By Albin Leo Dittli
Gottfried Lanz was born 18 July 1851 in Rohrbach, Bern, Switzerland. Rohrbach is near Longenthal, in the rolling hills. There are two Rohrbachs in Bern, so this Rohrbach is usually called Rohrbach by Hutwil. It is a village of about 1,400 people in the Emmental. The telephone directory for 1976 shows that there are 48 Lanz families living there.
When Gottfried was single he worked as a prison guard or jailer. After he married he became a letter carrier for the postal system.
When Gottfried was twenty he was in the Swiss Army. While on training in the City of Berne he saw a house on a corner and decided that he wanted to live in that house someday.
Gottfried was married three times. His first wife was Anna Maria Luthi. She was also from Rohrbach. He and Anna Maria had three boys and three girls. Marie was the first born and Rosa was born second. Marie and Rosa both died when they were abut three years old. Years later Gottfried told his daughter Anna Muggli that these two girls were too beautiful to live. He never got over their deaths. Their third child was Gottfried. Between the births of Rosa and Gottfried the family moved to the city of Bern. The house that they bought was the same house he had seen when he was in the military and had wanted to live in someday.
There was no running water in the house. They had a fountain or well in the back yard were they had to get all their water.
His second wife was Rosina Furrer. Rosina and Gottfried married 11 March 1886 in Bern. They had one child, Helena Rosa, born 26 Aug 1888. Rosina died 18 February 1890 from a type of blood poisoning that started in her arm and spread throughout her body. Rosina was from Lusslingen. Her parents were Benedict Fuhrer and Maria Kohler. When Rosina died her sister wanted to marry Gottfried, but he was not interested in her.
His third wife was Anna Jauner. She was born in Koniz, Bern. When they met Anna was engaged to another man. Anna felt that Gottfried needed a good person to step in and help hold the family together. Anna was very unselfish, else she would never have assumed the responsibilities of that family situation. Anna mothered three sons and one daughter by him. The girl was named Anna after her mother, and she was the last born. Anna also had two miscarriages, both of which almost took her life. Gottfried was a fancier of dogs, especially St. Bernards. On their wedding day they went to a dog show in Basel.
Anna Jauner was a beautiful women, and very sweet and charming. Before she married she was a governess and lady's maid for some diplomats in Paris for eight years. They regarded her as one of the family. They told her, "Anna, you are too beautiful to marry an ordinary man. Don't ever do it."
Anna pretty much took control of the house. From time to time some of her nieces would come and live with them and act as maids.
On the street level of the house was a grocery store that they owned and ran. Gottfried continued his job as a mailman. Anna ran the store. The store would open at six o'clock for workers on their way to work. Below was a cellar which stored butter, cheese, and wine for the store.
They also had a shoe store, which was in their living room. The walls of the living room were lined with shelves full of shoes. Customers often came to buy shoes after regular hours. The living room was also the dining room.
Gottfried had terrible gall stone problems and had many very painful attacks that would double him up suddenly. He did not allow himself to be operated on to get rid of them because in those days the failure rate was 80 to 90 percent for operations.
Gottfried had a reddish mustache and coal black hair. When he died he still had coal black hair, with just a touch of grey in it. He was a very strict man and had a temper. He was about 5 feet six inches tall.
Gottfried raised St. Bernard dogs to sell. He had an enclosure in the back yard for them. They had one special dog named Prince that was the family pet, and he was a beautiful dog. One day a German saw him and wanted to buy Prince. Gottfried did not want to sell Prince, but finally agreed to. Anna cried at Prince's leaving.
The family did not have much time for Christmas because that was the busiest time of the year for the store. Usually one of the children was sent to get a tree. The presents were usually an orange and maybe a pair of socks or a shirt.
They often had terrible lightning storms in Bern. One time lightning struck very close and flashed into the living room from the wall telephone. Fortunately no one was hurt.
Anna's mother was Magdalena Vogeli. She lived to be 81 years old. Her husband, Niklaus Jauner, was a cooper. Unfortunately he drank too much of the contents of the barrels. When he had made enough barrels to fill a cart he would get up at four in the morning and load them into a cart. Magdalena would then drive the cart to the market place in Bern, driving it through the forest on the way. When Magdalena lived with Anna she would relieve Anna from store work two days a week. Magdalena lived with Anna the last twenty five years of her life. During this time Magdalena did most of the raising of the children while Anna worked in the store.
In 1930 Lillian Dittli and Madelaine Helfenberger went to Switzerland and visited with Anna. Anna was concerned that she had two grand daughters coming and that she wouldn't be able to talk with them. Anna was very happy when they met and Lillian said "Grutzi."
In November 1925 Anna's daughter Anna immigrated to the United States. This was very hard on Anna Jauner. When Anna was getting ready to leave, her mother said to her, "You have your life ahead of you and mine is practically over. I had a good life. I had all that I wanted and lots of work. I can only wish you well."
In 1937 Anna Jauner wrote Anna in the States saying they were expecting a war. The government had everyone clean out their attics to help prevent fire if attacked. She wanted Anna to come to Switzerland to visit her as she was afraid she would never see her daughter again. Anna had married Hans Muggli and they had just bought a house on 34th Ave in San Francisco and had no money to pay for the ticket to Switzerland. When Anna Jauner found that they could not afford the ticket she sent them the money for the ticket.
Ernest was the first of the children to leave for America. Hans left next, then Gottfried. Hans and Gottfried worked for a time in the Colorado gold mines. Hans married and had three children. Hans was always delicate of nature and he died of Tuberculosis.
Helen, the only child of the second marriage, stayed in Switzerland and died of Tuberculous at the age of twenty seven.
Information provided by Anna Muggli and Lillian Lanz Dittli.