A Productive Summer - Winden

Rolf Blust

I am backtracking with this entry.

On Tuesday July 13, Kathy and I scheduled a train trip from Bern to Zurich. Our alarm was set for 6:30 AM so we would get an early start. After breakfast we walked briskly to the Lion Monument in Bern. Kathy is fascinated with this lion carved into the rock wall and the story behind it. During the French Revolution in 1792 the Swiss Guards protecting the French king were killed or executed protecting him and the Royal family. The Lion has a broken spear in his back and an expression of agony on his face immortalizing the dead Swiss. It is very moving.

We got on the 9:35 train to Zurich and settled in to very comfortable first class seats. My experience last summer was that the trains are seldom full and that is the case this summer. It is possible to take over 4 seats facing each other and have a comfortable nest with a table for computer work. The ride to Zurich took less than an hour and the walk to our hotel took 15 minutes. Since we were early it was not possible to check in so we returned to the station to take the train to Winden. We got on the train to Weinfelden where we would change trains. In Weinfelden we got a train to Romanshorn which has a lovely setting on the Bodensee. From Romanshorn it was a short ride to Haggenschwil-Winden station where we met Tienne. The station in Winden is only a stop and the ticket office is now called the Hair Station, a beauty salon. Near the station there are two houses and two industrial businesses. We have evidence the Staeheli’s came from Kuegeliswinden which is now Winden.

Tienne arrived by car and drove us several miles to the home of Rolf Blust a retired teacher who has written a book, soon to be published, about the history of Winden. For about two hours Mr. Blust gave us local history and his assessment of tracing Staeheli family ancestors. A sticking point for us had been finding records for several decades after Napolean took control of Switzerland around 1798. Tienne believes we will be successful looking into church records of that era (this was the case the next day in St. Gallen).

The only significance of Winden, known as Kuegeliswinden in earlier times, is that it was a border town on the road to St. Gallen and served as a toll station. A new train station was built there in 1910. There was a local dispute over naming the station. The residents of Haggenschwil wanted it named for their town (even though the station was in Kuegeliswinden). The railroad would not print a name as long as Haggenschwil-Kuegeliswinden on a train schedule. So the name of the Kuegelin family was dropped leaving the name used today. Winden means windy.

Maps from earlier times show a cluster of 16 or so houses with some likely occuppied by our Staeheli family. Tienne knows that three farms near the village of Winden today are operated by families named Staeheli. We thanked Mr. Blust for his information and Tienne drove us back to the station. We agreed to meet again tomorrow in St. Gallen and Tienne left for her drive home.

Winden Train Station