Rudolf Jenta was born on the 19th of May 1771 to Kaspar Jenta and Anna Wolfensberger. His father was second generation Swiss from Germany. His mother Anna was sixth generation in Ettenhausen going all the way back to at least 1554. Kaspar was a school teacher in Ettenhausen where Rudolf was born. Rudolf was the first of four children. All made it past childhood which was unusual.
Rudolf Jenta married
Elisabeth Frei on October 7, 1792 in St. Peter's in Zurich. The first massive
three-story tower for St. Peter's was built in early 13th century AD. The
church clock of St. Peter has the largest tower clock face in Europe, the outer
diameter of each of the four church clocks measures 8.64 meters (28.3 ft), the
minute hand 5.73 meters (18.8 ft), the hour hand 5.07 meters (16.6 ft), and the
minute crack of the large pointer measures 0.455 meters (1.5 ft). They traveled
17 miles to marry. However that pales to 36 miles Ettenhausen is from Birr,
Elisabeth's village. It was rare for couples to wed outside their village or at
least within walking distance of their community. This wasn't a problem for
Rudolf and Elisabetha. (Wikipedia see photo below.)
Susanna's father Rudolf
Jenta was a municipal councillor on the local council of Ettenhausen.
Ettenhausen was politically a small separate community near Kempten that only
in 1928 merged with Wetzikon. Therefore they needed a little Government Municipal
council (some 4 or five representatives of the local families). Jenta family is
not from here, they came from Germany. Susanna's great grandfather Conrad Jenta
born 2 May 1698 came from Schmidmüllen, Oberpfalz, Bavaria. Schmiedmüllen means a "mill for a black smith"
and is located in the upper palatinate
which today is Bavaria. He was a Gerber or tanner of cowhides. Conrad
married Elisabeth Landis 11 December 1732 who was from Wengi, near Aegust am
Albis near Affoltern am Albis, Canton of Zurich in the Church of Aeugst in
1732. The church was built in 1667, after the Reformation and during the
Renaissance and is five miles from
Ottenbach. Susanna would later go back to the same area and marry Johannes.
Most people in the 18th and 19 centuries married people from their community.
Not Conrad and Elisabeth. From Schmidmüllen to Aeugst am Albis is 321 miles
which is a long way back then when people traveled by walking or riding horses.
How they met is also mystery.
The Jenta family first
lived in Untermedikon on the west of the river. Untermedikon and Robank are
part of Wetzikon in the West of a little river called Aa-Bach. This area early
attracted industrial activities along this river. So it is easy to imagine the first Jenta's
coming there to tan cowhides into leather. The couple had two children Kaspar,
Susanna's grandfather, in 1741 and Anna 1748. In Germany the name is also
spelled as Jentha. Susanna was definitely of German heritage.(Peter
Bertschinger)
When Susanna's
grandfather Kaspar was 10 years old in
1751 the family became Swiss citizens in Ettenhausen. To do so they had to pay
for it (buy-in). It normally takes some years after moving to a community that
you can become citizen and you had to buy a house. The Jentas lived in one of
the few houses west of the main cantonal street, probably a street today called
Winkelstrasse. Susanna's grandfather Kaspar Jenta, became a Schulmeister or
schoolmaster to teach the "dumb" farmer children in Ettenhausen.
Ettenhausen is a village southeast above Wetzikon on the road from Kempten to
Hinwil. The area south of the Pfäffikersee has been inhabited since pre-Roman
times. In the village of Ettenhausen artifacts from the Middle Bronze Age and a
middle age Cemetery were found. The village belonged in the middle ages high
court to rule Kyburg and came with this in 1424 and 1452 to Zurich. Kaspar and
his wife Anna Wolfensberger had 4 children in this hamlet. (ortsnamen.ch , and
Peter Bertschinger)
Civic Leader
In 1804 the civil
community of Ettenhausen was formed with Rudolf on the council and Susanna was
born, The same year the Municipality of Wetzikon asked some of the various
village leaders to form a committee to provide services for local people in
need. For the last few years services had not been provided. Included in the
group of leaders from local village councils were Ulrich Kunz from Linkenberg,
Jakob Grimm from Kempten and Rudolf Jenta, from Ettenhausen. When Susanna was born her father Rudolf was
33 and her mother Elisabeth 30. (History
of Wetzikon, Zurich Archives Wetzikon E
lll 139.21 p 1734 and Wetzikon E lll 139.13 p 533)
The Jenta's go to Church
Susanna's parents Rudolf
Jenta and Lisabeth Frei married in St. Peter's Church in Zurich. It is an
unusual church. The church's steeple was and is owned by the city of Zürich,
while the nave is owned by the St. Peter parish of the Evangelical Reformed
Church of the Canton of Zürich. For many years the steeple was used as a fire
lookout. The spot it is located on goes back to Roman times. It also has the
largest clock face in Europe. It was out of the ordinary to be married 31 miles
from home but that is what Rudolf and Lisabeth did. (Zuirch Archives E III
139.3, EDB 833, S. 479)
Because Ettenhausen was
small they went to church in Wetzikon which is a mile and a half away. To get
to the church Rudolf, Lisabeth and their children walked along a path today
called Ettenhausweg or Kirchweg von Ettenhausen which means church path, south
of the Lendenbach (Ländenbach). The Jenta's went to the Reformed Church of
Wetzikon.
When Susanna reached 18
she was confirmed into the Reformed Church.
That was the only church in 1822 in the Canton of Zurich. The parish
priest entered information on her confirmation partly with Latin abbreviations.
He wrote: Susanna Jenta, nata (born) 11. November 1804, ex. Weihe 1822, obit
(died) 18. März 1858. Weihe means the confirmation procedure happened in the
church with all members and parents, godparents present. This allowed Susanna
to join the Abendmahl for the first time (symbol of the evening meal of Jesus
Christ with his followers, or Last Supper), and
become full member of the church.
Kinederlehre
When she become 16 she
probably went to Kinederlehre (Sunday lecture), which was after the normal
sermon when the adults left the church. This was compulsory. She may have gone
to Sonntagsschule (Sunday school) on Sunday mornings. In modern times there was
a Konfirmationsessen (confirmation meal) in a nearby restaurant with your
family and godfather and godmother. In Wetzikon that was normally the Löwen
inn. From that point on the godparents are released from their function to
support the child if they are orphaned. You would also receive a substantial
gift at this event. For example I received my first wrist-watch from your god
parents. Additionally, they would not give any more Christmas presents to you.
We also had a Konfirmationslager (confirmation camp), in my case one week in
the Canton of Ticino, a kind of
vacations with sports, walking, and touring and religious events. The pastor
(reverend) came along as well - quite informal. (Peter Bertschinger)
Wetzikon belonged to the
Canton of Zurcher Oberland. Zürcher Oberland ("Zurich highlands") in
Switzerland, is the hilly south-eastern part of the canton of Zurich. In recent
times Kempten, Ettenhausen and Wetzikon merged into Wetzikon. To become a city
in Switzerland you need to have more than 10,000 inhabitants and Wetzikon has
25,000 today. This is the same canton Ottenbach is in. A new church building
was built in 1897 which still stands today. Like most village churches in
Switzerland the previous church had an entry, central hall, altar and clock
tower and bells to give the time to the Jenta's as they went about their day.
Today, as in years past, on the side of the church facing the entrance, is the
Restaurant Löwen (lion) where the people go after the sermon, baptisms,
marriages and when they bury their dead. Some things never change. (Peter
Bertschinger, photo of the older Wetzikon church and Restaurant Löwen at end of
this post
Garden
Each family had a little
garden in front of the house for vegetables. It had a fence around it to
protect it from cows, animals etc. They called it Krautgarten. They also had
some trees, normally walnut, apples and pears which they often made into cider.
They were planted in the Baumgarten, or Bungert. They also had fields for potatoes.
In the region everybody had a vinyard called a Weingarten or Wingart; also the
wine was not so great, so sugar and sulphur was added to make it stable so you
didn’t get head aches. There were also wheat fields for bread and straw was
used for the stables.
The farms were mostly
small, a few cows for milk and cream and butter. They often included a pig
stable, some chicken for egg and meat etc. The meadows needed grass cuts, the
first was Heu (hay) and the second in late summer called Emd. The hay was
needed to feed the cows through winter. As said there were only few horses in a
village, often the owners made transportation services (e.g. coach, wagons, to
pull logs from the forest) etc. The oxen were used to draw the wagons and the
plow. In Ettenausen there was a swamp with frogs. The swamp material was used
for the stables. They also cut Torf, or rotten earth, dried it, and used it to
warm the oven. The forest provided the heating materials and building
materials.
Two Interesting Men
Two of the most
interesting people on this family tree or any tree are Susanna’s father and
father-in-law. First of all they had the same name: Rudolf. The name is of
Ancient Germanic origin meaning “fame”, “glory” and olf meaning “wolf.” Both men were civic leaders, Jenta on a
village council, Sidler as a village policeman.
In 1900 Jenta lived in a village of 434 inhabitants with 119 households.
Sidler lived in a village of about 900 people and 200 households. Both grew up
and lived out their lives in small Swiss villages. Jenta lived to 51.5, Sidler
lived to 58 and 9 mo. (Our World Data, Wikipedia Ottenbach)
Childhood Mortality
Susanna's in-laws Rudolf
Sidler and Elisabetha Sidler had 15 children. Nine lived to adulthood and
married. Susanna’s parents Rudolf Jenta and Lisabeth Frei had twelve children
and one more with Mary Huber making thirteen. Seven lived to adulthood and
married. Rudolf Jenta died 1 year 4 months after his last child was born
leaving 30 year old Mary Huber with 7 children from 20 years old to 1 year four
months to raise. Strange as it may seem, even though Rudolf Jenta married at 21
and had a large family he died two years before any of them married so he never
saw any of his children marry and never saw a grandchild. The reason for this
is because his first child, Barbara, died at 20.5 and his next three died in
infancy. Rudolf Sidler also never saw any of his three girls marry or saw any
grandchildren. The reason is because didn't begin having his family until he was 48 and only
lived to 57. Even his illegitimate son Jakob didn't start to have grandchildren
until five years after Johannes' death. Compared to today, life was difficult
for these strong Swiss. They were aquatinted with a lot of death.
We often see that from
the age 20 years on, when marriage was allowed by the church, the parents had
least one child every year, often stillborn. The rule for naming was that the
godparents gave their first name to the child,. For example if a child named
Barbara died, they continued the name until one survived the first years. From
this Julius Billeter concluded that a child died young and noted a
"dy" by their name. On average these big farmer families had about
two boys and two girls that made it to adulthood and most of them got married.
(Peter Bertschinger,)
If a woman died after
the birth of a child (this was a dangerous process because of infections), her
younger sister stepped in as new wife, or replacement. The husband (here farmer
in the country) absolutely needed a wife to look after the children and farm
house (cooking etc.). So he normally got remarried a second, or third time
within a few months; later a one year period was recommended. Often these wives
were widows themselves. So there was constant giving births and dying on the
farms, similar to what happened in the stable with the animals. Death was seen
as natural. Only medicine and hygienic measures lowered the infant and
childhood mortality rate. However, there were very bad pestulenza waves in the
17th century in our regions. Many villages lost 30 to 40% of the population.
(Peter Bertschinger)
Just before and during
Susanna's lifetime
During the French
Revolutionary Wars, the French army invaded Switzerland and turned it into an
ally known as the "Helvetic Republic" (1798–1803). It had a central
government with little role for cantons. The interference with localism and
traditional liberties was deeply resented, although some modernizing reforms
took place. (Wikipedia.)
Napoleon and his enemies
fought numerous campaigns in Switzerland that ruined many localities. It
proclaimed the equality of citizens before the law, equality of languages,
freedom of thought and faith; it created a Swiss citizenship, basis of our
modern nationality, and the separation of powers, of which the old regime had
no conception; it suppressed internal tariffs and other economic restraints; it
unified weights and measures, reformed civil and penal law, authorized mixed
marriages (between Catholics and Protestants), suppressed torture and improved
justice; it developed education and public works (William Martin)
Ettenhausen Census
Two years after Susanna
was born, in 1806, they took a census and found 434 inhabitants or 119
households in Ettenhausen. At least they
had a primary school where three Jenta's taught. Susanna was the sixth of 13
children. Her mother, Elisabeth Frei, died when Susanna was 12. About 9 months
later her father married Margaretha Huber and together they added the 13th
child. Susanna Jenta was born in 1804, 14 years after her schoolteacher
grandfather Kaspar died. (Peter
Bertschinger and Zurich Archives Wetzikon E lll 139.21 p 1734 and
Wetzikon E lll 139.13 p 533)
Susanna had a brother
named Heinrich born 1808 who was a silk weaver. Before the Industrial
Revolution, the creation of a patterned silk textile required a skilled weaver
and a considerable investment in equipment and raw materials. The warp was
threaded on the loom according to the design of the textile, after which two
people were required to weave the textile—a weaver who inserted the wefts and a
“drawboy” who controlled the pattern mechanism. (MET Museum Website)
During Rudolf’s lifetime
1798 French army under
the command of Napoleon invaded Switzerland. Switzerland was completely overrun
by the French and was renamed the Helvetic Republic. The Helvetic Republic
encountered severe economic and political problems. In 1798 the country became
a battlefield of the Revolutionary Wars, culminating in the Battles of Zürich
in 1799. The Second Battle of Zurich (25–26 September 1799) was a key victory
by the Republican French army in Switzerland led by André Masséna over an Austrian
and Russian force commanded by Alexander Korsakov near Zürich. (Wikipedia)
1801 The Helvetic
Government grants Ottenbach the license to carry out any transport with the
Reuss ferry. Previously, the ferry was only approved for its own use.
1802 Swiss revolt forced
French army to leave Switzerland. (Ottenbach Municipality Website)
Napoleon and his enemies
fought numerous campaigns in Switzerland that ruined many localities. It
proclaimed the equality of citizens before the law, equality of languages, freedom
of thought and faith; it created a Swiss citizenship, basis of our modern
nationality, and the separation of powers, of which the old regime had no
conception; it suppressed internal tariffs and other economic restraints; it
unified weights and measures, reformed civil and penal law, authorized mixed
marriages (between Catholics and Protestants), suppressed torture and improved
justice; it developed education and public works. (William Martin)
Rudolf died 17 January
1801. This was the time when Napoleon took over the country. It must have been
worry some for Rudolf when his way of life is threatened and when so many
changes took place. We assume he was buried in the Wetzikon Reformed Church
grounds. Those surviving him were his second wife Margarete 30, Anna Jenta 20, Susanna 18, Heinrich 14, Anna Elisabetha
6, and Elisabetha 1 year 4 months old. It left a lot for Margarete to raise his
children which she did.
Documents relating to Rudolf Jenta
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| Rudolf Jenta Family from Jenta Temple Record by Julius Billeter pages 1 and 2 |
Rudolf Jenta Family
 |
| FamilySearch online Microfilm 008191940 page 354 |
Rudolf in Government:
Since Heinrich Jungholz of Ettenhausen / is moving away from Hanseatic League under the 2nd Apric and one is in doubt / whether not perhaps current debts would like to rest on the same / so the E. Gemeindrath finds it necessary to announce it publicly at everyone's behavior / and to invite through all those who have to demand eüvas of him / to announce themselves before their demands at the latest by the end of the month with the finally announced one; otherwise later no right would be held against them for this reason any more. Also at the same time, registered young wood will be "uninvited / to turn himself in to the authorities until the next Mayday of the month with the final report / otherwise one would order what will be right with regard to his inheritance. Mezikon/ April 9, 1805, in the name of the municipal council. Jenta / Secretary. (Zürcherische Freitagszeitung, Number 16, 19 April 1805)
Rudolf in Government:
 | ||
Above: The revolutionary time for the disengagement of the church weaving fine way. As a result of the state overthrow of 1798 not only the Ehgaum Institute was abolished forever, but also the standstill was dissolved. The article says that the Municipality of Wetzikon is forming a committee to provide services. They list various people including: Ulrich Kunz to Linkenberg, Hs. Jakob Grimm to Kempten and Rudolf Jenta to Ettenhausen. They began service in 1804.
Where were Rudolf and Elisabetha married?
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