Acknowledgments
I dedicate this work to Esther, the light of my life, whose love and devotion has sustained me for well over half a century.
I also owe deep gratitude to my late mother, not least, for kindling my fundamental curiosity from early childhood on. Our daughter Naomi, an information scientist, was a great help and source of inspiration throughout this work. Not only has she led me to sources I could not otherwise have accessed; as well, she nudged me gently with challenges and encouragement towards a method of publication unfamiliar to me. Lucky the parents who can learn from their children!
My thanks go to three people who played a vital role in the implementation of this project: Above all Mr. Friedrich Wollmershäuser, a genealogical researcher in Germany who systematically and meticulously collected the primary data upon which this work is based. His discussions and contributions, far beyond the scope of our formal contract, helped shape this document. By a sheer stroke of luck I found a wonderful editor, Carla DeSantis PhD, whose skill set matched the needs of this project perfectly. She applied a professional “French Polish” to the manuscript if I may be forgiven the CONTRADICTIO IN ADJECTU. Steven Guggenheim, whose ancestors lived in Stühlingen, supported the data collection to a great extent financially and participated in many fruitful discussions. He also extended the research into the children of Lang Jossel Gugenheimb, son of Schmul.
Werner Frank, Peter Stein, and John Berkovitch have shared relevant sources with me. I am indebted to Professors D. Bell, Peter H. Wilson, M. Toch, S. Ullmann, A. Gafni, C. Cuneo and R.C. Schwinges for their valuable advice. I gratefully acknowledge the help from friends G. and S. Eisner and G. Sweeney reading early drafts of my manuscript. Erwin and Johanna Bosch have helped me with the Hürben part of this research. Thank you Mrs. J. Binner-Schwarz for showing me around Stühlingen and handing me valuable background material. Mr. W. Bächtold of the Schleitheim township archive in Switzerland introduced me to relevant Pletscher papers.
McMaster University gave me liberal access to its library services, thus providing me with an open gateway to the world of academic libraries. The many invaluable on-line resources assisting my research are too numerous to mention.
I am grateful for the generous assistance from the Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe, the Fürstlich Fürstenbergisches Archiv in Donaueschingen and its director Dr. Andreas Wilts, the state archives of the cantons of Zurich and St. Gall, the university library of Basle, the Central Library of the city, canton and university of Zurich.
But I could have reached none of these treasures from my home in provincial Ontario without the miracle of the Internet and ‘html’, its lingua franca. I owe much to the Open Source world that has created such wonderful productivity tools as Linux, LibreOffice, Zotero, Gimp, Inkscape, WordPress and CommentPress, and more software free of charge. Even the giant Oracle corporation has contributed to this project by allowing free use of its database software MYSQL and JAVA support.
I must apologize for having forgotten to thank anybody else who has helped me over the past five years.
Attribution of illustrations:
Image of 1920 Jews’ Corner in Stühlingen: derivative of page 167 in Rosenthal’s “Heimatgeschichte…”.
Image of historic costumes: derivative of , domaine publique.
Copy of municipal protocol (Prologue) Staatsarchiv Augsburg, VÖ Lit. 263 fol. 187 – July 6 1728.
Copies of court transcript pages (x3 page 68): Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe; 61/12663, fol. 272/3/4 Protokolle des Oberamts Stühlingen – June 16 1652.
Copies of court transcript pages (Epilogue): Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe; 61/12683, fol. 445/6 Protokolle des Oberamts Stühlingen – May 21 1728.
Copies of excerpts from parish register Rheinau 1736 ; StAZH EIII 94.1 S. 681 & 94.2 S. 188
