Eau de Humanity

Residents of Switzerland living near Lake Constance would prefer not to have dead Germans in their drinking water.

Officials from both countries believe Germans are depositing hundreds of cremated bodies in the lake every year, but because of local regulations they must do so only on the Swiss side of the lake.

Now Swiss newspapers and politicians are angrily denouncing the trend, which they say is turning Lake Constance, which attracts 12 million tourists every year, into "the lake of the dead".

"Do I want the ashes of dead people in the water I am drinking?" said Marco Baumann, an environment official in Thurgau canton. [Link]

Looked for Cousins, Found Cows

A Swiss genealogist seems to have found examples of a breed of cow thought extinct since 1975.

Retired Swiss economist Roger Pasquier rediscovered what are thought to be Fribourg cows, imported from Switzerland in the 1930s, while investigating his family roots in Punta Arenas in southern Chile.

"I notice much more interest for the cows than for the Swiss emigrants," said Pasquier, who has published a book entitled, The people of Fribourg and their descendants in Chilean Patagonia. [Link]

Big Ben in Cheese Heaven

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is in Switzerland searching for his long-lost cousins and maybe some good cheese. The Swiss Roots and Steelers.com websites will have updates on his travels.

[tagged: genealogy, family tree, ancestry]

Swiss Roots Eases the Search for Good Cheese

Swiss Roots has come online with its promised genealogy resources. The interlinking of surname lists with immigration and other records could prove useful. The section called Famous Swiss in the U.S. finally answers the question, "What do Cyndi Lauper and flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker have in common?"

See also the interview with Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger.

Swiss Roots: We're trying to arrange a trip for you to go to Switzerland and show you the sights, including a visit to your great-grandfather's town in the Bernese Emmental.

Ben Roethlisberger: That'd be awesome! If that town is known for their cheese, then I should take my dad: he loves cheeses, and he actually used to work in a cheese factory, so I know he'd love that.

[tagged: genealogy, family tree, ancestry]

A Bundesbrief Abroad

As part of the Swiss Roots campaign to spark genealogical curiosity among Americans with Swiss ancestry, the government is sending the oldest version of Switzerland's Federal Charter to Philadelphia for an exhibition in June. That has the conservative People's Party up in arms. They're protesting the low SFr1 million ($760,000) insurance value placed on the document by offering to buy the Charter for that price, to ensure that it won't leave the country.

Swiss authorities note that they haven't lost a national treasure in transit yet.

Johannes Matyassy, chief executive of Presence Switzerland, said he was confident that the charter would return home safely.

"If we're capable of sending the Swiss president to the US and getting him back home safe and sound, I'm sure we'll manage to get the Federal Charter back safely as well," he told public television. [Link]

[tagged: genealogy, family tree, ancestry]

Genevan Genealogy

If you have Swiss ancestors, keep an eye on swissroots.org the next month or so. It's not exactly clear what resources the website will offer ("genealogical search engines" are promised), but part of its mission will be to "enable people to track down the Swiss branches of their family tree and reach out to long-lost Swiss relatives."

For a bit more info, check out this PDF file from the Swiss Embassy. Or enter your email address on the swissroots.org website while sipping Nescafé and yodeling.

[tagged: genealogy, family tree, ancestry]