| Notes |
- == Biography ==
• She was called Annali. She was both the sister and a cousin to Oswald BÄR Jr.• In 1637 she was recorded as an Anabaptist; 1638 and 1642 she was in prison, where she bore one of her sons. A report on her hearings there was made 1 Sep 2007 at a meeting on “Täuferinnen und Mennonitinnen” by Astrid von Schlachta.• 2nd wife; she had 5 children with Martin MEYLI. In 1650 they moved to Dühren in Baden, which belonged to the Freiherren von VENNINGEN. • Richard Davis reports that Annali in 1668 appeared in the estate papers of her uncle Hans Jakob BÄR, where she is called an Anapaptistin in the Pfalz and wife of Martin MEILI.
The Woman Who Had a Baby in Jail
In 1637 they caught the minister, [[Meili-14|Hans Meyli]], of the Horgerberg, in the snowcrowned Alps south of Lake Zürich in Switzerland. They tried him and threw him into the Oetenbach castle dungeon, but after forty-three weeks he escaped. The Protestant authorities (of Zwingli's reformed church) were furious. They did continual house searches and harrassed the believers. Thirty Täuferjäger (Anabaptist hunters) found out where the Meylis lived and with bare swords and firearms stormed the house, hacking through doors and throwing things around to find the escaped minister. They cursed and swore and blasphemed God. When they realized that he was not there, they took his two sons, [[Meili-16|Hans Jr.]] and [[Meili-19|Martin Meyli]] captive.
Martin was already married. They grabbed his young wife and tied her up tightly. Her name was [[Bar-135|Anna]]. She had a fourteen-week-old baby, which they took from her and gave to people from the state church to keep. They took the captives to Zürich, tried them and locked them up in the Oetenbach castle dungeons. They took off the men's clothes and chained them to the stone floor for twenty weeks. They tortured them with spiders and caterpillars. They gave them just enough food and water to keep them alive. But the prisoners would not recant. After one year the two men escaped "with undamaged consciences" and after two years, on Good Friday, 1641, Anna escaped as well. They fled from place to place, but the people betrayed them. Anna fell into the hands of the Täuferjäger again and was imprisoned, first at the Oetenbach, then in the Spital jail. This time she was expecting a baby. They left her shackled until the pains of labour came upon her. Then they loosened her to have the baby, and "with the help and grace of God" she escaped. After her husband found her they fled across the mountains and through the Black Forest to Germany.[[http://www.elcristianismoprimitivo.com/The%20Secret%20of%20the%20Strength.pdf The Secret of the Strength, What Would the Anabaptists Tell This Generation? by Peter Hoover]]
== Sources ==
* Source: Title: Martin Kendig's Swiss Relatives Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage Vol. XV, No. 1 2-18 Author: Jane Evans Best Publication: January, 1992 Note: Repository: Call Number: Media: Book * Source: Title: A Bear Saga: The Birmensdorf Connection Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage Vol. XI, No. 2 31-45 Author: Jane Evans Best Publication: April, 1988 Repository: Call Number: Media: Magazine * Source: Title: Emigrants, Refugees, and Prisoners-- Volume II II Author: Richard Warren Davis * Source: Title: Emigrants, Refugees, and Prisoners, Volume III III Author: Richard Warren Davis * Source: Title: Bear Saga Update: Part One Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage Vol. 21, No. 3 11-26 Author: Jane Evans Best Publication: July, 1998 Note: Repository: Call Number: Media: Book * [http://www.geni.com/people/Anna-Barbara-B%C3%A4r-Meili/6000000003397073225 Profile on Geni.com]
*From Database of Brent L. Rodes at rootsweb.com 06/10
== Acknowledgements ==
* WikiTree profile Bar-145 created through the import of Welder Family Tree.ged on Sep 10, 2011 by [[Welder-2 | Deborah Anne Welder]]. See the [http://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:NetworkFeed&who=Bar-145 Changes page] for the details of edits by Deborah Anne and others.
* WikiTree profile Bar-166 created through the import of Reichard Martin Family Tree.ged on Apr 2, 2012 by [[Myers-1680 | Ryan Myers]]. See the [http://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:NetworkFeed&who=Bar-166 Changes page] for the details of edits by Ryan and others.
* WikiTree profile Bar-178 created through the import of JOSEPH~1.GED on Jul 14, 2012 by [[Stalnaker-102 | Joseph Stalnaker]]. See the [http://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:NetworkFeed&who=Bar-178 Changes page] for the details of edits by Joseph and others.
* WikiTree profile Bar-135 created through the import of Susanna Kendig.ged on Aug 18, 2011 by [[Coggins-26 | Cody Coggins]]. See the [http://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:NetworkFeed&who=Bar-135 Changes page] for the details of edits by Cody and others.
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1618 - 1668 (50 years)
