Have you looked at the following websites : http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/swiss_guard/swissguard/indirizzi_fr.htm http://www.gardesuisse.org/ Jean-Paul Marchal <jemarchal@wanadoo.fr> -----Message d'origine----- De : alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com]De la part de Bruce & Susan Knutson Envoye : mardi 22 janvier 2008 22:25 A : alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com Objet : Re: [A-L] Swiss Guard Hello, I am looking for records about the Swiss Guard. According to my grandmother's cousin, my gg grandfather was a Swiss Guard in Rome to two popes, Gregory and Pius, sometime in 1840. Her letter is rather confusing, but I think that she is referring to Joseph SCHUMACHER b. 1827, married to Francoise LISS/Frances LEESE, or maybe to his father Joseph SCHUMACHER b. 1803, married to Salome KUNTZMANN. They were both from the Rodern or Bergheim area in Alsace. I have found many documents concerning this family, but haven't had any luck with the Swiss Guard question. Many thanks. Merci mille fois. Susan -- Resources for Alsace-Lorraine list members: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~valorie/Alsace-Lorraine-L.htm ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ALSACE-LORRAINE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------- Orange vous informe que cet e-mail a ete controle par l'anti-virus mail. Aucun virus connu a ce jour par nos services n'a ete detecte.

I'm curious about this, too, because my great-grandfather's younger brother (b. 1841) was (according to family lore given to us by the branch still residing in Alsace) "sent to Rome to be an honor guard of the Pope. He had to walk to Rome himself over the Alps. He had duty there for 8 years before becoming ill. He was chosen because he was big, good looking and strong and 'had good teeth'. " No matter that the family was Lutheran . . . I'm presuming he also had to walk back to Dehlingen, where he died in 1871. I'm guessing that he was there roughly starting in 1862. Everything else I've seen has said the Swiss Guard had to be Swiss citizens, but it's an odd story to "make up," and it would seem there should be some nugget of truth to it, if a similar story (well, without the getting ill) was heard in another family. True, my version doesn't specifically mention the "Swiss Guard", but was there any other honor guard at the Vatican? Did the various countries have to send a certain number of men out of respect? We (like many others in Alsace, I presume) have ancestors who trace back to Switzerland at some point, so was that sufficient? We've always wondered about the story, so I find it interesting that someone else has a similar one. Christine > -----Message d'origine----- > De : alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com]De la part de Bruce & Susan > Knutson > Envoye : mardi 22 janvier 2008 22:25 > A : alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com > Objet : Re: [A-L] Swiss Guard > > Hello, > > I am looking for records about the Swiss Guard. According to my > grandmother's cousin, my gg grandfather was a Swiss Guard in Rome to two > popes, Gregory and Pius, sometime in 1840. Her letter is rather confusing, > but I think that she is referring to Joseph SCHUMACHER b. 1827, married to > Francoise LISS/Frances LEESE, or maybe to his father Joseph SCHUMACHER b. > 1803, married to Salome KUNTZMANN. They were both from the Rodern or > Bergheim area in Alsace. > > I have found many documents concerning this family, but haven't had any > luck > with the Swiss Guard question. > > Many thanks. > > Merci mille fois. > > Susan