The Story of the Staheli's of Gubsenmoos

The Stäheli Family of Gübsenmoos
Straubenzell
St. Gallen, Switzerland

As a child and even a young man I had only a cursory interest in family history and although I knew my grandfather Staly had come from Switzerland it was sufficient to know just that. A few years ago, when I turned 60, I developed a greater interest in knowing more about my family origins and recently had an opportunity to explore my Swiss roots. This is what I have learned.

Caspar Albert Stäheli, citizen of the village of Egnach in Thurgau canton Switzerland (born about 1850) and Maria Kiml of Tyrol, Austria (born about 1856) met and were married at some time around 1875. They settled near St. Gallen in a neighborhood of lower middle class, even poor, folks a short distance west of town. Early in their marriage the locations of the births of their children varied as the family moved from one house to another and Albert worked as a day laborer. Albert’s jobs were typically short term with no single employer. For a while he worked as a Drainer which was steady work. This would have been digging drain holes and perhaps laying drain pipe to dry out fields and other properties. It is thought that Albert was not well educated but possessed a good work ethic which enabled him to seek out and accept what jobs became available each day near their home.

In 1874 Albert bought a house in Gübsenmoos, property #625 according to fire insurance records. That property was sold to Robert Stäheli in 1879 and in 1886 Albert and Maria bought a house and barn also in Gübsenmoos, listed as properties #638 and #639 in fire insurance records. Moos in German means swamp or marsh. While Gübsenmoos was a wetland not suitable for traditional farming it is likely the family had several cows and a garden. The family lived there from 1886 to 1899.

Birth records list the following children born to Caspar Albert and Maria Stäheli:

Caspar Albert Stäheli               April 24, 1879          Gübsen

Maria Stäheli                           April 24, 1880           Altenwegen

Robert Hermann Stäheli           July 22, 1881             Hölzle

Johanna Waldburga Stäheli      January 28, 1883       Altenwegen

Joseph Hermann Stäheli           March 2, 1884          Altenwegen

Caspar Hermann Stäheli           December 4, 1886    Gübsenmoos

Theresia Stäheli                        January 31, 1888      Gübsenmoos

Waldburga Stäheli                    October 17, 1889     Gübsenmoos

Anna Juliana Stäheli                  April 7, 1891            Gübsenmoos

Carl Anton Stäheli                    July 22, 1892            Gübsenmoos

Paul Mathias Stäheli                 September 30, 1893  Gübsen

Franziska Stäheli                      April 24, 1895           Gübsenmoos

Rosa Stäheli                             September 17, 1896  Gübsenmoos

On March 4, 1898 their eldest son, Albert, emigrated to the United States arriving on the ship La Normandie where he passed through Ellis Island. In the late 1890’s the Kübel Elektric Werk, an electric power company, was looking for a site to build Switzerland’s first hydroelectric power plant. Gübsenmoos was selected for the site of a reservoir which could be constructed by closing the west end of the swamp with an earthen dam and the east end of the swamp with a brick dam which would channel water into the generator turbines. In 1899 Caspar Albert and Maria sold their house and barn to Kübel Elektric Werk, bought passage on the ship Kaiser Friedrich and arrived on Ellis Island on March 23, 1899. The ship manifest shows that Caspar, Maria and twelve children landed with $200. (about $5100. today) and plans to stay with a brother in Ridgeville, Wisconsin. Caspar listed his occupation as farmer. My grandfather, Carl, who was six years old had a fever thought to be from immunizations. Eventually the Stäheli family settled in Addy, Washington on a plot suitable for farming. A fourteenth child was born in the United States. It is rumored three other children died very young.

My grandfather, Carl Anton Stäheli, worked as a firefighter for the city of Spokane, Washington. He married Madeline Capaul of Coeur D’Alene, Idaho and they had a son, my father, Thomas Charles Staly. The Capaul’s had emigrated from Brigels, Switzerland. My father remembers when my grandfather took him to the local courthouse to legally change the family name to Staly.

Carl Anton Staly, also known as Charles or Jack, built several homes in Spokane and the family lived in them. Eventually, Carl and Madeline divorced, Carl married Lola Potter and had a daughter, Carol Ann.

Madeline married Robert Gage Robert and had daughters Roberta (Bobbie) and Jeanne.

Carol Ann had a daughter, Karen, and a son, Charles (Chuck).

Roberta had a daughter, Susan, and a son, David. Jeanne had a daughter, Linda and sons Ricky and Randy.

My father married Helen Turk and I was born December 24, 1944. My sisters are Jeanne Marie and Elizabeth Ann. Tom Staly Sr. worked as a food broker for Johnson-Lieber Company until his retirement in 1983. Helen maintained their home as a housewife.