♂Peter Oppliger

Peter Oppliger (about 1562 – about 1632) was a man of Röthenbach im Emmental, in the canton of Bern, Switzerland, who married Adelheit Blonier there on 12 March 1584. He was the tenth great-grandfather of Ora Emogene Walrath (1925–2014) by two separate lines of descent, both through his daughter Adelheid Oppliger (christened 1588).

Life

Peter was probably born at Röthenbach about 1562, some years before the parish began to keep a register of christenings in 1569, and he is said to have been a son of Benedict Oppliger. Peter Oppliger and Adelheit Blonier were married at Röthenbach im Emmental on 12 March 1584. Two daughters were christened there: Verena on 3 September 1586 and Adelheid on 21 November 1588. Adelheid married Christian Stauffer at Röthenbach on 18 June 1610. Peter is said to have died at Röthenbach about 1632.

Lines of descent

Both lines run through his daughter Adelheid and her son Hans Stauffer, and they meet again in Mary Magdalene Koons (1885–1977), the mother of Ora Emogene Walrath, whose parents Thomas Koons (1855–1938) and Magdalena M. Koons (1852–1923) both descended from Peter.

Notes

What rests on the registers

The marriage and both christenings rest on the Röthenbach parish register. It enters the marriage of 12 March 1584 as “Petter Opplinger / Adelheit Blonger”, and the christening of 21 November 1588 as “P. Peter Opliger / Adelheit Blonier. f. Adelheit” (father Peter Opliger, mother Adelheit Blonier, daughter Adelheit). Verena’s christening on 3 September 1586 is in the same register.

Birth, parents and death

His birth about 1562, his death about 1632 and his father’s name, Benedict Oppliger, come from an online family tree that gives no source for them. The Röthenbach register of christenings opens on 12 June 1569, after his birth, and no surviving entry names his parents.

The godmother of 1608

At a Röthenbach christening on 4 September 1608 one of the godparents was “Adelheit Peter Oppligers säligen tochter” (Adelheit, the late Peter Oppliger’s daughter). If she was his daughter Adelheid, then Peter had died before that day, more than twenty years before the 1632 that the online family tree gives.

Other children

An online family tree adds two sons, Daniel in 1591 and Peter in 1597. They are not entered in the family here.