A Little Family History in St. Gallen

So, this past Thanksgiving I was perusing my mom's collection of family history records and came across an account that peaked my interest. It told the story of a family from Switzerland who converted to the LDS church and then joined the saints in Utah. 

Switzerland's my neighbor you know.  Practically a stone's throw, which is really a surreal fact to me, even if it's only for a year or two more.  

This particular family hailed from St. Gallen, and a quick glance at google maps told me that it's only a 2.5 hour drive from Stuttgart...  Ok, so that's cool.  Why not go check it out?

The story I read basically told of a Catholic father, mother, and four children who met the missionaries and were baptized into the LDS faith in a frozen river on January 1, 1863 (incidentally the same day the Emancipation Proclamation was signed).  One of the children, who was 16, was my great-great-great grandmother, Maria Magdalene Mauchle.  Shortly thereafter they sold their farm and home at a loss, emigrated to the U.S., and by August, the father was dead from cholera, exposure, and exhaustion at Winter Quarters, Nebraska.  The mother sadly passed a few weeks later in Echo Canyon, just a three day's journey from the Salt Lake Valley.  The four children were orphaned and kindly taken in by LDS families. And that's how my great-great-great grandmother started her life in the United States. 

So, I loved visiting St. Gallen.  It's clean, beautiful, understated, and not very touristy.  I felt like we were the only visitors. 

My sister has been dying for some pictures, so here you go:

This abbey was founded in the 7th century and is  a UNESCO world heritage site.  I love the Baroque style… not nearly as macabre as the gothic cathedrals

The abbey also contains an amazing library, but we couldn't take pictures.  So, here's a pic from the net.  The books featured in the glass cases date back to the 7th century and were hand written by monks!  It was VERY cool.

We went to a lookout point over the city and captured some beautiful views

That's Lake Constance in the background… it borders Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

A very interesting nativity depiction

Some views of the surrounding area… don't you think it would be hard to pack up and leave this beautiful area?

Straubenzell is the village where they were from, and is now part of the city of St. Gallen



And we figured that the river we found near St. Gallen was where the family was baptized:

Maria's father was born in Bruggen, which means bridges.

All in all, a very cool way to spend Christmas Eve day, and we picked up a delicious loaf of bread from a Swiss bakery on the way home for our Christmas Eve dinner.