Wermelinger Archive — afamiliawermelinger.blogspot.com
On New Year's Eve 1825, a Swiss doctor sat down to write a letter. He was in Campos dos Goytacazes, six days' journey from the colony he had left behind. He was 46 years old, had a wife, four living children, and a suppressed rage that could no longer fit inside his chest.
The doctor's name was Johann Baptist Jost. A native of Willisau in the Canton of Lucerne, he had embarked six years earlier on the same ship as François Xavier Wermelinger — the Heureux Voyage, which had precious little of the "happy voyage" its name promised. Now, from the other side of the ocean, he was writing to Schultheiss Amrhyn, the head of the Lucerne government, to give an account of what had happened to each of the Lucerne families that had left Switzerland in July 1819.
The letter, dated 31 December 1825, is held at the Staatsarchiv Luzern under the call number AKT 24/60.B.3. The full text was published by Martin Nicoulin in La genèse de Nova Friburgo (pages 296–303). It is an extraordinary document — an unfiltered, first-hand account by someone who lived through what he describes.
The Neighbour from Willisau
Jost and Wermelinger were not merely fellow countrymen. In the official list of Lucerne emigrants (BF 52, Staatsarchiv Luzern), their names appear side by side:
Entry 35: Wermelinger Xavier — Willisau — age 44
Entry 43: Jost Johann Baptist — Willisau — age 40 — Arzt und Secretaire (physician and secretary)
They embarked together. They crossed the Atlantic on the same ship. They arrived together in Nova Friburgo on 1 January 1820. Xavier was assigned lot no. 61. Jost received another lot in the same colony. They lived as neighbours in the early years, until both, for different reasons, concluded that this cold and barren land was no place to raise children.
"Sitzt im Wald mit den Affen"
In his letter, Jost describes each Lucerne family — one by one, without pity and without embellishment. When Xavier's turn comes, he writes:
"12. Wermelinger Xavier, von Willisau, — Trexler, — s Frau, und 7 oder 8 Kindern; nur simple.
Hat Colonie-Land No. 61 verpachtet, und zog aus nach Macahé, etwas besser und wärmer als Colonie Land für Café. — sitzt allso im Wald mit den Affen."
In translation:
"Wermelinger Xavier, of Willisau — weaver — his wife and 7 or 8 children; merely simple.
Leased out colonial lot no. 61 and moved to Macaé, somewhat better and warmer than the colony land for coffee. — So he sits in the forest with the monkeys."
What These Lines Tell Us
Every word matters. Let us examine what Jost reveals:
Trexler — weaver. In the official list of 1819 (BF 52), Xavier's occupation column was blank, while his neighbours on the list were recorded as carpenters, cobblers, bakers, and physicians. Now we know: Xavier was a weaver. He worked at a loom in Willisau. He was not a farmer. He was not a building tradesman. He was a man of fine hands — who was set to felling tropical forest with an axe.
"Nur simple" — merely simple. Jost spares no one in his letter. Some he calls "drunkards", "idlers", "vagabonds". Of Xavier he says only that he was "simple" — humble folk, without pretensions, without money. This is not an insult. It is the observation that Xavier had no capital to buy slaves, mules, or ready-made farms. He had only arms, family, and stubbornness.
"7 oder 8 Kindern" — 7 or 8 children. Xavier had embarked with 6 living children (a seventh, Johann Baptist, had died on board on 28 November 1819, at only one year of age). By 1825, six years after arrival, there were already 7 or 8. The children born in Brazil were beginning to arrive. The family grew even in adversity.
"Verpachtet" — leased out. Xavier did not sell lot 61 in Nova Friburgo. He leased it out. He maintained his connection to the land he had been granted, but recognised that it was impossible to prosper there. The colony lay in a cold mountain range where, as Jost himself describes elsewhere in the letter, "only beans, maize, poor potatoes, and garden vegetables" could grow; "for all the Southern and inland cultivated plants and fruits — bananas, pineapples, coffee, oranges, lemons, etc. — hundreds of them — do grow, but die at the first cold spell."
"Macahé" — he moved to Macaé. Xavier descended from the highlands. He sought warmer, lower land where coffee could grow. He did not go alone: Jost notes that Josef Meyer, another Lucerne colonist, "moved with Wermelinger to Macaé to plant coffee." They went together, as they had gone together on the ship, as they had gone together from Willisau to Basel, from Basel to Rotterdam, from Rotterdam to Texel, from Texel to Rio de Janeiro, from Rio to Nova Friburgo. Solidarity among compatriots was all that remained when everything else failed.
"Sitzt im Wald mit den Affen" — he sits in the forest with the monkeys. This phrase is pure Jost: sharp, blunt, almost cruel. But it is not a judgement — it is a literal description. Xavier was deep in the Atlantic Forest, felling trees, planting coffee, surrounded by monkeys. A Swiss weaver of 50, in the tropical jungle of Macaé. The image is at once absurd and heroic.
The Path That Emerges
With Jost's letter, we can now reconstruct Xavier's first years in Brazil:
July 1819 — Departs Willisau with his wife Catharina Egglin (Kathrina Eggli) and six children. Xavier is 44 years old. He renounces his Lucerne citizenship forever.
10 October 1819 — Embarks on the Heureux Voyage at Texel, Holland. The ship carries 442 colonists from Valais, Lucerne, Solothurn, and Schwyz.
28 November 1819 — Johann Baptist Wermelinger, the youngest son, dies on board at only one year of age. He is one of six Lucerne children to die at sea.
1 January 1820 — Arrives in Nova Friburgo. Receives house no. 81 and lot no. 61 at Morro Queimado.
1820–1822 — Attempts to cultivate the land. The climate is too cold. Coffee will not grow. The provisions promised by the treaty do not arrive, or arrive in the wrong hands. Hunger looms.
~1822–1825 — Leases out lot 61 and descends to Macaé with Josef Meyer. Begins planting coffee on warmer land. New children are born.
31 December 1825 — Jost, on the other side of the province, records what he has heard: Xavier is in the Macaé forest with 7 or 8 children. Simple. Alive. Planting.
Later, Xavier will move on to Aldeia da Pedra — present-day Itaocara — where, around 1860, he will personally meet the Swiss diplomat Johann Jakob von Tschudi and tell him, with the authority of a man who has lived through it all, that "the first twelve to fifteen years were hard and full of bitter disappointments, marked by misery — but afterwards, things improved, and he was living contentedly."
Dr. Jost — A Portrait
It is worth knowing the man who wrote about Xavier. Johann Baptist Jost was born in Willisau around 1779. He was a physician and secretary — the only professional among the Lucerne emigrants. He embarked with his wife Marianna Barth and six children. Two died in the first months: Marianna (aged 3) on 14 January 1820, and Genovefa (aged 6 months) on 6 December 1819.
Jost left the colony in the autumn of 1821. He spent three and a half months at Aldeia da Pedra, then three full years at São Fidélis, and finally settled in Campos dos Goytacazes, where he practised medicine with an imperial licence. He described himself as "glücklich von 100 die 99 weg-practizierend" — "happily curing 99 out of 100".
His closest friend was Wendelin Rüttimann, a goldsmith from Sursee, who in a separate letter from the same period wrote: "Dr. Joste von Willisau ist immer mein bester Kamerad und Freund gewesen" — "Dr. Jost of Willisau has always been my best comrade and friend."
Jost's letter is not neutral. He denounces corruption in the subsidies sent from Switzerland, accuses intermediaries of theft, and is outraged by the discrimination against the German-speaking colonists. But neither is he unjust: he acknowledges that "whoever set out with God! Whoever set out with foresight! Whoever thought: every beginning is hard, and we parents will have to endure and suffer much in the early years, but it is our highest duty to care for our dear children and help them to advance and prosper" — such a person did not fare badly.
Xavier Wermelinger, the simple weaver who went into the forest with the monkeys, appears to have been one of those.
The Sources
This article is based on the following primary sources, all preserved at the Staatsarchiv Luzern:
- BF 52 — Official list of the Lucerne emigrants of 1819 (Nahmens-Verzeichnis der nach Brasilien ausgewanderten Individuen des Kantons Luzern)
- AKT 24/60.B.3 — Letter from Johann Baptist Jost to Schultheiss Amrhyn, 31 December 1825
- AKT 24/60.B.3 — Letter from Josef Wendelin Rüttimann to Eduard Pfyffer, 11 August 1825
- AKT 24/60.A.3 — Letter from Franz Hunkeler to Councillor Vinzenz Hegi, 20 May 1820
The full text of the Jost letter was published in: Nicoulin, Martin, La genèse de Nova Friburgo. Emigration et colonisation suisse au Brésil 1817–1827, Fribourg, 1973, pp. 296–303.
A book devoted to the Wermelinger family: Abib, Alberto Lima, A família Wermelinger: uma aventura em dois continentes (a imigração suíça de 1819/1820), Nova Friburgo, 2000.
General historical context: Bossard-Borner, Heidi, Im Bann der Revolution. Der Kanton Luzern 1798–1831/5, Luzern, 1998 (LHV 34), p. 297.
APPENDIX I — Official List of the Lucerne Emigrants, 1819 (Extract)
Source: Staatsarchiv Luzern, call number BF 52
Nahmens-Verzeichnis der nach Brasilien ausgewanderten Individuen des Kantons Luzern, 1819
The original document records that the emigrants departed on 12 July 1819 ("unterm 12. Heumonat"), under the supervision of the government-appointed commissioner Captain Kaspar Theiler of Lucerne, and that they renounced forever their previous citizenship rights in the Canton of Lucerne ("auf immer auf ihr bisher im Kanton Luzern besessenes Heimatrecht Verzicht geleistet").
Amt Willisau — Entry for the Wermelinger family:
| No. |
Name |
Home municipality |
Place of residence |
Age |
Occupation |
Death |
| 35 |
Wermelinger Xavier |
Willisau |
Willisau |
44 |
— |
— |
| 36 |
Kathrina Eggli |
|
|
37 |
— |
— |
| 37 |
1. Xavier (son) |
|
|
10 |
— |
— |
| 38 |
2. Josef |
|
|
7 |
— |
— |
| 39 |
3. Steffan |
|
|
6 |
— |
— |
| 40 |
4. Johann Baptist |
|
|
1 |
— |
28.11.1819 |
| 41 |
5. Kathrina |
|
|
9 |
— |
— |
| 42 |
6. Marianna |
|
|
4 |
— |
— |
Following entry — the Jost family (neighbours in Willisau):
| No. |
Name |
Home municipality |
Place of residence |
Age |
Occupation |
Death |
| 43 |
Jost Johann Baptist |
Willisau |
Willisau |
40 |
Arzt und Secretaire |
— |
| 44 |
Marianna Barth |
|
|
— |
— |
— |
| 45 |
1. Johann Baptist |
|
|
9 |
— |
— |
| 46 |
2. Anton |
|
|
7 |
— |
— |
| 47 |
3. Thomas |
|
|
6 |
— |
— |
| 48 |
4. Franz |
|
|
4 |
— |
— |
| 49 |
5. Marianna |
|
|
3 |
— |
14.1.1820 |
| 50 |
6. Genovefa |
|
|
½ |
— |
6.12.1819 |
Note: The final column (date of death) was added subsequently based on Abib, Lima, Wermelinger, p. 82 ff.
APPENDIX II — Letter from Dr. Johann Baptist Jost, 31 December 1825 (Extracts)
Source: Staatsarchiv Luzern, call number AKT 24/60.B.3
Sender: Joh. Bapt. Joste, Arzt und Wundarzt, Campos dos Goytacazes
Recipient: Schultheiss Amrhyn, Luzern
Publication: Nicoulin, Martin, La genèse de Nova Friburgo, Fribourg, 1973, pp. 296–303
Original text — entry no. 12, on Xavier Wermelinger:
"12. Wermelinger Xavier, von Willisau, - Trexler, - s Frau, und 7 oder 8 Kindern; nur simple. Hat Colonie-Land No. 61 verpachtet, und zog aus nach Macahé, etwas besser und wärmer als Colonie Land für Café. - sitzt allso im Wald mit den Affen."
Translation: "Wermelinger Xavier, of Willisau — weaver — his wife and 7 or 8 children; merely simple. Leased out colonial lot no. 61 and moved to Macaé, somewhat better and warmer than the colony land for coffee. So he sits in the forest with the monkeys."
Original text — entry no. 10, Josef Meyer (moved together with Xavier):
"10. Meyer Jos. - schon 2 mal Witwer in Colonie, und sey wieder verehel. - halbhölzerner Kerl, so-so. Zog mit Wermelinger nach Macahé, um Cafe-pflanzen. zanken alle Nachbarn brav Tochter in Rio verheyr. Sohn Jos. - weiss nicht."
Translation: "Meyer Josef — already twice widowed in the colony, and has remarried — a rather clumsy fellow, so-so. Moved with Wermelinger to Macaé to plant coffee. Quarrels heartily with all his neighbours. Daughter married in Rio. Son Josef — don't know."
Original text — on the colony and its land:
"Denn Morro-Queimado liegt in einer hohen kalten u. angeerischen Serra, oder Gebirgskette, bey 40 Meilen, wie Bündten-Glarus,-Uri,-Wallis etc. zusammengesetzt allso hin und wieder nur ein etwas besseres Hochthal darin, um Bohnen, Mais, Kartoffeln bös, und Garten-Gewächs zu pflanzen; denn alle Süd- und hinländischen zahme Gewächse und Früchten, z.B. Bananas, Ananas, Café, -Pommeranzen, Zitronen u.s.w. Hunderte, wachsen zwar, sterben aber bey erstem Kaltwerden wieder ab."
Translation: "For Morro Queimado lies in a high, cold, and hostile Serra, or mountain chain, some 40 miles across, like the Grisons, Glarus, Uri, and Valais put together — thus only here and there a somewhat better highland valley in which to plant beans, maize, poor potatoes, and garden vegetables; for all the Southern and inland cultivated plants and fruits — bananas, pineapples, coffee, oranges, lemons, etc. — hundreds of them — do grow, true, but die at the first onset of cold."
Original text — on who prospered:
"Wer auszog mit Gott! - wer auszog mit Bedacht! wer daran dachte: - Aller Anfang ist schwer, und Wir Eltern werden vieles erfahren, und leiden müssen die Ersten Jahre, es ist aber unsere hohe Pflicht für unsere lieben Kinder zu sorgen, und Ihnen zu Ihrem Auf- und Fortkommen zu helfen."
Translation: "Whoever set out with God! Whoever set out with foresight! Whoever thought: every beginning is hard, and we parents will have to endure and suffer much in the early years, but it is our highest duty to care for our dear children and help them to advance and prosper."
Original text — on corruption in the subsidies:
"Dass die armen Colonisten immerfort, von Anfang bis Dato, um eigenes, mitgebrachtes, versprochenes lt. Tractat, und Nachgesandtes zur Aufhilfe, beeinträchtigt, betrogen, u. bestohlen worden."
Translation: "That the poor colonists were, from the beginning to the present day, cheated, deceived, and robbed — both of what was their own and brought from home, of what had been promised by the treaty, and of what had been sent afterwards as relief."
Original text — on Jost himself:
"16. Joste, Joh. Bapt., von Willisau, seit 1821 Spätjahr. erstlich 3 1/2 Mon. in Aldéa de Pedra, bey Capuziner Ths. di Castelli etc., dann 3 volle Jahr bei Aldéa de S. Fideles, izt seit Ende März hier in Stadt Campos etabliert, und mit Kayserl. Patente als Arzt und Chirurg, glücklich von 100 = die 99 weg-practizierend; Mit Frau und 4 Knaben, gut zufrieden."
Translation: "Jost, Joh. Bapt., of Willisau, since the autumn of 1821. First 3½ months at Aldeia da Pedra, with the Capuchins of Ths. di Castelli, etc., then 3 full years at Aldeia de São Fidélis, now since the end of March established here in the city of Campos, and with an Imperial patent as physician and surgeon, happily curing 99 out of 100; with wife and 4 boys, well satisfied."
Signature:
"Das wünscht aus innigstem Hertzen Hochderselben! immerfort dankbarer, und getreuer alter Mitbürger und Diener, Joh. Bapt. Joste, Arzt und Wundarzt, m.p. Beendigt heute den 31 Dezbre 1825."
Translation: "This is the heartfelt wish of Your Excellency's ever grateful and faithful former fellow citizen and servant, Joh. Bapt. Jost, physician and surgeon. Concluded today, 31 December 1825."
APPENDIX III — Letter from Franz Hunkeler, 20 May 1820 (Extracts)
Source: Staatsarchiv Luzern, call number AKT 24/60.A.3
Sender: Franz Hunkeler, Nova Friburgo
Recipient: Councillor Vinzenz Hegi, Luzern
Original text — on the deaths at sea:
"Von dem Luzerner Convoi starben auf dem Meer nicht mehr als 6 Personen jedoch nur Kinder, nemlich 3 dem Josef Huober, 1 dem X. Wermelinger, und 2 dem Haslimann, obschon wir sehr enge eingepackt wurden."
Translation: "Of the Lucerne convoy, no more than 6 persons died at sea, but only children: 3 belonging to Josef Huber, 1 to X. Wermelinger, and 2 to Haslimann, although we were packed in very tightly."
Original text — on the crossing:
"Den 11ten Oktober 1819 fuhren wir 450 Köpf auf dem Schiffe der glücklichen Reise in Texel in Holland ab. Wir hatten immer guten Wind und würden gewiss in 7 Wochen in Rio Janeiro angekommen sein, wenn uns nicht auf dem Canarischen Meer nicht alle 3 Mastbäume abgebrochen wären."
Translation: "On 11 October 1819 we set sail, 450 souls on the ship of the Happy Voyage, from Texel in Holland. We always had good wind and would surely have arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 7 weeks, had not all 3 masts broken off in the Canary Sea."
Original text — on conditions aboard:
"Nichts ist auf dem Meer zu fürchten als bei einem solchen Transport von Menschen, so dass viele Ungeziefer, alles, niemand ausgenommen wird voll Läuse und Flöch."
Translation: "There is nothing to fear at sea except, in such a transport of people, the plague of vermin: everyone, without exception, becomes covered in lice and fleas."
Original text — list of Lucerne dead to May 1820:
"Gestorben sind nun von Luzern von Haus bis dato
a. von Familie Büttler Kind — 2
b. Haslimann Kind — 2
c. Hecht Alois Sohn — 1
d. Huobers Frau und Kinder — 5
e. Hunkelers Frau und 2 Kinder — 3
f. Luterbach alt und Kind — 2
g. Meyers Frau und 2 Kind — 3
h. Michel Rütiman und Frau und 1 Kind — 3
i. Wendel Rütimans Frau und Kind — 2
k. Jost Babtist Kinder — 2
l. Wetterwald Familie ganz bis an 1 Kind — 6
m. Wermelinger Kind — 1"
Total: 32 Lucerne dead between the departure (July 1819) and May 1820. Of 140 who set out, 108 arrived alive and survived the first months. The Wetterwald family from Ohlisrüti near Willisau lost nearly all its members — the father died in Holland, the wife and four children died in Nova Friburgo; only one child survived.
APPENDIX IV — Letter from Wendelin Rüttimann, 11 August 1825 (Extracts)
Source: Staatsarchiv Luzern, call number AKT 24/60.B.3
Sender: Josef Wendelin Rüttimann, Campos dos Goytacazes
Recipient: Eduard Pfyffer, President of the Polizei-Rath, Luzern
Original text — on his friendship with Dr. Jost:
"Schon auf unserer ganzen Reise und fortwährend in diesem unserm neuen Vaterlande ist Dr. Joste von Willisau immer mein bester Kamerad und Freund gewesen, und danke ihm viel Gutthaten zu meinem Fortkommen. Er ist glüklich und wohl."
Translation: "Throughout our entire journey and continually in this our new fatherland, Dr. Jost of Willisau has always been my best comrade and friend, and I owe him many kindnesses for my advancement. He is happy and well."
Original text — on the colony's land:
"Wäre unsere in eine solche fruchtbare Gegend verlegt worden – ja! es wäre wohl anders gegangen. Aber wo sie ist, kann und wird nichts werden. Zu kalt. Nur Mais, Bohnen und Erdäpfel kommen davon."
Translation: "Had our colony been placed in such a fertile region — yes! Things would surely have gone differently. But where it is, nothing can or will come of it. Too cold. Only maize, beans, and potatoes come of it."
Original text — on Aldeia da Pedra and the Dispersal:
"Viele sind nach Minas, Aldèa da Pedra, haben Land umsonst bekommen, und stehn nicht bös, was will aber ein Mann allein mit Weib und kleinen Kindern machen, die ihm nichts helfen können."
Translation: "Many have gone to Minas, Aldeia da Pedra, received land for free, and are not badly off — but what can a man alone with wife and small children do, when they cannot help him in any way?"
Original text — on Rüttimann's personal losses:
"In Medenblek, einer Stadt in Holland, starb mein Töchterlein Mariannli, schon krank in Dordrecht eingeschift; in Neufreiburg am 12. Horner 1820 starb meine liebe Gattin Margaritha Imbach an einer unglüklichen Niederkunft, und abgeschwächt von den Beschwerden der Reise und mehreren Umständen."
Translation: "In Medemblik, a town in Holland, my little daughter Mariannli died, already ill when embarked at Dordrecht; in Nova Friburgo on 12 February 1820 my dear wife Margaritha Imbach died from an unhappy delivery, weakened by the hardships of the journey and various circumstances."
APPENDIX V — Staatsarchiv Luzern Page on Nova Friburgo
The Staatsarchiv Luzern maintains a page devoted to the Lucerne emigration of 1819, authored by Markus Lischer, with the BF 52 name list, letter extracts, and bibliographical references. Available at:
https://staatsarchiv.lu.ch/schaufenster (Nova Friburgo section)
The page notes that the primary sources are gathered in an archival box under the call number AKT 24/60, containing the letters from Hunkeler (1820), Rüttimann (1825), and Jost (1825), as well as the voyage regulations. The name list is held under the call number BF 52.
The Staatsarchiv also holds in its library:
- Abib, Alberto Lima, A família Wermelinger: uma aventura em dois continentes, Nova Friburgo, 2000. Call number: G.h 37
- Abib, Alberto Lima, E os Suíços chegaram!!, Nova Friburgo, 2004. Call number: Bro B 2756
Further literature cited by the Staatsarchiv:
- Nicoulin, Martin, La genèse de Nova Friburgo. Emigration et colonisation suisse au Brésil 1817–1827, Fribourg, 1973
- Bucher-Häfliger, Josef, "Rottaler finden in Brasilien eine neue Heimat", Willisauer Bote, 23 May 1997
- Jurt, Joseph, "Auf Willisauer Spuren in Brasilien", Quattro, No. 1, 3 January 2004
- Jurt, Joseph, "Schweizer Emigration nach Brasilien. Aus der Sicht des Willisauers Joseph Hecht", Heimatkunde Wiggertal 2026, pp. 153–161
- Weibel-Knupp, Anita, "Schweizer Auswanderung nach Brasilien 1819", Jahrbuch SGFF 42 (2015), pp. 223–268
Tiago Torres Wermelinger
Duas Barras, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
April 2026
Direct descendant of François Xavier Wermelinger (Willisau ~1775 — Brazil ~1870)
