At the end of the 18th century, Jean Bert lived in a community of Huguenots (French protestants in the Calvinist tradition) in the Odenwald of Germany. His ancestors had been forced to migrate there over a hundred years earlier because of persecution in France. He married a young woman from the community, but before the birth of their son he was conscripted into Napoleon's army and marched off to Russia. Like many others on that ill-fated campaign, he never returned. His widow gave birth to Peter, my ancestor. Later, she remarried and had another son, but his father also died. By this time Peter was 18. He borrowed money and, taking his mother and younger brother with him, set sail for America.
They ended up in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where Peter soon found work as a weaver with a member of the River Brethren (later known as Brethren in Christ). He joined that small, strict group, became a minister, sired a very large family, and as an old man migrated again to Kansas. His grandson, Joseph, was born there and, in his turn, migrated to California where his son Eldon—my father—was born.
What an interesting and inspiring story—full of heartbreak, martyrdom, warfare, religion, and journeys into frontier after frontier!
The details of this story came from a family history written by Peter's youngest daughter Sarah who eventually helped establish and later managed the Brethren in Christ mission in Chicago—a bold, even shocking venture for a Kansas farm girl. One assumes she learned the story from her father and, perhaps, from her grandmother.
Even more interesting than Sarah's story, however, is the version I heard from the German Berts who still live in Rohrbach, Peter's birthplace. The comparison of the two versions holds a world of meanings.
Stay tuned.
Treatment count: 32 down, 13 to go.
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