We Are Wanderers We Are Seekers : A Bergthold Family History

Take a journey across five centuries and eighteen generations, to the heart of the Bergthold family legacy.

This is the story of the Bergthold family's search for freedom and opportunity. More deeply, it is the story of how their experiences shaped the lives and values that the family hold today.

The story starts in Switzerland, with the Reformation. Bergtholds (or Berchtolds, as they may have been called then) had lived there years before Martin Luther broke with the Catholic Church. However, the stubbornness and independence of the Anabaptists led them to rebel against established authority. That rebellion led to persecution and motivated the families to move to places where they could live and prosper without oppression. Their journey to seek a better life led them from Switzerland to France, Germany, Ukraine, South Russia and finally to America in the late 1800s.

The story of the Bergtholds is presented here as a combination of firsthand research, stories from community members, and additional information about Mennonites across generations. It is part travel memoir and part family history. It shows how the struggles of our ancestors affect us in every way: from the food we like to the decisions we make and the values we hold dear. It also includes text and photos of how the Bergthold families lived, from farming practices to hog butchering.