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2025 Frey European Heritage Tour August 30—September 8 Switzerland, Germany & France |
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22 Frey/Fry/Frye cousins and their spouses along with our guides, Lois Ann and Lemar Mast had the experience of a lifetime by visiting the towns in Switzerland and Germany where Jacob Frey and his son, Heinrich Frey, were born and lived. Heinrich then emigrated to America in 1685. Our family group was made up of one father, daughter and granddaughter, one father daughter, and three mothers and daughters, along with several siblings. |
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On our bus ride from the Zurich airport to Gontenschwil for our first two days of exploring, we passed the Habsburg Castle which was constructed at the beginning of the Habsburg dynasty which family ruled over Europe for many centuries |
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Most of us spent our first two nights at the Seehotel which was located on a beautiful lake a couple of miles from Gontenschwil. |
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Our first nights dinner at the Gasthof Bad Schwarzenberg was absolutely fabulous, especially the Carrot and Orange Cream Soup. |
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On Sunday morning we attended church services at the Gontenschwil Reform Church. In addition to be welcomed by the town mayor, we had the privilege of witnessing two baby girls get Baptized. While this church was constructed in 2023, it is on the spot where the original church was located in the 1600’s when Jacob Frey was Baptized there. |
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After church services we broke bread with over 40 residence of the area who have the surname of Frey. In this area the only spelling for our surname is Frey and it is pronounces Fray. We brought gifts for the children as well as the adults. The lunch consisted of local wine, fresh local vegetables and the best locally made pork (or veil) sausage. |
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Next to the Gontenschwil Reform Church is a 250 year old house that has been maintained and is now a museum. This picture shows the wood beams that may have been used when it was built. Swiss law does not allow the demolition of old buildings so this one may be similar to homes that go back 350 years. |
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For our extended lunch hour on Monday September 1st, we got to spend several hours in Lucerne. |
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Our original plan was to have our group picture taken in front of he Frey Chocolate plant on our way from the Zurich Airport to Gontenschwil. However, since our plane was 3 hours late, we had to wait until our 3rd day of travel to get this historic picture. Founded in 1887 by brothers Robert and Max Frey, the factory remains in operation today under ownership of the Migros Grocery Store chain which bought it from the Frey family about 2 years ago. We do not know if we are related to this Frey family. While the Frey logo is still used on the chocolate wrapper, the only Frey sign at the factory is on the top of the building. |
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Getting ready for dinner on our first night in Brienz. Our hotel overlooked Lake Brienz. |
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While staying in Brienz, we visited the Ballenberg Swiss Open-Air Museum. This old bus from the 1950’s is Germain made, but right-hand drive. The museum occupies many acres and takes several hours to walk around. This is an actual house from an industrialist from the late 1800’s. |
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Most of us had lunch at the Ballenberg Museum. |
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On Tuesday September 2nd, the weather stopped us from riding a gondola to Niederhorn. We then rode the Brienz Rothorn Railway to the top of Brienzer Rothorn about 7,000 feet. While the views of Lake Brienz and the town of Brienz were great, the cold wet weather at the top was not so great. |
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Entertainment for our second night in Brienz was provided by Adolf who played several types of Alphorns. He then invited those in our group to play. |
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On Wednesday, September 3rd, we started off with a visit to the Barau Cowbell Factory in the Emmental Valley. This company was founded in 1730 and continues to make cow bells today. |
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For convenience, we ate several lunches at a supermarket.
Because of the sale of the Frey Chocolate Company to the Migros Grocery Store Company, Frey Chocolates are now only available at Migros stores. Fearing we would not find enough Frey Chocolate, we stormed the chocolate isle whenever we found a Migros store. |
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Heinrich and his siblings were born in Altenheim, Germany. The picture on the left is believed to be a close representation of what the Altenheim Church looked like at the time that Heinrich and his siblings were Baptized in this church in 1657—1663. The center picture and picture on the right are of the church at this time. The Baptismal records of the church were transcribed from the original records several years ago and summarized in book form. Under the listing of Frey, there are two families with surname of Frey. We do not know who Christiana Frey is. In Germany the surname of Frey is pronounced Fry. |
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Anna Hirtzeller, the mother of Heinrich still has many family members living the village of Hinterville and they still attend this Church in Uerkheim. |
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Heinrich lived in Kriegsheim, Germany when he met up with Gerhard Hendricks with whom he contracted to be an indentured servant for 6 years to pay off the cost of going to Pennsylvania. This is the current church in Kriegsheim. |
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Worms, Germany is known as being where Martin Luther stood up to Church authorities. Some of us visited the memorial to Martin Luther as it was within walking distance from our hotel. We took a Rhine River boat ride where we got to see many castles, vineyards & small towns. |
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We spent our last night at the Kronenhof Hotel in Schaffhausen, Switzerland where we all got together for our farewell inner. Special guests were Andros Frey and his family whom we first met on our first day in Gontenschwil, Switzerland. |
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We took a Rhine River boat ride where we got to see many castles, vineyards & small towns. |