Genealogy and Le Sainans

Our ancestors, like many other families of Amish descent, worked as farmers on large estates near Montbéliard.  Most of these large farms have disappeared, now part of the urban sprawl.  However, Le Sainans near the village of Dung has survived as a working farm as well as a place to stay. It dates back to the 1700s.  Some of my ancestors worked at this farm.  Here is what I have been able to find so far:

In 1823 Christ Guemann's and Marie Guerick's marriage was registered in Dung.  Christ was from Étobon, Haute Saône, over 20 kilometres away.  My assumption is that the Guerick family lived at Le Sainans.  These are our great-great-great grandparents in the Vonier/Aeschlimann line.

In 1824 and 1826, two children were born at Le Sainans to the Aeschlimanns.  In 1830 our immigrant ancestor, Christian Aeschlimann, was baptized at age 15 and noted as living at Le Sainans.  The Aeschlimann family left Le Sainans sometime between 1830 and 1833 for another farm.  They took with them the old Guerick parents who were the maternal grandparents of Christian A.  (This line of the Aeschlimanns is related to the Vonier/Aeschlimann line via those Guericks.)

In 1833 a daughter of Joseph Yoder was baptized and noted as being from Le Sainans.  Another Yoder daughter, Catherine, married Peter Stuckey in Grandvillars in 1831, so it appears that the Yoders had not yet moved to Le Sainans at that point.  This young couple is the immigrant Stuckey couple that is featured at the Sauder Village in Archbold, Ohio:  https://saudervillage.org/explore/walk-through-time/pioneer-settlement

My theory is that the Yoder family moved to Le Sainans when the Aeschlimanns left.  In 1836 Joseph Yoder was a witness for registering the birth of a son of this young couple in the house of "Sieur Jeanmaire" in Le Sainans.  The couple lived in two places prior to Le Sainans and immigrated after the birth of this son, Catherine in 1837 with the sister, Verena Schad Goll, of Peter's two uncles, and Peter prior to that in 1836 or 1837.

Now about the millstone pictured above. It is on display in the lobby of the renovated building with the five B-and-B rooms. I haven't seen any evidence of the Aeschlimanns being millers. But it is a different story in the Stuckey line. Peter Stuckey (mentioned above) had a father who was a miller at Lure, Haute Saône from 1806 or 1807 until he immigrated in 1834.  Peter's grandfather and the grandfather's two brothers worked at mills.  Peter himself is noted as being a miller on the registration of his marriage and on the birth registration of his first daughter in Froideterre, Haute Saône in 1832. 

At Le Sainans, a historical display shows an old layout of buildings.  My apologies for the quality of the photos; they are photos of photos behind glass in a dark hallway.

Connecting the two large "barns" was a shed-like structure and a higher part which is called a pigeonnier in the diagram.  Pigeons (or sometimes doves) would nest in the upper floors.  In former centuries, they were a good source of meat, eggs, and dung.  These structures were demolished in the 1990s.  The little shed off to the right now serves as an entrance to the courtyard.

 

There is a dark side to the history to this farm.  A new Count, Leopoldo-Eberhard, was in a position where he needed money.  I used Google Translate for one of the displays at Le Sainans:

Leopoldo-Eberhard ordered in 1704 enumeration of the lands. The peasants of villages like Dung, who could not produce titles, often disappeared in the wars of the 17th century, were spoiled by a law of desherence of 1710, and these lands were incorporated into the domain of the Count. Then after regrouping with a rigged survey, the count established farms and had them be farmed by Anabaptist farmers. 

Google did not translate "desherence", but it relates to people losing the right to dwell on or farm land on which they have been living for years but for which they do not hold a formal title.  The Anabaptists were skilled both in raising animals and in farming, whereas the local peasants did mostly farming. Since the Count needed money, he presumably wanted the farms being rented to produce more profitably.  Put simply, the Count grabbed the lands through legal but hardly ethical means, and then brought in new workers to improve his economic situation.  Fortunately for him, Anabaptists were needing to find new land to rent.

My sources: Joe Springer's translation of the Montbéliard Mennonite Church Register 1750-1958; a birth document that Walter Stuckey was given and is now in the Mennonite Church USA Archives in Elkhart, IN; Robert Baecher's article, "Le domaine de Schoppenwihr et les anabaptistes..." in Souvenance anabaptiste, # 25, 2006, p. 16-42; photos by J. Evan Kreider; États civil (French civil records); the information display at Le Sainans.

Janice

Le Sainans, Doubs, France

Hello,

Back in St. Maurice, we are finally have reliable wifi service again.  We were at a lovely B-and-B farm near Dung, France, called Le Sainans.  Prices were really reasonable.  Typically, windows and doors lack screens, so, since this was a working farm, complete with cattle, flies abounded. I am truly adept at reducing their population. 

We approach the farm on a long paved lane that is basically built for a single vehicle and is not acknowledged by the GPS.  The houses and two barns are nestled in a valley which had a good stream of water for giving power to its former mill.

One of the house+barn structures, typical of the region, has been renovated. The four of us stayed here in two of the five guest rooms. There is also a restaurant inside, where we ate breakfast.

There were two holding ponds for the former mill.  These ponds are now heavily populated with frogs.  The chorus of croaks was something to enjoy.  We noticed that this month's special menu's entré (first item) offered 18 frog legs.  On the second photo, the village of Dung is in the distance.

The farm had perhaps 80 free-range chickens which had the run of a nice large area.  Sadly, no eggs were on offer for breakfasts, but we had lots of comté and morbier cheese, both coming from the Montbéliarde cows, the breed which the Grabers bred when mixing their Swiss cattle with local French low lands cattle.

On our last evening, there were outdoor games organized by Evolution 2. One activity was a relay race with battery-powered non-pedal bikes. The event ended with a pig roast and some loud music.

This is a view through the building still used as a barn, where bales had been set up to form a theatre for showing videos, probably for an earlier event, maybe a wedding.

What is missing from these photos is the large millstone which was on display in the lobby near our rooms. (Alas, it's on another phone.) This millstone is of interest to my (Janice's) relatives, two branches of the Aeschlimans and the Stuckeys. I will do another blog with the details for those of you who want to pursue the genealogical details!

Here is the website for the farm:
http://www.le-sainans.fr/

Janice

Recording sessions at Domaine de la Chaux, Alligny-en-Morvan

Hello,

I wish I had taken photos of the initial days of recording, but was focused instead on singing.  Pierre has one working recording studio in the upper loft of a former wagon barn.  This is used primarily for smaller chamber groups, particularly jazz.  The old beams look wonderful against the newly finished walls and soaring ceiling.  The acoustics are good.  Rugs can be moved about to change the sound somewhat.

Pierre and his colleague have quite the collection of electric guitars.

The recording engineer felt, however, that of all the spaces around the estate, the "Les Moines" (the monks) would be best for our ensemble.  This is where the Countess used to house monks on retreat.  The soundboard and computer equipment were set up in the monk's reading room.  There is an old wooden table built around a pillar.  The monks would then sit on wooden benches facing inward while reading.  The estate still has a good selection of reading material in this little library, but it has no been updated recently, other than for some books on dogs.  While waiting, I read on on Edith Piaf, written by her sister.  The first photo shows the building where we entered for the three daily recording sessions.

We recorded in the more comfortable sitting room with the large fireplace, very tall windows, and lighting which changed constantly.  Since I now sing from my tablet, I no longer worry about having enough light to see the music properly (as my eyes slowly fade).  Some microphones were set up to record at close range, others for ambience.  I'm interested to see what blend they use.  I think we could use about all the reverb they can muster.

Samuel and Emmanuel usually rested while others listened to the latest takes.  I felt I learned by listening.

FR3 set a crew to record us on the last day for the region's TV daily broadcasts on local cultural events.  I enjoyed meeting the presenter, who was formerly a professional dancer, both classical and modern.  They then interviewed Michel, as the leader of the Ars Antiqua de Paris, and the four younger singers.  For reasons I need not mention, I made myself quite scarce and enjoyed watching from afar.  I was certain they did not require an English-Canadian point of view.

All of our meals were kindly provided by the Chambures, who did the cooking and cleanup themselves.  Breakfasts were traditional:  tea and coffee, bread, butter (they serve butter only at breakfast), and an assortment of jams and honey.  We usually were served by 9:00 a.m. and began recording at 10.  Lunch at perhaps 1:00 p.m. was sometimes proceeded by olives, juice, water, and potato chips, and then we would be served soup or a pasta.  Dinner was usually served by 9:00 p.m., proceeded by lots of local wines from Burgundy, possibly slices of sausages, potato chips, etc.  If it was nice, we helped carry everything to the two picnic tables on the lawn.  Other meals were in the dining room for the former hunting guests.

My last evening meal was a treat:  venison harvested in the local woods, accompanied by rice and what I assumed to be scalloped potatoes but it was another vegetable unknown to me.  Possibly the wine prompted me to forget to ask.

Each year, I wonder whether this will be my last time at La Chaux?  Everybody is so friendly with me.  My difficulty hearing is doubly disconcerting in restaurants generally, but when as many as four conversations in French are going on simultaneously, I really am lost.  Actually, everybody speaks English to varying degrees, several with proficiency, so I did have some good side conversations.  Our countertenor, William (shown above wearing his scarf) speaks French to me and understands my responses in English.  He rode with me from Paris to Morvan, a delightful three-hour trip which just flew by, especially when I was going 150km/hr (about 98mph).  I don't know how the recording will be.  The La Rue will likely be best, especially with the low notes.  We'll see.  The CD will bring back memories of fond weeks at La Chaux.

All for now, time for supper!  Sue and Marlin have arrived from PA, so we will join the Bloughs for dinner at Bercy.

Evan

Gardens at Domaine de la Chaux, Alligny-en-Morvan

Hello,

We just got back from our recordings sessions at La Chaux.  In past years, I have done various blogs on this wonderful estate owned by the Chambures.  I have some photos of the gardens from this summer.  During our visit last year, we wondered whether some trees in the forests might by hurt by the drought, and then they got rain for days on end.  It has been wet this year as well, so everything was a rich green.

I liked to look to the south as watch the storm clouds gather.  The open field of still uncut grass had the full heads blending nicely in the breezes.  The rhododendron out in the field has been a favourite of mine these past years.  

The bees were busy, and since there seemed to many of them, I am assuming they have not yet been affected by the problems facing millions of ours in British Columbia.

Some of the gardens are more formal, retaining geometric shapes both horizontally and vertically.  They hire several gardeners, who impressed me as being efficient and knowledgeable.  Since things were still being planted, Pierre's mother is obviously still quite active.

I believe this is the back of the building in which we recorded.

The firewood is cut from the estate's forests.  The logs are about a meter long and split into fourths.  They are of a size to be used in the large old fireplace in the room in which we recorded.

This part of the garden, when fully in bloom, is a favourite for wedding photos.

Evan