| Notes |
- == Biography ==
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.[[https://web.archive.org/web/20191002140043/http://www.gw.org/Sos/Sos.pdf Source: The Secret of the Strength, What Would the Anabaptists Tell This Generation? by Peter Hoover]]
Ulrich and Elsbeth had several children, but only Katherine's name was known to or remembered via handwritten notes by my Grandma Willa Augusta [[Rusmisel-2]] as she recalled this family history. So clearly this is not sourced by any document other than notes transcribed to a very early edition of Family Tree Maker.The last name of Meili is the more common spelling of this family than the phonetic Meyli.
=== Birth and Death ===Original pre-merge profile had birthdate of abt 1572, but father would have been about 12 years of age, so later date from other profile selected. Actual sources for birth and death are sought.
=== Marriage ===
: Husband: [[Meyli-1|Hans Meyli]]
: Wife: [[Hochstrasser-4|Elsbeth Hochstrasser]]
: Marriage:
:: Date: 29 MAY 1603:: Place: Reformed Church, Landikon, Zurich, Switzerland[Source: [[#S29]] ]
== Sources ==
* 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: Turmoil in Conestoga Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage Vol. XI, No. 1 2-27 Author: Jane Evans Best Publication: January 1993 Repository: Call Number: Media: Book * Source: Title: Bear Saga Update: Part One Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage Vol. 21, No. 3 11-26 Author: Jane Evans Best Publication: July, 1998 Repository: Call Number: Media: Book * Source: S29 Title: Family Search.org Abbreviation: Family Search.org* "Switzerland, Zurich Marriages, 1524-1800"
Volume: S. 172
[https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-20728-32646/hans-meili-and-elisabeth-hochstrasser-in-switzerland-zurich-marriages MyHeritage Record] (accessed 12 September 2024)
Hans Meili marriage to Elisabeth Hochstrasser on 29 May 1603 in Birmensdorf, Zürich, Schweiz. (Note: Bride and Groom both lived in Landikon, Birmensdorf, Zürich, Schweiz [[Secrest-288|BJS]])
== Acknowledgements ==
|
Abt 1583 - Abt 1652 (69 years)
