been over 110 years old at that time, and Christian would have been 8-13 years old when his first child was born. Baumgartner also names the wife of Jacob's purported son Christian b.1782-87 as Anna Zurcher. There was a Christen Wälti b.1767 from Rüderswil, whose wife was named Anna Zürcher and whose children's names and birth dates match those given by Baumgartner (who missed a few of those found in the church records). The marriage record for Christen and Anna names the parents of Christen to be another Christen Wälti and Barbara Liechti, however, not the Jacob named by Baumgartner. There was no Friedrich Wälti whose birth/baptism was registered in Lauperswil or Rüderswil between 1770 and 1790.

There was no possible Jakob Wälti registered in church records of Lauperswil until 1785. The Jakob Wälti b.1785 did have sons named Christen b.1818 and Friederich b.1829, who could have been alive at the time of the visit mentioned above.  The parents of Jakob b.1785 are named Hans Wälti and Barbara Bürki according to his baptism record. As shown on the genealogy page Niklaus, father of Johannes, had another older brother named Johannes (Hans) b.1746. The baptism witnesses for Jakob b.1785 included a Peter Wälti and an Anna Wälti from Lauperswil, which are also the names of 2 other siblings of Niklaus and Hans. It seems likely, therefore, that Jakob was the son of Niklaus' brother Hans, and that Jakob was therefore the nephew of Niklaus, rather than his brother as given by Baumgartner.  The Baumgartner book also says that Jacob sold his farm in Bagischwand to his nephew Johannes, son of Niklaus, in 1815-1816. Land records show that Hans Wälti and his brother Niklaus bought a farm in Bagischwand in 1795 [from a Michael Pfister]. According to a local historian, the farmhouse shown on the photos page was originally built by Hans Wälti.  It seems likely that it was Hans' son Jakob b.1785 who sold the farm, or his interest in it, to Johannes (also called Hans), who was his first cousin rather than his nephew.

FOOTNOTE
(1) In Switzerland, to be "from" a place means that you are a linear descendant, through the male side, of a man who was living in that place at the time the citizenship laws were in enacted in 1676 (even if subsequent generations of your family were born and lived somewhere else).