Comments on Schmiedrued

Just a couple of quick comments. The town was only about 25 miles north of Lucern. While visiting at Schmiedrued I asked if the family might have gone to Lucern to get supplies, shopping, festivals, etc. Everyone sort of drew a breath and said, "Oh no, never. Lucern is Catholic! Schmiedrued people would have gone north to the Protestant town of Aargau or Bern. " (I can't remember which it is off the top of my head)

I now understand that the Reformation was not a peaceful thing and some families were split over religious affiliations. I mentioned to one fellow that his surname was in Star Valley and had originally come from such and such a town in Switz. Without any hesitation he assured me that they might have been from the same family before the Reformation, but such and such was a Catholic town and his were from the Protestant town of ______ .

Wouldn't it be nice if we could get a translated history book? If anyone has a lead please let us know.

Thanks for taking a look. The numbers keep going up. Don't be shy about leaving a comment or question. We'll just use first names to keep things sort of private. This is an open forum for our history. We each know a little and if we pool our knowledge we'll all go away richer.
I still haven't caught some folks by phone, so please keep spreading the word!