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Feature #1: Vorder Giebel
 So,
what is Giebel? In Switzerland, it is customary to name your farm. People often
regard Giebel as a single farm, but actually, Giebel consists of multiple farm
houses. These houses were likely once linked together through a common ownership
by a family. The house that most people call Giebel is actually “Vorder Giebel”,
and it is located just east of Langnau. Other houses that belong to the Giebel
family is Hinter Giebel, Giebelkelle, Giebelegg, Giebelmoos, and likely more.
One look at the houses and you would be convinced that the houses are aptly
named because the term “giebel” means “gable" in English.
Vorder Giebel is a large farmhouse that is typical of Berner architecture. The
current house was built in the first part of the 19
century. The house faces the Alps mountain range in the south. It is built on a
high plateau, and the north (back) side of the house is built into the side of a
hill. There is a large door on the back of the house that serves as hay loft.
There is a door on the east and west sides of the main floor on the back half of
the house that serves as a barn for cows. The cows are
used for milking. A porch on that main floor wraps around the sides and front of the house, and other porches exist on the second and third levels. During spring,
fresh flowers adorn the railings of the balcony.
To the west of the house is a large barn. A stöckli
exists on the east side of the house. A stöckli is a house where the parents
live after they pass down the house to one of their children. It is customary in
this area of Switzerland that the house be passed down to the youngest male
child once he reaches an age where he is able to manage the farm. This
retirement house is designed with a similar architectural style. For many years, the
stöckli was used as a meeting place of one of the earliest Evangelisch-Taufgesinnter
(ETF) churches. Other names for this set of religious
beliefs are "Neuetäufer" and "Frohlichianer". Mennonite history records Christian Gerber as one of the two individuals who was
instrumental in converting much of the valley from Mennonite (Annabaptist) faith to this new
set of religious beliefs. As members of the ETF church migrated to the United
States, they carried various traditions with them. In the United States, the
church is known as the Apostolic Christian church.
Located south of
the house is a small storage barn called a “spiecher”, or “spycher”. This
particular spiecher is very old as it dates back to 1735. We know this for
certain as the builders left their inscription around the front door of the
barn. The inscription reads,
 “Mychel Gärber und Ana Rötlyspärger syn husfrou
haben där spyher lasen bouen 1735”, which is translated “Michael Gerber and Anna
Rothlisberger, his wife, built this spiecher in 1735.” It is this inscription
that helps us positively identify Michael Gerber as one of the earliest known
occupants of Vorder Giebel. Records still show the house has remained in the
Gerber family since that date. It is possible that Gerber's lived on the farm
prior to Michael's generation, but we do not have written proof.
There are many
mentions of Giebel and individual persons in existent records. However, these
records often do not distinguish between the houses, so it is impossible to
determine occupants prior to Michael's ownership. Below are some of the mentions
of Giebel in those records:
1658 – Christen Grimm, of Giebel, died from the
plague
1691 – Daniel Grimm, Choir Director, Hans Burki,
Almosenvogt, both Annabaptists
1695 – Michael Gerber and wife Anna Rothlisbarger
1735/1737 – Peter Grimm, of Giebel
1749 – Christian Gerber, at Giebel, bannisiert
1754 – Niklaus Gerber, of from Baumgarten,
brother-in-law of Michael Gerber, aforementioned
1758 – Uli Grimm, Hans Grimm, of Daniel Grimm and
Barbara Kilchhofer
1760 – Niklaus Rothlisbarger, Ulrich Schwarz, both
of Giebel
1760 – Daniel Grimm, 75 years old
1761 – Anna Steiner, 58 years, Michael Gerber's
wife
1763 – Daniel Grimm, 50 years old
1764 – Christen Grimm, Choir director, and his
wife, Barbara Leeman
1770 – Michael Gerber, of Vorder-Giebel
1773 – Christian Grimm, Niclaus Gerber, both of
Giebel
1783 – Christen Gerber and Kathrina Burkhalter of
Vorder Giebel had 10 children
1801 – Niclaus Gerber, of Vorder Giebel, purchased
the Obern Hapbach
1805 – Oswald Habegger, Ulrich Gerber, both from
Giebel
1823 – Christen and Anna Barbara Gerber, from
Giebel
1826 – Christen
Grimm, Annabaptist from Giebel
Of course, the
Gerber name is mentioned in the Langnau area much earlier than when it is
associated with Vorder Giebel. It is generally believed that the Gerbers in
Switzerland came out of the valley of Gohl (or Gohlgraben), just north of
Langnau. A house that has been associated with Gerbers long before Vorder Giebel
is a house called “Baumgarten” in Gohl.
Paul Gerber of the
Berner Hapbach line states the following about Michael Gerber:
Michael was a blessed man of land, forest, and
fields, because at his time Vorder Giebel also owned the farms of Giebelkelle,
Giebelmoos, and the further-away Lohngrat and the Bluttenried, two mountain
homes in the valley of Gohl, which were inhabited only in the summer and where
there were further fields, land and forests in those same areas.
On the current farm Untern Lohngrat, where earlier
the Gerbers inhabited, stands a goodsized cheese shack. On the door post over
the entrance is carved the date 1714. All around the door frame of the lower
entrance is inscribed, “Hans Gerber and Nicklaus Gerber, both of Giebel, Michael
Gerber , the dairy farmer, in 1767 year. Peter Berger, the carpenter.” They were
the three sons of Michael of Giebel. The first of these three, Hans, 1729-1782,
listed as Johannes in church records, was the inheriting son (of this particular
house) of Michael of Vorder Giebel. Hans had 7 children, of which three were
proclaimed to have died on the same day at the ages of 3, 4, and 7; whether
through an accident or sickness, it is not mentioned. Both parents died within 5
days with 53 and 60 years.
The youngest son of
Johannes, Niklaus (1767-1830), who was raised in Vorder Giebel, purchased the
farm Oberer Hapbach and took on the name “Gerber-Glais.” The Oberer Hapbach is a
farm east of Bärau, embedded between the farms of Bäregg, Baregghohe, Rigenen,
and Habegg, and belongs to the groups of houses called, “Winkel.”
 The name “Gerber” is translated as someone who
works with leather. Paul Gerber further talks about an early crest of the Gerber
line. He said the the crest of Gerbers from Vorder Giebel shows a Gerbebock (a
tanning ramp apparatus) with tanning knives crossed above it. Carefully cared
for on the farm is a small drinking glass, called a Fluhliglas. It is colorfully
painted and brazed. I also is decorated with the early crest and the
inscription, “Every Gerber Good Health 1736.” Perhaps Michael had this glass made, but more likely it was given to him as a gift.
Later, this Gerber line adopted a crest that shows
three hills, each with a clover on it. Above the clover is a tanning knife, and
there is a star about the knife. Marianne Gerber of Küssnacht
indicates that the green hills with clover represents ownership of good
farmland. The knife obviously reflects the origin of the Gerber name.
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