The following article is based on the work of Bruno Maurer, local historian and genealogist. He lived in Veltheim, Canton Aargau and passed away in 2001. He documented the genealogy of many families and researched the history of the Schinznach mills and their owners. He also investigated the history of the traditional inns in Schinznach. The results of this research was published in four parts in the Brugger Tagblatt in autumn 1996. This series of articles is now presented in a slightly edited version and supplemented with additional images.
The Bären in Schinznach
The oldest tavern in Schinznach and how its name changed from “The Lion” to “The Bear” (or “Bären” in Swiss German).
The first reference to a tavern in Schinznach occured in 1378. The village regulations of 1547 clearly stated that when a second tavern was opened, double taxes had to be paid. The “Pfennigzinsrodel”, which the newly arrived preacher Klingler created in 1694 to record all owners of arable land who were liable to pay church tax, also lists the names of innkeepers.
The baptism entries of the same clergyman include notes such as “the innkeeper’s son” or “the innkeeper’s wife”, small pieces of a puzzle from which family relationships become apparent. It turned out that around 1600, families named Hiltpolt (the modern spelling is Hiltpold) were active in both taverns. They were very influential and belonged to the wealthiest families in the village.
The Names of the Schinznach Inns
Because the two inns did not yet have names at that time, an additional descriptor such as “the upper innkeeper” or “the lower innkeeper” was often used. Only in 1696 did the taverns receive their current names “Bären” for the upper inn and “Hirzen” for the lower inn. However, the “Bären” must have already had a name before, as the author of the “Chronicle of Schinznach-Dorf,” Eduard Gerber, found the following entry in the church court manual of 1684:
“Uechel Michel, the Löwen innkeeper, gave his wedding guests a place to dance at Hans Byland’s wedding. Fine 1 pound. 6 dancers pay 10 shillings each, 8 women pay 5 shillings each.”
Further research shows, the “Löwen” and later the “Bären” are one and the same inn. Obviously, the Bernese had difficulties with accepting the Habsburg symbol, the lion. Since 1696 the Bernese heraldic animal was used to name the tavern, namely the bear.
The Innkeeper Families Hiltpold and Zulauf
From the Hiltpold era in the “upper inn”, Johann, called Spatz, went down in history. He was accused of participating in the Peasants’ War of 1653 and was fined. After 1680, as the above church court entry shows, the Hiltpold innkeeper dynasty probably ended. The “Uechel Michel” who was fined on account of a wedding in 1684 would today be described as follows: Ulrich Meyer, son of Michael, born 1653, married on March 27, 1673, to Anna Zulauf, born 1650, daughter of the deputy Hans Ulrich Zulauf, who died in office in 1666.
Around 1690, a cousin of this Anna, Hans Ulrich Zulauf, took over the inn after his marriage in 1689 to the local Anna Lüem. They were the “Löwen” innkeepers until 1694/95, when the Bernese bear prevailed. In one of the few remaining financial statements from Kasteln from 1696, the “Bären” and “Hirschen” were mentioned by name for the first time.
Innkeeper Family Amsler
Because none of the Zulauf sons wanted to be innkeepers, a certain Kull from Niederlenz was tenant from 1735 to 1750. Hans Ulrich Zulauf Junior, another son from the family, married in 1732 at the age of 37 the widow of the blacksmith Amsler from the sawmill (a.k.a. lower mill) who had died prematurely. She brought six children into the marriage. One of these stepsons became the first “Bärenwirt” named Amsler. Samuel Amsler-Rufli, born 1723, was the chosen one who held the reins in the Schinznach “Bären” from 1750 for the next 50 years and became the progenitor of an innkeeper dynasty that still existed in the 20th century. He married Susanna Rufli from Seengen in 1748.
His eldest son Jakob built the “Bären” on the Bözberg pass, called the Stalden. Another son, Johann Jakob, became innkeeper in the Veltheim “Pinte,” later called Hirschen. The second youngest son Rudolf was also an innkeeper.
The Gasthof Bären in Bözberg was an important horse-changing station according to a report by Viktor Jahn: “On the Stalden in the last century”, published in the Brugger Neujahrsblatt 1912, pages 31-43.
The Schinznach Amsler Innkeeper Dynasty
The “Bären” in Schinznach was taken over by the youngest son Kaspar. In 1836, there was an interruption in the Amsler innkeeper dynasty. After this time, Emanuel Herrmann and his wife Maria, born Heuberger, were innkeepers. Their only son emigrated to America. Their daughter Elisabeth married Samuel Horlacher, son of the innkeeper in Umiken, who took over the “Bären” in 1860. Sixteen years later, he grew tired of innkeeping and sold the inn on April 12, 1876, to “Jakob Amsler, Jakobs, butcher and Hirschen innkeeper there.” And this same Jakob Amsler (1836–1901) is the great-grandson of the first “Amsler-Bärenwirt” Samuel Amsler-Rufli, but also the great-grandfather of the “Bärenwirt” Fritz Amsler-Hollenstein (*1951).
The “Lower Inn” was renamed “Hirschen”
As already explained, a tavern was mentioned in Schinznach in 1378, and in 1547 the opening of a second tavern was mentioned. Around 1600, families named Hiltpold ran both taverns, which were called “Upper” and “Lower Inn.” They did not yet have names. In 1696, the Bernese rulers gave the “Upper Inn” the name “Bären,” the “Lower Inn” became the “Hirschen” or, in the old term for deer, the “Hirzen.” The two inns have much in common, as shown in the first part.
Jakob Amsler, who bought the “Bären” for 32,000 francs on April 12, 1876, was the Hirschen innkeeper and butcher. Jakob Amsler continued as innkeeper until 1907, when his son Jakob (1873–1914) succeeded him. He died unexpectedly at the age of only 41. His brother Friedrich (1884–1959) took over with his wife Marie (1886–1964) and ran the inn for 35 years until 1949. During this time, the barn was demolished and a hall was built.
Fritz and Klara Amsler-Schläfli remodeled the restaurant in 1953, renovated the small hall in 1956, and carried out a major renovation from 1969 to 1971, giving the “Bären” its present appearance. On July 1, 1980, Fritz and Kläry Amsler handed over the “Bären” after 33 years of activity to their son Fritz Jakob and daughter-in-law Ursula Amsler-Hollenstein, who have since then made various modernizations and renovations.
Since 2019, the inn with its eleven hotel rooms has been owned by Sile and Markus Spicher. The couple saved the building from being converted into apartments, thus preserving an important meeting place in the village.
Innkeeper Families Amsler and Hiltpold
The fate of the “Bären” and the “Hirzen” was closely linked in the past. First, the Hiltpold families owned both inns, later there was a connection with the Amsler family. When Johann Jakob Amsler acquired the “Bären” in 1776, he sold his former inn, the “Hirzen,” back to a Hiltpold family member.
The “Hirzen” or “Hirschen” is first mentioned by name in 1696. Before that, historic documents refer to it as “the lower innkeeper” or “innkeeper by the church.” The latter designation is found in the baptismal register of 1619. Here, Friedli Hiltpold, born in 1594, is named as innkeeper, whose brother Ueli later went down in history as a peasant leader. Friedli Hiltpold ran the inn until the 1640s, after which the baptismal entries for his younger brother Ueli include the addition “the innkeeper.” The reason is that their father Samuel Hiltpold died in 1642 and, according to Bernese inheritance law, the “minorat” applied. Accordingly, the youngest son inherited the paternal estate.
Hence Ueli Hiltpold moved into the “lower inn.” He and his wife Elsbeth Meyer had 15 children baptized. Whether Ueli Hiltpold, called “Thoni,” owned the “lower inn” until his death in 1672 cannot be clearly established, as the pastor’s notes are incomplete.
The resolute Daughter-in-law
It is certain that “Thoni’s” son Friedrich (Friedli), born in 1645, took over the inn. He married Ursula Keller in 1670, presumably a daughter of Pastor Keller, who died in the plague in 1668. She apparently had her issues with certain priests and became known in the church court manual. The entry reveals how narrow-minded and bigoted the authorities were at the time: “Urseli Paschi,” wife of “Friedli Thonis,” was admonished by Pastor Kehrer to take better care of her house.
She then told the bailiff that she would like to thank the preacher very much for taking such good care of her house and would like to tell him further that God had allowed her to distribute wine and bread in her inn just like the preacher distributes wine and bread in Holy Communion. She then informed the preacher that she was as good at her innkeeping as the pastor was at his preaching.
Because she was pregnant and already had several small children and her husband was in prison for debts he owed to the bailiff in Schenkenberg, she was spared a fine. Instead, she was put in a pillory and paraded through the village. By today’s standards, the courageous woman deserves respect for her statement, for according to Reformed Protestant belief, the pastor is not a superior human being by virtue of office.
Around 1680, the “lower inn” must have passed into the possession of deputy Hans Ulrich Lüem, with whom a new innkeeper family determined the history of the inn for the next seventy years.
Eventful Lüem Era at the “Hirzen”
Around 1680, the “lower inn,” as the “Hirzen” was then called, passed from the Hiltpold family to Hans Ulrich Lüem. When the inn was renamed in 1696 and henceforth called “Hirzen,” Johann Lüem took over the inn. He married Verena Simmen in 1688. Their son Balthasar, born in 1690, is later found in the records as innkeeper and deputy.
Balthasar Lüem married Anna Hübscher from Staffelbach in 1712. His wife died in 1722, and as a widower with six children, Balthasar must have looked for an innkeeper in his place. In the 1720s, a Kasteln registry entry notes that a Ludwig Wernli “zinsete.” In 1726, Balthasar Lüem married for the second time. With Elisabeth Häfliger, his chosen one, he baptized five more children. As deputy, farmer, and innkeeper, he was certainly very busy. At the beginning of 1742, he died unexpectedly in office. For the first time after the innkeeper’s death, there are again no conclusive records, except for an entry from 1744 in the death register: “Susanna Häfliger, widow of the late deputy and Hirzen innkeeper Lüem, died at the age of only 40.” Within just over two years, the innkeepers had passed away. In 1744, the Bernese council manuals also contain an entry about the withdrawal of the tavern rights of the Hirschen tavern in Schinznach, initiated by the Bären innkeeper Hans Ulrich Kull. The reasons were manifold: The “Bären” had been taken over by a feudal tenant, Hans Ulrich Kull from Niederlenz. The “Hirschen,” for its part, was orphaned at that time after the innkeeper and deputy Balthasar Lüem had died. His widow was fined for „over-innkeeping until the bright morning,” and she died shortly after her husband. Son Rudolf Lüem was fined for gambling. The competition thus had an easy time bringing down this inn, which, according to the judgment, also happened.
What happened to the “Hirzen” can be assumed based on a death entry. Pastor Saxer writes on May 18, 1756: “Margrit Wernli, wife of Ludwig Wernli, Hirzen innkeeper, died.” On closer inspection of this entry, it can thus be assumed that Ludwig Wernli took over the orphaned “Hirzen” as innkeeper for a second time. Again, the necessary documents for a change of ownership are missing for about 20 years, but it seems likely that around this time the acting deputy Hans Jakob Schaffner acquired the “Hirzen.” In 1773, he sold the inn to the blacksmith Johann Amsler-Wernli, a brother of the current Bären innkeeper Samuel Amsler-Rufli. This innkeeper dynasty owned the “Hirzen” for the next 100 years.
Amsler in the “Hirzen” until 1876
Before 1700, the Hiltpold families were innkeepers in both the “lower” and “upper” inns, and 100 years later, the Amsler family took on this role. As already mentioned, in 1773, the blacksmith Johann Amsler-Wernli, a brother of the “Bären” innkeeper Samuel Amsler-Rufli, acquired the “Hirzen” and the smithy there.
The above image shows blacksmith Jakob Amsler-Hiltpold and miller Adolf Hartmann shoeing a horse in the open street in front of the former “Schmitte,” which was operated in the basement of the “Hirschen”. The smithy was later converted to a bakery.
As for the Amsler family, one can truly speak of an innkeeper dynasty, around 1800 this branch was represented in various inns in the area: On the “Bären” in Stalden on the Bözberg, an Amsler family ran the inn for over 100 years, in the Veltheim “Hirschen,” the Amsler family was present for about 80 years, and in the Küttigen “Gasthof zum Kreuz” another Amsler from the Schinznach “Bären” family was also innkeeper.
Finally, the Bären innkeeper in Villnachern should also be mentioned; he was a son of Johann Amsler-Wernli, the Schinznach Hirzen innkeeper.
The transition in the “Hirzen” to the next generation is not evident from the records, but the next generation is verifiable: Kaspar Amsler, a grandson of Johann Amsler-Wernli, married Verena Amsler, the daughter of the Veltheim “Hirschen” innkeeper, and moved in as innkeeper and blacksmith in the “Hirzen.” When the couple grew old and had no son who wanted to continue the business, the youngest brother of the innkeeper’s wife, Hans Jakob Amsler, took over the “Hirzen.” As already mentioned, the Amsler family sold the “Hirzen” in 1876 and have been active in the “Bären” ever since.
100 Years of Hiltpold in the “Hirzen”
The “Hirzen” now again features a family name that was common there 200 years earlier, when the inn was still called the “lower inn”: the Hiltpold family took over again. Jakob Hiltpold (nicknamed “Boths”) was the new innkeeper. According to the deed of sale, he acquired:
“1.A three-story residential house with two apartments, vaulted cellar, plus two annexes with a butcher’s shop and wagon shed of stone and wood under a tiled roof, the half designated as lit. B, valued and insured at 3’150 francs, namely: the cellar, the apartment in all parts of the first floor, the butcher’s shop, half the attic, and the lower shed.
2. The barn described in the land register under No. 198, of stone and wood, covered with tiles and estimated and insured for Fr. 1’450.-
3. Approximately 4.5 Acres (2/16 Juch.) gardenland behind the barn and between the heirs of Johannes Amsler, town clerk and Ulrich Riniker, Hüngels, on the other side“
The purchase price was 9’000 francs. Included in the purchase were the following items: 7 tables, 6 benches, 14 chairs, 1 portable stove with pipe, 4 wine barrels, 66 pieces of glassware, 1 kitchen cabinet, 1 cellar cabinet, as well as a pigsty in the rear stable.
For almost 100 years, until 1973, the Hiltpold dynasty ran the establishment. The last Hiltpold innkeeper of the “Hirzen,” Hans Hiltpold—also known as “Hirze-Hans” or “de Chly” because of his small stature—became legendary. For 26 years he served as president of the district innkeepers’ association.
Under his leadership—he was a baker—a bakery was established in the “Hirzen” in place of the former smithy, which was later continued by his son‑in‑law Emil Hartmann.
In 1973, Hans Hiltpold sold the “Hirzen” and died one year later in a tragic accident; he drowned in the Talbach stream. In new hands, the property underwent a fundamental renovation after a consortium acquired the “Hirzen” in 1973. The bakery and confectionery received a new location in the lower village and thus disappeared from the “Hirzen.” In its place, additional dining rooms were created, and the entrance was redesigned.
Various tenants followed one another until May 1986, when Heinz and Vreny Wessner purchased the building. For health reasons, they sold the business in autumn 1987 to Lisbeth and Dieter Keist, who have successfully run the traditional establishment ever since. The couple ran the business until 2022 and then sold the historic building. After renovation and conversion, several rental apartments were created there.
Amsler Innkeeper Dynasty in Veltheim
Johann Jakob Amsler (1759–1834) was one of three brothers who worked as innkeepers. He became the innkeeper in Veltheim. His brother Kaspar took over the “Bären” in Schinznach, while Jakob moved to the Bözberg and ran the “Bären” on the Stalden. For around 200 years, the descendants of Johann Jakob shaped the fortunes of the “Hirschen” in Veltheim.
The last innkeeper was Emma Gloor‑Amsler (1912–1996), who ran the business well into her old age. After her death, her descendants continued to operate the restaurant until 2011. The inn was then closed, and after renovations, the building was converted into purely residential use.
