In a message dated 12/27/2005 12:23:48 P.M. Central Standard Time, wolf.seelentag@swissonline.ch writes: saw the shooting competitions that were held here by > various German/Swiss. I know that they were held in > Switzerland and Germany throughout the cantons/states and > Federation/country. I was wondering if there is anything > written about the history of the shoots: Hello, I know nothing about shooting competitions, but thought you may be interested in a little of my family history. In Glarus during the 1800's, (and it may have been all of Switzerland?) the boys were taught to shoot guns and had regular militia training and meetings at very young ages. They were each allowed to take their government-issued guns home with them each evening, as did their fathers. And although I thought of Swiss as a passive country, many of the young Swiss men left home to "fight" wars in other near-by areas. As a teen, my grgrgrandfather proudly fought in the American Civil War. He proudly attended GAR meetings throughout his life; in fact at 81 years old, he got off the bus after attending a GAR meeting and died on his walk home. He still had his gun, his other equipment, etc at his death. Regards from Nellie, a 68-yr-old root digger in Texas, where the ground never freezes.

At 1:49 PM -0500 12/27/05, Posnsrch@aol.com wrote: >In Glarus during the 1800's, (and it may have been all of Switzerland?) the >boys were taught to shoot guns and had regular militia training and meetings >at very young ages. They were each allowed to take their government-issued >guns home with them each evening, as did their fathers. And >although I thought of Swiss as a passive country, many of the young >Swiss men left home to "fight" wars in other near-by areas. As a >teen, my grgrgrandfather proudly fought in the American Civil War. >He proudly attended GAR meetings throughout his life; in fact at 81 >years old, he got off the bus after attending a GAR >meeting and died on his walk home. He still had his gun, his other >equipment, etc at his death. Does anyone know how young these boys were? Do any records exist? My ancestor Frederic Louis BOTTERON was born in Nods, canton Bern (French speaking area), in 1842. In 1855, just after his 13th birthday, he and his father, stepmother, and siblings emigrated to the US (St. Joe, Allen Co., Indiana). When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted. (The family story is that he didn't get along with his stepmother.) He joined the artillery, though, so if he had had training with a rifle, it apparently didn't do him much good. He suffered a hernia from pushing a cannon, but after the war he was healthy enough to marry and father 16 children. He got them to do the farm work as soon as they were old enough. :-} In 1905 he visited Switzerland and returned to the US, appearing in the Ellis island records as a US citizen. Carol Botteron <botteron@alum.mit.edu> P.S. I administer the French Swiss DNA Project.