How we Relate:
Anna is the mother of
Elizabeth Hoffman who is the mother of
Don McKinnon.
This is a biography written by Anna's granddaughter Phebe. I thought about editing and adding little things, but then realized that this was the best source of her life there was. Phebe is Selina's daughter who is Elizabeth's older sister.
LIFE OF ANNA BARBARA BAUMBERGER HOFFMAN
Written by Phebe Norris Smith – 1940 (granddaughter)
On August 31, 1826, at Fallenden, Zurich, Switzerland, Anna Barbara Baumberger was born. Her parents were Elizabeth Gachnang and Cristoph Baumberger. She had three brothers and two sisters. They were Jacob, Casper, Heinrich, Eliza and Elizabeth.
Barbara passed her early girlhood in the little village of Fallenden. She went to school until she was 10 years old, and also learned to weave silk. Her brother was superintendent of the silk factory in the village, and she would weave on her loom at home and then send it to the factory to receive her wages. She was paid by the yard, so she put in long hours.
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| Fallenden, Switzerland |
When she was about 31 years old, she married Hans Henry Hoffman, a widower with three children. She set about to gain the love and confidence of these children, Casper, John and Rudolph. John had a head injury as a child and would remain mentally handicapped for his life. They were soon won over by her kindness, that is, all except Rudolph, who did all he could to stir up trouble for the new stepmother.
During the next ten years, four children were born; Selina, Elizabeth, Jacob and Harry. The family belonged to the Lutheran Church. One morning, when they were all ready to go to church at Phaufhousen, which was about 2 or 3 miles away, Rudolph revolted and said that he was not going to church, but was going to go shoot crows, as they were eating the walnuts in the woods nearby. Barbara remonstrated with him, as she always kept the Sabbath Day holy, but he only laughed at her and her religious ideas, so they went to church without him. When they returned, he was suffering intensely as he had blown the fingers off one hand in an accident with his gun.
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| Hoffman Children: Harry, Elizabeth and Selina |
Her son, Jacob, died in infancy. One of her brothers died and she took his daughter, Bobetta, at three years of age and cared for her until she was 12 years old, when she went to live with her mother's people.
The country was beautiful, and the land so productive that every inch was utilized. When Spring came, the woods nearby bloomed gaily with wild flowers and berries. The children would gather the berries to make delicious preserves and dried fruit from May, when the strawberries were ripe, until late in the fall. Barbara and the children kept busy preparing food and keeping up the little garden in the rear of the house.
Hans Henry raised a little grain which he cut with a scythe and threshed with a flail. The children then carried the carefully harvested wheat on their backs to the tow of Bence, which was about 3 miles away. The miller of the town would grind the wheat to flour. The bread Barbara made from this flour was dark and course, as the finely milled white flour was a great luxury. Sometimes Barbara would let the children take the grain to the baker to get some "white" bread, which was always an expensive delicacy.
They kept cows, chickens and pigs and there was always plenty of butter, milk, eggs and pork. They raised hay for the cows and it was cut with a scythe and raked with a hand rake. Then they hooked the cow to the wagon and hauled the hay to the barn. Every day they would take the cows to the town watering trough. The water was piped into the trough from a spring. All the children of the town gathered here to water their stock. It was a happy time--a time for chatting and playing before returning the cows to the barn.
One of Barbara's brothers raised a lot of grapes. In the fall, the whole family would go to his place and help gather in the grapes to make wine, and then they would have a party and drink the fresh grape juice.
In Switzerland, everyone learns a trade and then specializes in that type of work. Hans Henry was a mason and a stone cutter who knew his profession well. Barbara never did a washing. She always had a wash woman. She always had a tailor do her sewing. She could make more money weaving silk. The girls knitted all the stockings. As they grew older, they helped their mother weave silk, and each earned 30 to 40 francs a week (a franc was about $.20 in U.S. money, but would buy as much as in America). They were a happy industrious family, and with the children beginning to earn money to add to the family income, they were quite prosperous.
The Mormon Elders Seek Out Barbara
One day Barbara and the girls sat weaving silk, and they were singing as they enjoyed working the many colors into a pretty pattern. A sudden strange feeling came over Barbara and she turned to see if someone was present. Coming up the walk were three Mormon elders-Elder Stuki of Paris, Idaho, Charles W. Penrose of Salt Lake City, and William Budge of Logan, Utah. Grandma welcomed them into her home and when she found that they were traveling without purse or scrip, she invited them to stay for supper. The elders soon became good friends of the family.
Hans Henry did not object to Barbara listening to them tell of their religion, but he would always leave the room and go upstairs. The more Barbara learned of the Gospel the more anxious she became for him to see the light. She prayed that she might find some way to convert him. Her two sisters, Elizabeth Benzley and Eliza Bluemell and families, joined the church and went to Utah in 1866, but Barbara had to wait for 10 more years before her husband became converted. Finally, one day he surprised her by saying, if she still wished to go to America he would go with her. For this she was overjoyed as she found it hard to live her religion in her native land. They sold their home and belongings and were soon ready to go.
Barbara's three children, Elizabeth, Selina, and Harry; two stepsons, Casper and John, Casper's wife Ida, and a friend named Karl Kramer, were in the company. When they were ready to leave, almost everyone in the village (mostly relatives) turned out to see them off, and there was not a dry eye to be seen. They all knew they would never meet again and it was sad to part. Harry cried until his stepbrother, Casper, threatened to throw him overboard if he did not stop. Harry was only 12 years old, and he was leaving many of his beloved playmates and happy times behind.
A Trip To Zion
They sailed down the Rhine River in a boat, leaving home on June 11, 1877. They sailed from Liverpool in a ship called The Wisonsin and were on the ship 18 days. Barbara and the girls were sick most of the time. The food on board was always poor in those days--everyone complained about it--the bread was hard as a rock. Harry would go to the ship's cook and get a little bucket of gruel for the sick which was about the only thing that was fit to eat. They were so happy when they heard it was about time to land that they got up before daylight and made themselves ready. When they got to New York they took in the sights for a day and visited Castle Gardens. They then boarded the train for Zion.
They got to Evanston, Wyoming the first part of July, 1877, and were met by Barbara's nephew and her sister's husband. They rode in a wagon until they came to the old river bridge north of Almy, Wyoming, and camped for the night. When they ate the lunch prepared for them, everything seemed new and strange. They had never tasted pie and they also had cookies, an unheard of luxury for these people who were not used to pastry, and scarcely knew what sugar was. In the old country, cereal, rice and fruit were eaten without sugar. They turned their horses out and slept on the ground. Next morning they hunted until noon before they found their horses, as there were no fences at that time--all the country was open.
They got to Randolph that night and stayed with Barbara's sister, Eliza Bluemell. A happy reunion took place when she saw her sisters, Eliza and Elizabeth, and their families. They had been living in Randolph for ten years.
Hans Henry still had money left after paying $800 for fares and the expenses of the trip. He used this money to purchase four city lots and a 3-room house from O.J. Spencer. They were on Church Street below the canal in the southeast corner of the town. He also bought 80 acres of hay land located east of town on the Bear River, but he liked most to work at his trade.
Casper was a first-class carpenter and he made most of the furniture. The only things they bought were a kitchen stove, heating stove, rocking chair, and later on a red plush lounge. This was all the furniture she ever owned, but she was always happy and contented in her clean, orderly home and made everyone feel welcome.
The children went to work in homes to learn the language. Selina worked for John R. Smith, and Elizabeth, who later married Archibald McKinnon, worked for Sarah Tyson. They received their board and room. Harry played with the neighbor's children and soon learned the language. Casper settled in Logan, Utah.
Hans Henry worked on the Logan Temple for two or three years. At one time he carried his bedding and walked home from Logan. At that time Randolph was a part of the Bear Lake Stake and he was called to work on the Temple. He was paid from the tithing funds or products given for tithing. However, these products were located in the Bear Lake Stakehouse in Paris, Idaho, and he would have to hire a team to go there and collect the potatoes, flour and other food-stuffs that were his pay. He was paid with cows that were turned in at Randolph. He also worked on the Paris tabernacle. He died December 5, 1888 after three days of illness. He made a trip to Laketown to get a load of flour and caught a cold which turned into pneumonia and caused his death. This was a great trial to Barbara as she was 62, all of her children were married and she was practically alone.
John was the only son at home and he tended the cows and garden. She always kept a pig and chickens. The corral was always kept clean, even the pig pen was clean. Of course, she did not do this work, but she was a good manager and saw that it was kept just so.
I used to visit her as a little child and it was an inspiration to see her well kept place. Every inch of the ground was cultivated--3 1/2 acres of the prettiest lucerne I have seen; a well kept garden where a weed never had a chance to thrive, a beautiful flower garden watered with water drawn from the well, and a currant patch.
She did not go to church much in the winter as it was hard for her to walk and she did not understand the English language well. She never tried to speak English, and when we visited, she would speak in Swiss-German and make us understand it. I remember once when she wanted me to understand that she wanted me to go to the store and buy some black lining. I knew it was "black" but could not make out "lining". She took me by the ear and led me into the bedroom to her clothes wardrobe. She pointed to the lining in her dress and said, "Das is Swartch ferter." In those days, they always lined their winter dresses and also wore many petticoats as the houses were always cold, and even in church they only had one pot belly stove which warmed only the first few front seats.
Every Sunday she would read her Bible. My cousin, Barbara McKinnon, and I would often go to visit with her. I can see her now, seated on the red plush lounge reading her Bible, dressed in a brown cashmere dress with a gored skirt and a ruffle on the bottom, and with a row of buttons down the front. Her hair was braided in two braids and parted in the middle, the braids crossed in the back and wound around her head. She always wore a black crochet hat.
The first thing she did after taking off our wraps was to go in the bedroom and open a large box which had a white curtain tacked around it and a white scarf on the top. It sat in one corner of the bedroom and in this she kept her best clothes. We knew there was a can in one corner of the box where she kept some peppermints and horhound candy. Of course, we would peek, but we always got this treat and a handful of raisins or a few prunes. Then we would sit quietly while she read the Bible aloud, although we could understand very little of what she read.
When I was about 10 years old, I stayed with her for the winter. She would let me cook hot cakes and set the table. She would not let me have any sugar on my cereal--not because she was stingy, but she had been brought up that way. I could spread all the honey and jam on my cakes that I wanted. She taught me a Swiss prayer and songs in her language. She would let me take the butter to pay tithing and to the store to buy her groceries. Butter generally sold for $.18 per pound. She had a friend, Aunt Ann Peart, and often she would let me carry her some butter, groceries or a mince meat pie, but she would always say not to tell anyone. Her motto was do not let the left hand know what the right hand is doing.
Casper went back to Switzerland on a mission. Harry went on a mission to the Northern States on January 4, 1900. I remember how she cried as she did not think she would live to see him again, but she lived a year after his return.
John died in the fall of 1901. Then Grandma could not live alone as she was sick quite a lot and John had always done the hard work. So she came to live with my mother. I guess it was pretty hard to leave her quiet, well ordered home and live with a family of 14. Mother had 10 children at home and my Grandfather Norris was living with us.
But, she was always kind to us children and told us many interesting stories and knitted our stockings. How well I remember my grandmother's log cabin, and the old-fashioned flowers that grew around the door.
She died of dropsy, December 5, 1903. Although she had only three children, her posterity now numbers 172. (1940)
I appreciate the sacrifice Grandmother made, as I am sure that she would have been much happier in her native land, as she was 51 years old when she left there, but through her sacrifice, 172 of her descendents are enjoying the blessings of the Gospel, and although Uncle Casper and his grandson went back to Switzerland on a mission, not one of her many relatives living there ever joined the Church.
