It was from there that in 1881 Tom’s great-grandfather, Johann Jacob Schönbächler, his wife, Katharina Schönbächler-Kälin, and their little son, Joseph Martin, had emigrated westward on the MS Labrador.
Barely arrived at the airport in Zurich-Kloten, Tom and Greg are going right away up to Einsiedeln. At age 32, Greg Schoenbaechler, a producer of commercial films and an artist in his leisure time, is visibly delighted to finally be in his village of origin. “I can barely express my delight. I am so very moved.
For years I have been dealing with our voluminous family history. On ancestors.com I make discoveries again and again, and I have already learned much about the emigration of my great-great-grandfather to America. To be allowed to be here at this very place is really something - Einsiedeln is a part of me.”
Tom Schoenbaechler, Greg’s father, age 65, a retired bookkeeper for Ernst & Young in Louisville, views it similarly: “Our wide-spread Schoenbaechler family is proud of its Swiss, its Einsiedeln heritage; and that despite our not speaking Swiss German and having but little ‘Swissness’ in our every day dealings and in our way of life. I spent many a happy hour with my grandfather Joseph Martin who was born in Einsiedeln and until four years of age had lived with his parents at Einsiedeln’s Schmiedenstrasse, its Smith Street. He still spoke good Swiss German, but unfortunately, he did not teach me.”
Tom continues: “My longing for roots, for the homeland of our ancestors is strong. But for my son, although being of the fifth generation of an Einsiedeln emigrant, it is even much stronger! To know where we come from is, I think, a primal human need.”
For both travelers from the United States it was a unique highlight to visit the house of their great- and great-great-grandfather Johann Jacob Schönbächler in the “Stollern” at the “Birchli”.
There is not only a picture-taking event in front of the home, but the present owners kindly invite their visitors inside to see the old eighteenth century farmhouse. Tom: “Emotions become strong. It's incredible being allowed to stand in the very rooms in which my forebears were growing up. I must really tell it in all its detail at home, especially to my great-aunt Mary Rose Schoenbaechler Limb. With her siblings, she has been in Einsiedeln twice already and truly appreciates Switzerland.”
For Tom and Greg the wholly unplanned visit with Sister Cäcilia Kälin in the Benedictine monastery Au at Trachslau will remain just as unforgettable. Tom: “What a person full of humor, this Sister Cäcilia. Meeting her, one of our Kälin relatives on the side of great-grandfather, has been wonderful. Her sister, the nun Sr. Walburga is unfortunately confined to bed and could not see us. I never thought that we would experience so much right here in Einsiedeln.”
Next time, Tom probably will travel to Einsiedeln also with his daughter Katharine (Katie) Marie Schoenbaechler Jenkins; this year, she was working and caring for her two little daughters.
In Einsiedeln, Schoenbaechler relatives of Tom and Greg are not to be found anymore - despite the efforts of Patrick Schönbächler, an attorney in Einsideln, who has done worldwide research concerning Schoenbaechler families and has established his own community on Facebook, the “International Schoenbaechler Clan”.
