My Swiss connection begins with my 4G

My Swiss connection begins with my 4G-Grandfather, Thomas Wyatt, who married Sarah Phillips on July 28th, 1828 in Beverly, Randolph County, (West) Virginia. While their marriage is not especially significant, it does give us a documented link. You see, the ceremony was performed by his uncle Thomas Collett. It is from this point that we begin our journey backwards in time from Western Virginia in 1828 to Switzerland in 1750.

Thomas' father, Edmon Wyatt, married Mary Collett. From this point on I must rely on the work of others and thus the "family legend," so to speak, begins. Shortly before I moved to Tunisia in June of 2000, I received an e-mail message from another Wyatt family researcher. The message included a long thread of a story about the origins of one side of the Wyatt family. Specifically, going back the Collett line. The following story was published in the Allegheny Regional Ancestors - volume 7, #4, winter 1998:

Thomas Collet Sr.'s wife was Margaret "Bartlett" who was an illegitimate daughter of Mary "Conrad" who was the daughter of Jacob Conrad Sr. Mary Conrad is supposed to have been born in Switzerland about 1748, but there is controversy regarding this date. Probably would have been earlier. Some of the Conrads married into our relatives (note by Carol)

According to an unpublished book on the Conrads by Barbara Hamilton of Bridgeport, W. Va.:

Jacob Conrad Sr. (name was Curet in Switzerland), born 18 April 1705 in Switzerland, died 7 Dec. 1775 in what is now Pendleton County W Va. His Will is in Augusta County Va. Will Book 5, pg 409. The original was written in German.

He married Verena Lerch (known as Fanny) about 1742. Barbara says that Swiss records show her to have been born 1719 and died 19 April 1749 at Attiswell, BR., Switzerland. Jacob came from Switzerland in 1750 on the Ship "Patience" as a widower with 4 children. His name was spelled "Conrath" on the passenger list. They lived for a while in the Berks-Lancaster area Co., Pa. area before moving to Rockingham Co. Va. He was in Pendleton County by 1763. She does not list a second wife for him.

Jacob's parents were Jacob Curet and Susananna Leysi. Jacob was born 1671-73, in Oerbipp, BE Switzerland. They married there 6 May 1698. Susanna was born about 1577, and records have been found for 3 children. Hans, Ullrick, Curet, Chr. 17 Apr 1701. Oberbipp BE Switzerland. Durs Curet, Chr. 1 Sep 1709, Jacob Curet born 19 April 1705.

This Jacob's parents (above) were Barthlomew Churet b about 1645 Attiswell BE Switzerland, and Barbara Ryff, b ca 1649 also at Attiswell, Switzerland. They married there about 1670 according to Barbara, a Mr. Virgil Conrad paid a professional researcher in Switzerland to do the early research there.

Allegheny Regional Ancestors - volume 7, #4, winter 1998

This extract from the article was enough to help me continue the research. In May 2001, we took a vacation to Europe to visit my wife's parents in Germany. I did not have sufficient time to pay much attention to the message last year and quickly forgot about it. By coincidence I happened to stumble across the message on my computer shortly before I departed on this trip. I drove through Switzerland after crossing the border at Geneva. We stopped at an information center along the Autobahn. The center is equipped with a computer connected to the MySwitzerland.com web site. We were unable to locate the towns of Attiswell, a misspelling. I did find Oberbipp, however, I could not find it on a map. I bought a more detailed map of Switzerland in the gift shop and discovered the towns of Attiswil and Oberbipp in the Canton of Bern. Amazingly, both villages are within two minutes of an Autobahn exit we would pass within the hour. Call it fate, good fortune or whatever you like. We drove around the village, ate dinner and stayed overnight in a wonderful Gasthof (quest house). In the morning we visited the Gemindesamt (Community Administration). They directed us to the town of Wangen on the south side or the Aare river about 4 kilometers away. The lady at the city office in Wangen told us all records prior to 1790 were transferred to Bern.

We ran into several other Americans at the Bern archives. We also had some success locating church records on microfilm. I have a great deal of experience reading old German text, however, the handwriting style in most of the records was extremely difficult to decipher. We had only a couple of hours before we had to depart, so we copied as much as we could. Since I returned home I have only been able to confirm two records among the copies we made. Hopefully I'll be able to find the book mentioned in the text above so I can review the researcher's notes.

Attiswil and Oberbipp are two small Swiss villages which lie at the base of the Leberen Mountain, just north of the Aare River in the Canton of Bern.