Moosseedorf as seen from the air, c. 1939, view towards the north-east.
Andreas Heege, Andreas Kistler, Alfred Spycher, 2025
While the only people with the surname Häberli prior to 1800 in the Bernese midlands were naturalised citizens of the municipalities of Krauchthal, Münchenbuchsee and Jegenstorf, there were many more in the Cantons of Lucerne, Thurgau and Zurich (Register of Swiss Surnames, online version). We have only partially succeeded in establishing a coherent and complete genealogy for the various potters called Häberli, as it was not possible to ascertain the links between some of the families. What we can say for now is that the genealogical investigations have not provided any evidence to show that the Häberli potters in 18th and 19th century Münchenbuchsee or Moosseedorf were in any way related to the Häberli potters from Hängelen. Nor were there any familial links between the latter and the Häberli potters that are known to have worked in Jegenstorf from 1861 to 1941; they can be shown to be part of the Häberli branch from Münchenbuchsee.
Häberli, Münchenbuchsee-Moosseedorf_genealogical data
Johannes Häberli (1787-1835) was the son of a potter who was also called Johannes Häberli (1755-1821) and his wife Elisabeth Knuchel. On 6th November 1813, Johannes junior married Christina Keller (1793-1859) from Bannwil (KRSchüpfen 11, 66). On 19th March 1814, the couple had a son whom they called Daniel (1814-?), probably after his first godfather, the schoolmaster Daniel Häberli (1787-1864). At that stage, the family still lived in Münchenbuchsee.
On 11th April 1816, Johannes Häberli bought a newly built smallholding from Hans Holzer, a carpenter from Moosseedorf, which was described in the records as consisting of: “1. An entire house including the adjoining garden and land approximately 1 Juchart in size … 2. A piece of land on the ?hübeli, approximately ½ Juchart. 3. A field in the Tannacker area of 2½ Juchart. Price of purchase 4,500 pounds or 1,350 Bern Kronen” (GBM_02_325-328). The building still exists today at the south-eastern edge of the village, at 5 Unterweg, Moosseedorf. When Johannes died in 1835, the property – a “small annex with a potter’s workshop” and a “residence with a barn” – passed to his widow. She remarried on 19th March 1836. Her new husband, Niklaus Bill (1801-1870) from Moosseedorf, was a cooper. In 1869, ten years after Christina Keller (1793-1859) died, the property that Niklaus Bill had inherited from her was officially put in his name in the land register. At that stage the “small annex with the potter’s workshop” still existed. Following his death, five of his nephews inherited the estate in 1872. A document recording a further division of the property in 1879 no longer mentions the potter’s workshop.
For the period between 1818 and 1830, as many as 14 journeymen were registered by Johannes Häberli. There was obviously no shortage of work at the time. After 1835, the workshop was probably rented out, even though the next three journeymen were not registered until 1862-1865. They were working for the potter Andreas Schneider, for whom, however, we have no further information.
Translation Sandy Haemmerle
