My first steps as a family researcher took place in 1989. I learned to decipher old documents and visited the town archive in Boezen to browse the church books there. After many hours I had compiled a handwritten list of all the Amslers who had been baptized in the parish since 1562. I also met other “Amsler researchers”, Rolf Hallauer, who had researched the Densbuerer Amsler, and Bruno Maurer, explorer of the Amsler from Schinznach. From Bruno I received an exchange of letters about the Amsler in Buus, Baselland.
Miss Ruth Peter-Amsler, a citizen of Buus, was able to learn the following from the State Archives of the cantons of Aargau and Baselland:
The Amsler of Buus originated in the canton of Aargau in Boezen. Johannes Amsler, the miller of Boezen, applied for citizenship in Buus in July 1763. The congregation accepted him unanimously; on 3 August 1763, the Small Council of Basel also agreed. Johannes Amsler was already engaged to Catharina Handschin, Mueller’s daughter. Since the miller Hans Handschin, originally from Rickenbach, later from Buus, had only three daughters, Johannes Amsler was able to take over the somewhat dilapidated mill. Johannes Amsler and Catharina Handschin married in Buus on 22 August 1763.
When Johannes Amsler died on 9 March 1792, he was “aged 60 and a few years”. In the period in question (1732 and before) there are two entries in the Boezen baptism registry which might apply:
- 16 October 1729 – Name of the child: Hans; Parents : Caspar Amsler and Elsbeth Kistler
- 20 January 1732 – Name of the child: Hans Heinrich; Parents : Caspar Amsler and Elsbeth Kistler
- Entry in the Marriage Register of 27 February 1722: Caspar Amsler from Boezen with Elsbeth Kistler from Boezen.
Through my own research, I concluded that not only Hans came to Buus as a miller, but also his brothers were working in mills. I found confirmation of this fact in the parish archives in Boezen. In the so-called “Haus Besuchungs Roedel” of 1757 I found this hint:
Probably on behalf of the Bailiff of Schenkenberg, the village pastor had to make a list of all the houses and their inhabitants in his parish. The first list of 1757 contains a sequential list of all houses and households. Caspar Amsler lives in Boezen in house 35, household 58.
Caspar Amsler is the sole householder, his wife Elisabeth Kistler died on 6 March 1745 and his four children have all moved away:
- Johannes, zu Meischerg Muellerknecht (Maisprach)
- Heinrich, zu Liechstal Muellerknecht (Liesstal)
- Jacob, Mueller zu Duerrenroth geheirathet
- Marey zu Meischerg in diensten (Maisprach)
The eldest daughter Susanna got married in 1746 to Heinrich Buechli and moved to Elfingen, where she died in 1790.
Based on the church records of Graffenried, Canton Berne, we learn that Jacob Amsler after the death of his first wife moved from Duerrenroth to Fraubrunnen to the local mill, married for a second time and founded a family. In contrast to his brother Johannes in Buus, he retained the citizenship of Boezen and until today his descendants are residing in the Canton Berne.
Johannes, who was born in 1729, moved from Maisprach to Buus, took over the mill of his stepfather Hans Handschin and together with his wife Catharina, became the progenitor of the Amsler from Buus.
