By Allyson Hunt Wood
In the beautiful canton of Thurgau, nested in the green rolling hills are some small towns near the Uesslingen area including Horben, Buch, Hüttwilen, Warth, and Trüttlikon. There are only just a few miles between the towns or farming communities. Documents as far back as 1094 speak of Buch-Uesslingen, or Uesslingen-Buch as it is now called. The valley is located on a major route between Frauenfeld and Schaffhausen, lying just six miles north-west of Frauenfeld. It was from this area that our Huber family came.
On 23 April 1835, Andreas Huber was born to the family of Johann Andreas Huber and Anna Wehrli, probably living in Bern Canton. He was the fifth child in a family of eight children including: Katharine Magdalena - born 10 Apr 1828, Jakob Andreas - born 24 May 1830, Jakob Gottfried - born 10 Jan 1832, Karl Jakob - born 20 Dec 1833, himself - Johann Andreas, Dorothea - born about 1840 and August born 1 Jun 1841. All of the children are recorded in Horben, near Uesslingen where the family had citizenship. Andreas citizenship is in Buch - Uesslingen in all of the records in Bern, but is actually recorded in Horben.
We know very little of the early life of Andreas. His family had established citizenship in Buch-Uesslingen, but in truth, many of Switzerland’s citizen’s never even stepped foot in their hometown but under the law the vital records are sent back to their ancestral hometown for recording, no matter where they currently live. One record states that he may have lived in Hüttwillen, another village nearby in Thurgau Canton and one other village before locating in Biel, Bern Canton.
Andreas father and brother were “farber’s” which refers to one that adds color or dye to fabrics. There is a chance that he could have been a house painter. He, his father, and brother, (possibly brothers) may have worked together to support their family and all learned the trade from their father.
At the age of 27 he married a young lady by the name of Anna Gygax who was from the Aarwangen area near the Aare River. They were married in the Evangelical Church of Aarwangen, on 22 March 1862 and made their home in Biel, Bern Canton, Switzerland.
Andreas occupation must have caused him to travel around the canton of Bern, as shown by the different locations of his children’s births. He and Anna began their family soon after they were married, and added to it every year or so. Their first child - Anna Maria Elizabeth Huber was born 17 Apr 1862 in Biel. Maria Elise, known as Maria, was born 1 Sep 1863 in Biel. Their only son Johann Karl was born 15 May 1865 in Klus, a small town near Balsthal which is very near Schwarzhaüsen - Anna’s hometown. Maria Elise or Anna Elise, known as Elise or Lisele, was born 2 Jun 1867, presumably in Aarwangen and finally Amalie was born 16 March 1869 in Klus, Solothurn Canton. (The records show some confusion because the names may have been identical; however, Maria and Elise are not the same people.)
Andreas and Anna’s life together seemed to be on pace for a typical life in beautiful Switzerland in the mid-1800's. Switzerland was in the midst of a very tough drought which made life very hard for the people and they struggled to make a living. Andreas worked hard to support his budding family, while his dear Anna stayed at home nurturing and guiding their young children and doing all that is required to run a home. Their life seemed to be on track for many wonderful years together.
However, in 1867 their life took a drastic turn. Andreas fell from the top of a five-story building. If his profession was a house painter we would imagine him falling while he was at work. If his occupation was a fabric dyer this accident would be harder to explain but one way or another it was a devastating accident. Five stories is a very long way to free fall, and it took a terrible toll on Andreas. We imagine that his friends and family did all they could to get help for him and to keep him alive. After the initial critical care, they continued doing all they could to help him heal. Although we do not know the extent of Andreas injuries we do know that he would have suffered a debilitating fall from that distance and with whatever unknown physical injuries he sustained, he also received a major head trauma.
He remained in the hospital for nearly two years, while his wife Anna tried to keep the family together and fed. After two years, the doctors felt that they had helped Andreas all they could and he was taken home to his loving wife and children.
Traumatic head injuries can cause a variety of problems, and depending on how his head landed, his symptoms would be different than if he had fallen with just a slight variation. However, most head traumas leave their victims with a different personality all together, and very little similarity to what and whom they were previously.
While Andreas may have appeared much as before on the outside he was totally different mentally, and he would undoubtedly have struggled with some physical ailments as well, as this was such a great distance to fall.
Often people that suffer from head injuries are left with limited abilities to work as they once did, and realize that what they once could do, they have now forgotten. They are usually quick to anger as the knowledge that they have forgotten how to do so much is brought back to them each time they struggle with a task they can no longer perform. In some ways it is similar to having their arms chopped off, and left with the inability to act. Many survivors of head trauma prefer to be alone where they do not have to live up to something that is now too difficult to do. Living alone they do not have to worry about pleasing others.
Head/brain trauma victims are also quick to become co-dependant. Having him in the hospital would have been a blessing for all - Andreas, Anna and the children. Living in the hospital would have forced him to help himself. If he had gone straight home with Anna and the children he may never have regained any independence.
It is very possible that he like others following a head trauma became emotionless; not being able to cry nor rejoice, being incapable of feeling or showing love and quick to anger. Others with head injuries become just the opposite and want nothing but to show love and receive affection back, often seeking this at all times and from anyone. Both cases are equally devastating to family life. The doctors were consulted as to what the family might do to help Andreas. Anna was told that Andreas was perfectly capable of making a living to support himself if he were forced to do so, but that he would never again be able to provide the necessities required for a family. Andreas’ only hope was that Anna would force him to go out on his own to work and provide for himself.
How much Andreas understood we do not know. It is generally agreed that they realize what is happening to some degree, but unable to understand the reasoning behind the actions. He may have never known how his sweetheart ached as she packed herself and the children and left to find a new place to live on their own. By the time she finally left, they had no place to call home since the financial obligations had piled up and they were destitute.
Andreas wife and children were separated from him and she struggled to meet the basic needs of life for herself and her children. The scars from Andreas accident could be seen on each member of the family. Did Andreas have an inkling of the suffering felt by his family? This we do not know. Nor do we know the extent of his suffering because of the loss of them. These are questions that will not be answered in this life.
He spent time on the streets, and time in the poor house. In his later years, he told his daughter that he had enjoyed a wonderful, easy life and that he always told people he was single with no responsibilities. How this must have hurt his children and his wife, and how it would have hurt the old Andreas to see the pain that was being caused to those he had once loved and held close.
After years of not seeing any of his family, it was heard around town that his oldest daughter, Anna Maria Elizabeth, was leaving and emigrating to America so he came to see her. Sometime about July 1884 he sought her out and came to visit her. She told him of her plans and he said that it was all right with him if she felt she would be happy and contended. Just this simple act shows that a part of him still cared about those who had been taken from him because of the tragedies in life.
Anna struggled with poor health for many years and eventually went insane. She had to be placed in a mental institution which was very hard for her children to do. Elise, the second to the youngest, did all she could to care for her mother in her later years. However, it soon became clear that Anna needed round the clock care, and it took two people to care for her at all times. Elise held her father responsible for her mother’s tragic end. It was the many years of heartache, guilt, mental pain and suffering that lead her there. No one could have questioned that all of the things she suffered could drive her mad. Elise was angry at her father for the part he played.
We must remember that we really don’t know what part he played in this. Did he lose all ability to step back into his role as father and husband or did he take the easy way out? Did he even understand what had happened to the happy life his wife and family had previously enjoyed, or was he past reasoning? Did he try to make life harder for them by throwing salt in their exposed wounds as he pranced around town bragging of his carefree life or was it an unfortunate side affect of a devastating, debilitating tragedy that befell him?
By 1907 he lived full-time in the poorhouse. In the years that followed, Elise’s heart was softened towards him, and she and her husband Jakob Müller took him to a home for the aged where he was cared for and where his needs were met. Swiss law requires a person’s hometown to care for it’s residence if there is no other avenue for them. Andrea’s hometown was Buch-Uesslingen and he was taken back to Thurgau and placed in a hospital specifically for this purpose. The poor house, called St. Katharinanthal, was a small hospital run by the nuns. He lived there until his death on 4 May 1915.
Why did this happen? In this life we will never know. But Christ knows our pains and our sufferings and our hearts. God had a plan and part of that plan was that we be tested. I’m sure that all involved felt that their test was more than they could bear, but we do not know what God has planned and we must trust him as we discover His plan for us . Our ways are often not His ways and in the life to come all will be made right. We will be rewarded for the good that we do and compensated for the pain that we suffer while on earth. We will be rewarded for the way we fulfilled our missions on earth. We do not know the answers to many of the questions concerning Johann Andreas Huber but because we have faith in Christ and his redeeming love we know that all that have lived will be compensated - far beyond what we deserve.
A loving Savior will be his judge, just as he will be ours and when all is said and done we will know that He has been more than fair. And on that day, we will meet Andreas and his wife Anna and their children and grandchildren and know that God is a loving God. We will also know more fully Andreas and his heart.
I must ask myself as I think of this little family - did Andreas and Anna offer in the pre-existence to accept this challenge that one of us might not have to? What knowledge and strength has our family gained and passed on because of the trials Andreas and his family suffered? Was his calling to test the charity of others? Was it through him, and people like him, that God shows us who we are by the way we act toward the needy, the homeless and the down-trodden? Am I facing my challenges with the humility they showed or am I quick to judge another? Do I treat all men as children of God? Do I do all I can to ease another’s burden. Maybe these are the lessons we are meant to learn as we look at the life of a great-great grandfather and his family. God bless us to show more compassion to others and act more like Christ would have us act as we think of the life of this man, Johann Andreas Huber. And when we reach the other side and meet him face to face, he may very well be introduced as “Andreas, a good and faithful servant”.
No comments:
Post a Comment