1. Switzerland

Our Fegley name is derived from the old Germanic Swiss name of Vögelin.  Originally an “e” was written just above the “o” to indicate a phonetic shift, but this evolved into just two dots to signify an “e”.  The name is also written with the “e” following the “o”, thus Voegelin.  It literally means “little bird.”  See Appendix c. for a further explanation of this surname.

Families with the Voegelin surname have lived in Switzerland for centuries.  For our family line, there are many word-of-mouth stories, legends, and lore about how they came to be there, what they did, who left and why, and their status to this day.  Some of these stories are related here and some have the ring of truth to them while others are somewhat suspect.

It is said that our Swiss Voegelins have obtained family information going back to the 10^th century.  In those early days they were apparently servants and caretakers of castles in what is now Germany.

In the 12^th century, they moved south into the Swiss mountains to work at a newly built castle called Falkenstein located about 16 miles south of Basel.   Over the years they eventually became farmers and were awarded ownership of land on Vogelberg (Bird Mountain) in the Basel canton (political district) near the village of Reigoldswil circa 1500.   They farmed the upper meadows there until the 20^th century.  How this land ownership came about is related in a tale that is not entirely understandable in its present translated form and can be found in Appendix a. for examination.  But to back it up, there is apparently a document in the city of Basel that proves the original investiture to the Voegelins at that time.

Here is this writer’s interpretation of the basic story, without the frills, contained in the Appendix a. translation.  A certain amount of license has been taken in order to logically explain some unexplained circumstances:

Friar Rudolf of Ramstein in about the year 1460 is married to Ursula, daughter in a noble family of Geroldseck Castle with a younger sister named Cäcilia who stands to inherit some property in the upper meadows of Vogel mountain (Vogelberg).  Friar Bernhard of St. Romai seduces Cäcilia while she is visiting Ramstein and she secretly gives birth to a child named Anna back at her father’s castle in Alsace.  Bernhard is deathly afraid his transgression will be found out, so he recruits the two dastardly sons of Rudolf to kidnap the baby Anna and have her killed.  They kidnap her and order a page to do the job.  The page takes the baby into the forest but can’t bring himself to kill her.  He lays the baby down in the forest, removes a small cross bearing the emblem of Geroldseck she is wearing, and returns to the brothers with the cross to prove the deed is done.  Later, one of the brothers wearing the cross is found dead in the forest.  The little cross is gone.

A farmer finds the baby in the forest and raises her as his foster child along with his two sons.  Anna blossoms into a lovely young woman and is especially attracted to the younger son Friedrich who is known as Vögelin because of his love of nature and birds.

Meanwhile, Anna’s mother Cäcilia dies and her inheritance passes to her older sister Ursula, but Rudolf actualy gets it since he is her husband and master.  The naïve Rudolf and the dastardly Bernhard engage in one of their frequent bets.  Rudolf loses and has to give Bernhard a treasured silver goblet.  The conniving Bernhard offers to give back the goblet in exchange for Rudolf’s inheritance to Vogelberg and Rudolf accepts.

Friedrich joins the Swiss army and they await a Burgundian invasion.  The Battle of Murten takes place and the Burgundians are dealt a severe blow by Friedrich and the Swiss.  During the battle, Friedrich notices a Burgundian partisan is wearing a small cross.  It bears the emblem of Geroldseck.  It is Bernhard and Friedrich now knows the dastardly friar murdered Rudolf’s son!  But Friedrich is severely wounded in the battle and can’t return home immediately.  The murderous Bernhard returns and convinces the authorities that Anna’s foster father was the one who murdered Rudolf’s son and he is sent to prison.  Anna is said to be in a convent.  But Friedrich’s wounds heal and when he returns he tells of his discovery, the dastardly deeds are reversed, and he and Anna are reunited.  The page that took the little cross from the baby in the forest tells everyone that Anna is that child, daughter of Cäcilia, and she regains the privileges of heiress to Geroldseck.

But wait.  The villainous Bernhard recruits Thomas of Falkenstein Castle to kill Friedrich, but Friedrich ambushes Thomas, shooting him dead on Vogel mountain before the very eyes of his fiancée Anna.  The traitorous villain Bernhard is sent to the gallows.  Anna is so traumatized by the bloody shooting and death she witnessed that she enters a convent and wills her inheritance of the Vogelberg upper meadows to the first son of Friedrich “Vögelin”.  That is how Uli Vögelin, born about 1500, was the first of many Vögelins to enjoy the inheritance of the land on Vogel mountain.

Members of the family still own the property there, but it had fallen into disuse in recent years. Authorities told the Voegelins that the property would have to be refurbished or they would lose the ownership. A concerted effort was made to fix up the buildings and property so that now there is a barn and restaurant there that serves hikers, skiers, and other tourists to the area. There is said to be only one other family in Switzerland that has owned the same land for such a length of time.