Travel to Busserach

I have been delayed in posting because I hit the ground running in Switzerland. My train trip from Boppard to Basel was uneventful except for a suicide attempt. While still in southern Germany the train came to a screeching halt, and I nervously looked around my train car. No one else seemed concerned so I thought it was a brake check or something. But then we just sat. Finally an announcement came on that there were "people on the tracks" and we had to wait for them to be moved. I wondered if a car had gotten stuck on the tracks. A little later another announcement was made that someone was trying to commit suicide by laying on the tracks, and they had to wait for the police to come. I guess the person went willingly because we were soon on our way again. All this delayed my arrival time in Basel where Rolf, as promised, was waiting at the top of the escalator with a Swiss flag. I waved my own American flag at him, and we quickly bought my ticket to Laufen. Back down the escalator we went only to see our train pulling out. Back up the escalator we headed with me dragging all my luggage once again. We went into a coffee shop for some coffee and tea. Rolf brought me up to date in the plans for the rest of that day, which was Thursday.

Gasthaus where Joseph Kubler sold his land

We caught the next train 30 minutes later and then got into his car which was parked at the Laufen train station. From there we drove directly to my hotel in Breitenbach, which I believe I have mentioned is the same hotel where my ancestor Joseph Kubler sold his house and land in February of 1854 to finance passage to America for his family. We barely made it in the door to drop my bag with the hotel owner and grab a key before Rolf whisked me off to Busserach, a short distance away. There we went to to the Catholic Church office to look at the old birth, death and marriage records. The office is only open on Thursdays so we needed to take advantage of that.

With the parish record books in Busserach

A Kubler entry

The secretary had laid out three books for us to look through. We photographed every Kubler entry that we found. We did not have too much time to dissect what we came across as there were many Kubler entries. We got short on time, so Rolf suggested we go through two additional books at a later time. From the office we went to Rolf's house where I had a chance to meet his two sons, but not his wife as she was away on holiday. Then Josef Kubler (call Sep in Switzerland for short, but never Joe) came to pick us up to take us to his sister Susanne's house for dinner. The two of them speak no English and I don't speak German so Rolf was kept busy translating the conversation. Susanne prepared raclette, a traditional Swiss dish. It was so good! I may have to see if I can find the machine in the U.S.

Joseph on the left with Rolf

Raclette

I got back to the hotel about 10:30 that evening to prepare for a big day at the Solothurn archives on Friday.