Barbara (Anna) Neuenschwander

  Noted events in her life were:

• Surname Spelling. ⁶⁶⁶ A little bit about my surname: The “Schwand” in the German/Swiss dialect is a forest area, which through the felling of trees and the rooting of stumps, has been cleared into fields and pasturelands. Around the year 1200 or 1300, many places in the forests were newly cleared; one such later clearing received the name of “Neuen-Schwand” or new clearing. “Neuenschwand” was near the village of Eggiwil. People who lived in Neuen-Schwand were called Neuenschwander. The name of the town goes back over eleven hundred years.

In 1357, a man named Honnius helped establish the “rights” of the Catholic Church. Since Honnius was such a famous man and did great works, he wanted a name that would set him apart from the common people. He therefore added to his name, the name of his hometown, Neuenschwand. This surname has various spellings such as Neuenschwander, Neueuschwanger, Newswenger, Niswander, Nuswanger, Neusehwanger, Niswonger, Niswanner and Nyswender

• Notes of Interest. ⁶⁶⁷ Those who settled in America changed the variations of Neuenschwander to Nieswander.

2. In 1538, a Taeufergespraech (meeting) was held in Berne and among those present were Uli Neuenschwander, of Eggiwyl; Waelti Gerber of Roettenbach; Hans Schellenberg and Hans Kraebenbuehl of Signau; Uli Hunziker of Schofftlen and Uli Flueckiger of Niederhuttwyl.


a. In 1690, Wolfgang von Neuschwanger who lived in a castle near Thun, in the Emmanthal region of Switzerland, was murdered for his religious beliefs. His son Jacob was exiled because of his religious beliefs. Jacob did not give up his Biblical convictions and was imprisoned in 1710.


a. Jacob Neueuschwanger of Stocken is listed as an Anabaptists prisoner in the Bern, Switzerland Upper Jail in 1710. He was confined with Hans Burki of Gibel, Benjamin Brackbill and Hans Wenger.In November of 1710, Berne reported 48 Mennonites imprisoned, and 300 Mennonites living in the Canton of Berne. In 1699, Berne tried to deport them to the East Indies and also to the Russian tundra. Later, they tried to send them to Denmark and in 1710 to swampy Prussia, where pestilence had wiped out the entire population. On April 6, 1710, they were deported down the Rhine arriving at Nijmegen, Holland. Most of the men had been imprisoned and all their possession had been taken from them. Then they returned to the Palatinate, Switzerland and France to seek their wives and children. It is believed that Jacob came to America before 1719 because in 1719 he wrote a letter to from America to Holland. Jacob could have come to America around 1710-11 with the original settlers of the Pequea settlement.

c. In 1711, the Bern authorities discovered that Hans Burki had returned to his home in Bern, Switzerland. They approached Hans's home to arrest him when Hans Burki along with all of his children, Uli Gerber and the sons of Peter and Daniel Grimm and Christian Neuenschwender came out armed with pitch forks, sticks and clubs. Hans was imprisoned again and placed on a ship for Amsterdam. On this ship was also listed a women prisoner by the name of Elsbeth Neuenschwander of Trub.

Barbara married Hans Michael Langenegger, son of Peter Langenegger and Barbara Kammermann, in 1588 in Langnau Im Emmental, Canton Of Berne, Switzerland. (Hans Michael Langenegger was born in 1563 in Langnau Im Emmental, Canton Of Berne, Switzerland and died about 1633.)