Gottlieb and Marianne Hirschi
Gottlieb Theophile Hirschi was born January 16, 1837, to Ulrich Hirschi and Anna Amacher in Villiers, Neuchatel, Switzerland. He was the seventh child of 10 children born to Ulrich and Anna, 5 boys and five boys. Their birthdates were Ulrich, 13 February 1825; Katharina, 16 April 1826; Samuel, 28 September 1828; Anna, 26 March 1830; Johannes, (John), 4 October 1832; Henriette Margaretha, 1 March 1835; Gottlieb, 16 January 1837; Christian, 20 Januaryn1839; Judith, 20 August 1841; and Rosina, 5 July 1843.Two of the girls died in infancy, Katarina and Henriette Margaretha. An unmarried son, Samuel died when he was twenty three.
Father Ulrich was a shoe maker and school teacher so the family moved to different locations where ever he could find teaching jobs. They lived in Schangnau, Bern; Hirschhorn, Bern; Dromdresson, Neuchatel; Geneva, Geneva; and finally Muenster, Bern.
Gottlieb was christened at Drombesson, Neuchatel, Switzerland. He first came in contact with the Mormon missionaries in 1858. Responding to their message he was baptized in the La Suze River on 22 September, 1858 by a local elder named George Bonelli and was confirmed the same day by the same Bonelli when he was twenty one years of age. He belonged to the Saint-Imier branch of the church which was in the canton (state) of Bern, Switzerland.
Gottlieb was living in Schangnau, Bern, Switzerland and left from there to immigrate to America and join in the building up of Zion.
Henry Hug had been set apart as the President of the Zurich Conference in 1857. On 9 August, 1859 he was on his way to America with a group of Swiss saints and a few from Italy which he was in charge of. Among them were Gottlieb Hirschi, Jacob Graff, and John Gubler. These would be men along with Henry who would settle in Santa Clara, Utah. They journeyed by rail from Zurich to Basil and on to Mannheim, then by steamboat to Cologne, then by rail to Rotterdam where they boarded a steamer which took them across the English Channel to Hull, England. Then they traveled again by rail to Liverpool where they boarded the sailing vessel Emerald Isle which left England on the 20 August, 1859. They arrived at Castle Garden, New York harbor on 1 October, 1859. On the vessel the captain treated them favorably as they were very orderly and also placed a guard at night. Arriving in Castle Garden they were greeted by William Lark who was the branch president of the Brooklyn Branch. He helped them settle in to Williamsburg, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York as it was too late in the year to travel on to the Salt Lake Valley. They obtained what employment they could find and spent the winter there. Finally in the spring, Elder George Q. Cannon gave permission for them to leave for the west. On 2 May, 1860 they boarded the steamboat New World and proceeded up the Hudson River to Albany, New York. Traveling by rail they were soon at the Suspension Bridge which they crossed and visited Niagara Falls, then continued along the southern coast of Canada to Windsor, then to Detroit, Mich., Chicago, Ill., and finally to Quincy, Ill. There they traveled again by rail to Hannibal and St. Joseph, Missouri. Then they went up the Missouri River on the steamer Emilie arriving in Florence, Nebraska, the outfitting post for that year, on 11 May. The Swiss saints busily engaged themselves in activities that would help them on their journey west. These Swiss saints, Gottlieb being one of them traveled with the Jesse Murphy Company, leaving Florence, Nebraska, on June 19, 1860, and after a seventy two day journey arrived in the Salt Lake Valley August 30 of that year. Gottlieb served as one of the ox team captains that led 279 people and 40 wagons to the Great Salt Lake Valley. Gottlieb’s mother Anna had died in Switzerland and so the following year his father, Ulrich Hirschi; Ulrich's second wife, Anna Neif; and some of his siblings came to America on the ship the Underwriter. They crossed the plains with the William Budge Company. Coincidentally, Marianne, Gottlieb's future wife, was on the same ship and traveled across the plains in the same company. Marianne Rupp was born January 26, 1838, in Sigriswil, Bern, Switzerland, to Christian Rupp and Susanna Winkler. She was christened February 4, 1838, in Sigriswil. Marianne had joined the Church in Switzerland and traveled to America on the ship Underwriter which left Liverpool, England, on March 30, 1860. Her sister and brother-in-law were also on the ship as well as some of her future in-laws. While on board, Marianne did odd jobs such as caring for children. One day while she was hanging diapers on deck, a wind came up and Marianne would have fallen over-board if it had not been for a gentleman who caught her. At age 23 she crossed the plains with the William Budge Company walking every step of the way as many of the pioneers did. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in the fall of 1860. Marianna had a beautiful voice and could often be heard singing as she journeyed making the trip more tolerable to herself and others. After arriving in Salt Lake Valley, she found employment at the home of Brigham Young as a cook. It was while working there that she learned the art of cooking and seasoning food. She was known throughout her life as a wonderful cook. While living in Salt Lake Marianne met a Swiss girl named Ann Muller who was from Arn, Bern, Switzerland. They were very good friends. Ann would meet and marry Henry Hug who had come to the valley with Gottlieb. Both girls would follow Brigham Young’s advice to marry and go south to the Dixie Mission with their husbands. Thirteen Swiss couples were sealed in the Endowment House before leaving for Dixie and these two couples was two of them. Marianne met Gottlieb Hirschi while both of them were living in Salt Lake City. He asked her to marry him two times before she finally accepted his proposal, giving up the opportunity to travel to New York City to attend a music school to become his bride. (Brigham Young had offered to send her). They were married September 14, 1861, and sealed for eternity in the Endowment House October 19, 1861. This was just two weeks after General Conference and Brigham Young had called names of those being called to settle the Dixie Mission in the southern part of Utah. By late October the Swiss Company was ready to go. They traveled south to Santa Clara by ox team, two of 85 saints who were strong and committed to help in settling Dixie. They were mostly poor and the bishops in the settlements on the path had been told to give them help on their way even food and fresh oxen. They had been called to raise cotton, indigo, grapes for sacrament wine, and other food stuff. Arriving at Fort Clara, after a difficult three week journey, they were shocked at what they saw! This was red, barren desert land covered with salt grass, creosote, yucca, rabbit bush, and other desert shrubs. Where..was the..green of their native Switzerland? The only trees growing were along the Santa Clara River bottoms – large cottonwoods. Red sandstone hills greeted their view to the north and to the northeast lay the purple Pine Valley Mountains. They met 20 families of English saints who lived around the bend of the Santa Clara River to the north and northwest. There they caught a vision of what could be done with the land on seeing the beautiful orchard of Walter E. Dodge. Daniel Bonelli, whom they all had known in Salt Lake, was the Presiding Elder over the Swiss. Bonelli presided over a drawing where lots, garden plots, and farm land was appointed to the new settlers. Their first concern was to find shelter. Gottlieb built a dug out in the side of the hill, put four posts, made walls out of willows and then covered the roof with willows and dirt as most of the families did. They had very little furniture so they made tables, beds, and chairs out of the cottonwood logs and willows using rawhide strips for the chair seats and cornhusks for their mattress. With great energy the Swiss settlers began the difficult task of making the desert land into irrigable, productive farmland. They built dams, dug irrigation ditches, drained swamps, cleared land, and planted crops as well as putting in orchards and vineyards. There were many hardships in Santa Clara, as “the Big Flood” of 1862 wiped out part of their land. They had to start all over again! Later, and again due to the floods, it was hard to get irrigation water to the land. In addition, money, foodstuff, clothing, and other family goods were very difficult to find. Some families were on the verge of starvation and survived by eating pigweed, wild berries, the bulb of Sego Lilies and just whatever they could find. The Hirschi’s first child, Albert, was born in Santa Clara on July 18, 1862. After a year and a half, the Hirschi’s became more and more discouraged. There just did not seem to be enough land or water. They made the decision to move to the settlement known as Rockville on the upper Virgin River. Here they purchased 10 acres of land which Gottlieb paid for with his coat and vest. They had not even a wagon to get them there and only fifty cents to their name. They cleared off the sagebrush and built a dugout where their first daughter, Mary Ann, was born on June 10, 1864. Later they were able to build a more comfortable adobe home by the hill on the west side of Rockville. From the porch that covered the front and side of the home they had a lovely view of the Virgin River. Gottlieb and Marianne, with typical Swiss thrift, hard work, and determination raised many types of fruit and other produce. They worked from early morning until late at night and were able to survive and care for their children. During the winter months, Gottlieb would travel north to sell or trade the dried fruit they had produced. One day while Gottlieb was away from home an Indian came by looking for “paleface.” Marianne was home with the children. Someone had killed the Indian's dog and he thought Gottlieb was the responsible party. Marianne felt that if he had been home the Indian would have killed him. She convinced the Indian that he was away and he left. Gottlieb was said to have been a very tender man and Marianne was one who would always speak her piece. You would never see Marianne without a black shawl over her shoulders. In 1883, Gottlieb received a call to serve a mission in his native land. He left Marianne with six children, to care for the farm and maintain him in the mission field. Marianne had trained her children well, and they worked from sunrise to sundown gathering fruit and nuts, taking care of the garden and animals. By the time of his mission call, he and Marianne had ten children. Three had died before reaching the age of two years, and the oldest son had died at 18 following a prank-induced fall from a mountain ledge. While on his mission to Switzerland, Gottlieb received a letter from his brother Christian who lived in Park Valley, Box Elder, Utah, who told him that he had lost five of his six children to diphtheria in a little over a week. Two had died the same day. At Christian's request, Gottlieb located a young 15-year-old in Erlach, Switzerland, whose parents wanted to send him to Christian in America just to give the boy a chance to go to Zion. Frederick Zaugg was his name, and you will still find his descendants living in Utah. The Zaugg family expected to come to Zion eventually and join him, but they died before they could make the trip. We have to assume that Christian needed help on his farm and that is why he brought to boy. Gottlieb returned from his mission May 4, 1885, sailing on the S.S. Wisconsin. Upon his return to Rockville in 1891, Gottlieb was called as Bishop and served until his death, on January 24, 1900. The cause of his death was believed to be Bights disease. He left his wife, Marianne, and six living children; Joseph, Henry William, David, Daniel, Susanna, and Eliza. Albert, Mary Ann, John, and Samuel preceded him in death. He was so loved by the members of the Rockville Ward that at his death they lined the street with pine and cedar boughs as his body was carried from his home to the church for the funeral service. He is buried in the Rockville Cemetery. Extreme industry and thrift characterized the lives of Gottlieb and Marianne Hirschi. “Though, landing in this country a poor man, he died having amassed more of this world’s goods than most people.” Grandma and Grandpa were hard-working and careful money managers. They had bought stock in the Cedar Sheep Company, and every year as part of their interest, grandma would receive a bolt of white cotton to use for burial clothes. He was a loving, honest, honorable, and frugal man. Grandpa was an extremely fair man and felt that even his two daughters deserved to get the same as the sons. When Gottlieb and Marianne sold their stock in the sheep company the children were given $5,000 to $6,000 apiece. That was a fortune then! It has been said by a good number of people of Rockville, that in the evenings you could sit outside and hear Brother and Sister Hirschi singing their Swiss songs and hear them yodeling as they sat on their porch. “It was a beautiful sound!” A year prior to Marianne’s death, February 10, 1923, a tribute to her was published by the Deseret News: “Many beautiful and famous singers have been heard in Zion Canyon, but no voice more sweet or rare has so far been heard than the voice of Mary A. Hirschi. But she chose no grand opera career, preferring rather to fill her corner in the up-building of Zion. Wife of one bishop, mother of another, she has lived to see three generations of her seed grow and flourish within the protecting walls of the canyon” Marianne Rupp Hirschi died February 15, 1924, in Rockville, Utah. She is buried next to her husband, Gottlieb, in the cemetery there.
Henry Hug had been set apart as the President of the Zurich Conference in 1857. On 9 August, 1859 he was on his way to America with a group of Swiss saints and a few from Italy which he was in charge of. Among them were Gottlieb Hirschi, Jacob Graff, and John Gubler. These would be men along with Henry who would settle in Santa Clara, Utah. They journeyed by rail from Zurich to Basil and on to Mannheim, then by steamboat to Cologne, then by rail to Rotterdam where they boarded a steamer which took them across the English Channel to Hull, England. Then they traveled again by rail to Liverpool where they boarded the sailing vessel Emerald Isle which left England on the 20 August, 1859. They arrived at Castle Garden, New York harbor on 1 October, 1859. On the vessel the captain treated them favorably as they were very orderly and also placed a guard at night. Arriving in Castle Garden they were greeted by William Lark who was the branch president of the Brooklyn Branch. He helped them settle in to Williamsburg, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York as it was too late in the year to travel on to the Salt Lake Valley. They obtained what employment they could find and spent the winter there. Finally in the spring, Elder George Q. Cannon gave permission for them to leave for the west. On 2 May, 1860 they boarded the steamboat New World and proceeded up the Hudson River to Albany, New York. Traveling by rail they were soon at the Suspension Bridge which they crossed and visited Niagara Falls, then continued along the southern coast of Canada to Windsor, then to Detroit, Mich., Chicago, Ill., and finally to Quincy, Ill. There they traveled again by rail to Hannibal and St. Joseph, Missouri. Then they went up the Missouri River on the steamer Emilie arriving in Florence, Nebraska, the outfitting post for that year, on 11 May. The Swiss saints busily engaged themselves in activities that would help them on their journey west. These Swiss saints, Gottlieb being one of them traveled with the Jesse Murphy Company, leaving Florence, Nebraska, on June 19, 1860, and after a seventy two day journey arrived in the Salt Lake Valley August 30 of that year. Gottlieb served as one of the ox team captains that led 279 people and 40 wagons to the Great Salt Lake Valley. Gottlieb’s mother Anna had died in Switzerland and so the following year his father, Ulrich Hirschi; Ulrich's second wife, Anna Neif; and some of his siblings came to America on the ship the Underwriter. They crossed the plains with the William Budge Company. Coincidentally, Marianne, Gottlieb's future wife, was on the same ship and traveled across the plains in the same company. Marianne Rupp was born January 26, 1838, in Sigriswil, Bern, Switzerland, to Christian Rupp and Susanna Winkler. She was christened February 4, 1838, in Sigriswil. Marianne had joined the Church in Switzerland and traveled to America on the ship Underwriter which left Liverpool, England, on March 30, 1860. Her sister and brother-in-law were also on the ship as well as some of her future in-laws. While on board, Marianne did odd jobs such as caring for children. One day while she was hanging diapers on deck, a wind came up and Marianne would have fallen over-board if it had not been for a gentleman who caught her. At age 23 she crossed the plains with the William Budge Company walking every step of the way as many of the pioneers did. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in the fall of 1860. Marianna had a beautiful voice and could often be heard singing as she journeyed making the trip more tolerable to herself and others. After arriving in Salt Lake Valley, she found employment at the home of Brigham Young as a cook. It was while working there that she learned the art of cooking and seasoning food. She was known throughout her life as a wonderful cook. While living in Salt Lake Marianne met a Swiss girl named Ann Muller who was from Arn, Bern, Switzerland. They were very good friends. Ann would meet and marry Henry Hug who had come to the valley with Gottlieb. Both girls would follow Brigham Young’s advice to marry and go south to the Dixie Mission with their husbands. Thirteen Swiss couples were sealed in the Endowment House before leaving for Dixie and these two couples was two of them. Marianne met Gottlieb Hirschi while both of them were living in Salt Lake City. He asked her to marry him two times before she finally accepted his proposal, giving up the opportunity to travel to New York City to attend a music school to become his bride. (Brigham Young had offered to send her). They were married September 14, 1861, and sealed for eternity in the Endowment House October 19, 1861. This was just two weeks after General Conference and Brigham Young had called names of those being called to settle the Dixie Mission in the southern part of Utah. By late October the Swiss Company was ready to go. They traveled south to Santa Clara by ox team, two of 85 saints who were strong and committed to help in settling Dixie. They were mostly poor and the bishops in the settlements on the path had been told to give them help on their way even food and fresh oxen. They had been called to raise cotton, indigo, grapes for sacrament wine, and other food stuff. Arriving at Fort Clara, after a difficult three week journey, they were shocked at what they saw! This was red, barren desert land covered with salt grass, creosote, yucca, rabbit bush, and other desert shrubs. Where..was the..green of their native Switzerland? The only trees growing were along the Santa Clara River bottoms – large cottonwoods. Red sandstone hills greeted their view to the north and to the northeast lay the purple Pine Valley Mountains. They met 20 families of English saints who lived around the bend of the Santa Clara River to the north and northwest. There they caught a vision of what could be done with the land on seeing the beautiful orchard of Walter E. Dodge. Daniel Bonelli, whom they all had known in Salt Lake, was the Presiding Elder over the Swiss. Bonelli presided over a drawing where lots, garden plots, and farm land was appointed to the new settlers. Their first concern was to find shelter. Gottlieb built a dug out in the side of the hill, put four posts, made walls out of willows and then covered the roof with willows and dirt as most of the families did. They had very little furniture so they made tables, beds, and chairs out of the cottonwood logs and willows using rawhide strips for the chair seats and cornhusks for their mattress. With great energy the Swiss settlers began the difficult task of making the desert land into irrigable, productive farmland. They built dams, dug irrigation ditches, drained swamps, cleared land, and planted crops as well as putting in orchards and vineyards. There were many hardships in Santa Clara, as “the Big Flood” of 1862 wiped out part of their land. They had to start all over again! Later, and again due to the floods, it was hard to get irrigation water to the land. In addition, money, foodstuff, clothing, and other family goods were very difficult to find. Some families were on the verge of starvation and survived by eating pigweed, wild berries, the bulb of Sego Lilies and just whatever they could find. The Hirschi’s first child, Albert, was born in Santa Clara on July 18, 1862. After a year and a half, the Hirschi’s became more and more discouraged. There just did not seem to be enough land or water. They made the decision to move to the settlement known as Rockville on the upper Virgin River. Here they purchased 10 acres of land which Gottlieb paid for with his coat and vest. They had not even a wagon to get them there and only fifty cents to their name. They cleared off the sagebrush and built a dugout where their first daughter, Mary Ann, was born on June 10, 1864. Later they were able to build a more comfortable adobe home by the hill on the west side of Rockville. From the porch that covered the front and side of the home they had a lovely view of the Virgin River. Gottlieb and Marianne, with typical Swiss thrift, hard work, and determination raised many types of fruit and other produce. They worked from early morning until late at night and were able to survive and care for their children. During the winter months, Gottlieb would travel north to sell or trade the dried fruit they had produced. One day while Gottlieb was away from home an Indian came by looking for “paleface.” Marianne was home with the children. Someone had killed the Indian's dog and he thought Gottlieb was the responsible party. Marianne felt that if he had been home the Indian would have killed him. She convinced the Indian that he was away and he left. Gottlieb was said to have been a very tender man and Marianne was one who would always speak her piece. You would never see Marianne without a black shawl over her shoulders. In 1883, Gottlieb received a call to serve a mission in his native land. He left Marianne with six children, to care for the farm and maintain him in the mission field. Marianne had trained her children well, and they worked from sunrise to sundown gathering fruit and nuts, taking care of the garden and animals. By the time of his mission call, he and Marianne had ten children. Three had died before reaching the age of two years, and the oldest son had died at 18 following a prank-induced fall from a mountain ledge. While on his mission to Switzerland, Gottlieb received a letter from his brother Christian who lived in Park Valley, Box Elder, Utah, who told him that he had lost five of his six children to diphtheria in a little over a week. Two had died the same day. At Christian's request, Gottlieb located a young 15-year-old in Erlach, Switzerland, whose parents wanted to send him to Christian in America just to give the boy a chance to go to Zion. Frederick Zaugg was his name, and you will still find his descendants living in Utah. The Zaugg family expected to come to Zion eventually and join him, but they died before they could make the trip. We have to assume that Christian needed help on his farm and that is why he brought to boy. Gottlieb returned from his mission May 4, 1885, sailing on the S.S. Wisconsin. Upon his return to Rockville in 1891, Gottlieb was called as Bishop and served until his death, on January 24, 1900. The cause of his death was believed to be Bights disease. He left his wife, Marianne, and six living children; Joseph, Henry William, David, Daniel, Susanna, and Eliza. Albert, Mary Ann, John, and Samuel preceded him in death. He was so loved by the members of the Rockville Ward that at his death they lined the street with pine and cedar boughs as his body was carried from his home to the church for the funeral service. He is buried in the Rockville Cemetery. Extreme industry and thrift characterized the lives of Gottlieb and Marianne Hirschi. “Though, landing in this country a poor man, he died having amassed more of this world’s goods than most people.” Grandma and Grandpa were hard-working and careful money managers. They had bought stock in the Cedar Sheep Company, and every year as part of their interest, grandma would receive a bolt of white cotton to use for burial clothes. He was a loving, honest, honorable, and frugal man. Grandpa was an extremely fair man and felt that even his two daughters deserved to get the same as the sons. When Gottlieb and Marianne sold their stock in the sheep company the children were given $5,000 to $6,000 apiece. That was a fortune then! It has been said by a good number of people of Rockville, that in the evenings you could sit outside and hear Brother and Sister Hirschi singing their Swiss songs and hear them yodeling as they sat on their porch. “It was a beautiful sound!” A year prior to Marianne’s death, February 10, 1923, a tribute to her was published by the Deseret News: “Many beautiful and famous singers have been heard in Zion Canyon, but no voice more sweet or rare has so far been heard than the voice of Mary A. Hirschi. But she chose no grand opera career, preferring rather to fill her corner in the up-building of Zion. Wife of one bishop, mother of another, she has lived to see three generations of her seed grow and flourish within the protecting walls of the canyon” Marianne Rupp Hirschi died February 15, 1924, in Rockville, Utah. She is buried next to her husband, Gottlieb, in the cemetery there.
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