hegnauer.family

H0156 · A life in the study

Christina Pleisch

Born at Luzein in 1791 and died at Igis in 1862.

born before 3 Dec 1791 at Luzein, Graubünden died 17 Sep 1862 at Igis, Graubünden

From Igis to the Pacific Also written Christiana, Christine, Tschina Pleisch

Igis from the air, 1 Sep 1947. Werner Friedli, ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Bildarchiv / Stiftung Luftbild Schweiz, LBS_H1-010091, CC BY-SA 4.0

Christina Pleisch was a citizen of Luzein, in the Prättigau valley of Graubünden, Switzerland, and the daughter of Leonhard Pleisch and Maria Nett.1, 2 In 1808 she married Jakob Hegnauer of Igis, and so far as the records show she spent the rest of her life there.3 Her son Luzius took his family to America in 1856.4, 5

Luzein

Christina was very probably the daughter of Leonhard and Maria baptised at Luzein on 3 December 1791.6 Luzein was a village of scattered farms on the right side of the Prättigau, living from its livestock and from crops grown for its own needs, and it had belonged to the League of the Ten Jurisdictions since 1436.7 The Pleisches were among its old citizen families.8

The old Free State of the Three Leagues ended in her childhood. From late 1798 to 1800 Graubünden was a battleground in the war between France and its enemies, occupied twice by Austrian and twice by French troops, and in 1803, when Christina was about eleven, it became a canton of the Swiss Confederation.9

Marriage and family

Christina was probably sixteen, not quite seventeen, when she married Jakob in the church at Igis on 18 October 1808.3, 6 Igis lies where the roads of the Rhine valley and the Prättigau meet.10 Between 1809 and 1824 she and Jakob brought seven children to the Igis church for baptism: Ursula in March 1809, Christian in August 1810, Leonhard in June 1812, Maria in January 1815, Elsbeth on Christmas Day 1815, Luzius in December 1819 and Jakob, the youngest, on 7 June 1824.11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 4, 16 The names echo both families: Ursula and Christian, the eldest daughter and son, bear the names of Jakob's parents, and Leonhard and Maria those of Christina's own.17, 2

In 1816 and 1817, the two years after Elsbeth's Christmas baptism, Switzerland suffered famine.18

Later years

The food shortages of 1816–17 and of 1848–50 led many people in Graubünden to leave the canton for good, and from the 1850s the United States was their favourite destination.9 In 1856 Luzius took his wife and children there, and by 1860 they were living in Gasconade County, Missouri.5, 19

Jakob died at Igis in July 1858,17 and in May 1859 their youngest son, Jakob, married Katharina Spiess in the Igis church.20 Christina died at Igis on 17 September 1862, aged seventy, and was buried there three days later. The register names her as the daughter of Leonhard Pleisch and Maria Nett, and Luzein, her home parish, entered her death in its own register too.2 The register of Igis citizen families, as abstracted by the Bürgergemeinde Landquart, names Jakob and "Christine, born Pleisch, of Luzein" as the founding couple of one of the village's Hegnauer families.1

Life in time

with the history around it
Hunger years in Graubünden

before 3 Dec 1791

Birth , Luzein, Graubünden, Switzerland

probable Sources 1 , 2 , 6 , 13 , 14

How we know

Probable: if she is the "Tschina" Pleisch baptised at Luzein on 3 Dec 1791 (see Research Notes); the index gives no birth date. Her burial computes her birth year as 1792 from her age (70). If this is she, she was sixteen, not quite seventeen, at her marriage in October 1808.

Probably born shortly before her baptism at Luzein on 3 Dec 1791 (FamilySearch index; image not viewed), where she is indexed as "Tschina" Pleisch, daughter of "Bernhard" Pleisch and Maria Nett. She is taken to be Christina (probable, not proven): Tschina is the Prättigau short form of Christina; Maria Nett and Leonhard Pleisch are the parents named at her death ("Bernhard" is probably a misreading of Lienhard, Leonhard); she was 70 when she died in Sep 1862; she was a citizen of Luzein; and she named a son Leonhard (1812) and a daughter Maria (1815). No other Christina or Tschina Pleisch with a Nett mother is indexed at Luzein, 1765–1800.

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Places in this life

2 places, in order

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  1. 1 Luzein, Graubünden Birth before 3 Dec 1791 · Baptism 3 Dec 1791
  2. 2 Igis, Graubünden Marriage 18 Oct 1808 · Death 17 Sep 1862 · Burial 20 Sep 1862

Hollow markers are placed approximately, at the town, county or region.

Family

Father Leonhard Pleisch b. bef. 1770 Mother Maria Nett b. bef. 1770
This page Christina Pleisch 1791–1862
Husband · m. 18 Oct 1808 Jakob Hegnauer 1783–1858
Son Luzius Hegnauer 1819–aft. 1890 Daughter Ursula Hegnauer 1809–bef. 1809 Son Christian Hegnauer b. 1810 Son Leonhard Hegnauer b. 1812 Daughter Maria Hegnauer 1815–bef. 1815 Daughter Elsbeth Hegnauer b. 1815 Son Jakob Hegnauer 1824–aft. 1877
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Records

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Births and baptisms 1

Deaths and burials 3

Also cited as evidence: 18 records filed under relatives
The evidence 5 facts with their grades, 20 sources, and the research notes

Facts

Fact Date Place Grade Sources
Birth before 3 Dec 1791 Luzein, Graubünden, Switzerland probable 1 , 2 , 6 , 13 , 14
Baptism 3 Dec 1791 Luzein, Graubünden, Switzerland probable 6
Marriage with Jakob Hegnauer 18 Oct 1808 Igis, Graubünden, Switzerland proven 3
Death 17 Sep 1862 Igis, Graubünden, Switzerland proven 1 , 2
Burial 20 Sep 1862 Igis, Graubünden, Switzerland proven 2

Research notes

  • Sources: The church records are from FamilySearch's index of the Igis and Luzein Reformed registers ("Switzerland, Catholic and Reformed Church Records"); none of the images has been viewed. The historical background is from the Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz, and the Pleisch citizenship from the Familiennamenbuch der Schweiz.
  • Birth and baptism (probable; found 27 Sep 2026): The Luzein church book (FamilySearch film DGS 8126170, folder 003; the index gives the place only as "Schweiz") records the baptism on 3 Dec 1791 of "Tschina" Pleisch, whose parents are indexed as "Bernhard" Pleisch and Maria Nett; no birth date is indexed.6 She is taken to be Christina, probably but not provably, because: (1) Tschina is the Prättigau (Romansh) short form of Christina; (2) the mother, Maria Nett, is the mother named in both 1862 records of her death; (3) she was 70 when she died on 17 Sep 1862, and a child baptised in Dec 1791 was then 70 years and 9 months old; (4) Luzein is the parish of her citizenship, and its register also entered her death;2, 1 (5) she named her second son Leonhard (1812) and her second daughter Maria (1815), after the maternal grandparents, as her first son and daughter, Christian and Ursula, carry the names of her husband's parents.13, 14, 12, 11 It is the only baptism of a Christina or Tschina Pleisch with a Nett mother in the Luzein index for 1765–1800 (27 Pleisch baptisms in all), and no burial of this Tschina as a child was found (every Pleisch burial on the film, 1791–1812, was checked). If she is Christina, she was sixteen, not quite seventeen, at her marriage in October 1808. The register image (FamilySearch Center or affiliate library only) should be read.
  • Conflict, the father's name: The index reads the father as "Bernhard", but both 1862 records name Christina's father Leonhard.2 No other Bernhard Pleisch occurs anywhere in the collection, he is the only "Bernhard" father in the Luzein index for 1770–1800, and the same index renders the name Lienhard elsewhere as "Liehard", "Liechart" or "Linhart". "Bernhard" is therefore probably a misreading of Lienhard (Leonhard), but only the image can settle it. The alternative, that she was a daughter of Heinrich Pleisch and another Maria Nett (1748–1839), is less likely: that couple's children are named at their deaths as Heinrich's children, and Christina as Leonhard's (see her father's profile).
  • Corroboration, not evidence: An Ancestry member tree ("newkoch") independently gives her birth as 3 Dec 1791 at Luzein, with no source shown; it also gives Luzein as her place of death, which the Igis burial contradicts. It agrees with the baptism but adds no evidence of its own.
  • The 1784 Christina: The Christina Pleisch baptised on 19 Sep 1784 to Hans Pleisch and Greta, once considered, is not she: her burial names her parents as Leonhard Pleisch and Maria Nett.2
  • Death and burial (one-day discrepancy): Three FamilySearch index entries record her death. Two are in the Igis burial register, under Hegnauer: FamilySearch record 6F8D-93LL, where she is indexed "Christian", gives the burial as 20 Sep 1862, and FamilySearch record 6F8D-3PBK gives 21 Sep 1862 and gives her father her married surname, "Leonhard Hegnauer" (his own index entry in it, FamilySearch record 6F8D-3PB2, reads the same). The third, FamilySearch record 6FZ1-Y5LQ, is not an Igis entry: it is on the film of the Luzein church book (DGS 8126170, folder 004), where her home parish entered her death, with the burial on 20 Sep 1862, her age as 70 and her parents as Leonhard Pleisch and Maria Nett. All three give her death on 17 Sep 1862 and her birth year (computed) as 1792.2 20 Sep, the reading of one Igis entry and of the Luzein entry, is kept; the Igis register image should settle the day.
  • Citizen of Luzein: The Bürgergemeinde Landquart's notes on the old Igis families, abstracting the Igis Bürgerregister ("nach BR"), name Jakob Hegnauer (d. 1858) and "Christine, geb. Pleisch von Luzein (gest. 1862)" as the founding couple of one Igis Hegnauer family.1 "Von Luzein" means she held citizenship of Luzein, in the Prättigau; it does not prove she was born there. The Bürgerregister is an official register compiled from the parish books, but the abstract is secondary. The Pleisches were citizens of Luzein, and of Saas, before 1800.8 Another Christina Pleisch (wife of Georg Wüstner) died at Fideris, next to Luzein, also in 1862; the 1862 Igis burial of Christina Hegnauer, daughter of Leonhard Pleisch and Maria Nett, shows that the founding couple's Christine is this one, not the Fideris Christina, who died as Mrs Wüstner (resolved 27 Sep 2026). Her probable baptism has since been found in the Luzein register (see Birth and baptism, above).
  • To do: Read the image of the 1791 baptism (is the father "Lienhard"?). Search the Luzein film (DGS 8126170, folders 003 and 004) for Hegnauer entries, for example a Luzein copy of the 1808 marriage; that search has not yet been run.
  • Surname variants: Pleisch, Plisch, Fleisch, Flaisch, Flüsch (P/F reading errors in the old script).
  • This profile is part of the Hegnauer one-name study.

Working notes

  • surname also indexed Fleisch/Flaisch/Plisch
  • old tree 165462681 @I252683124819@ "Christine Pleischi"
  • burial 20 Sep 1862 Igis names parents Leonhard Pleisch and Maria Nett (6F8D-93LL, 6FZ1-Y5LQ); citizen of Luzein (Buergerregister abstract)

Sources

  1. 1

    Bürgergemeinde Landquart, "Die Igiser Bürgergeschlechter," entry Hegnauer (online, viewed 26 September 2026): "Stammeltern 1 nach BR: Jakob Hegnauer (gest. 1858) u. Christine, geb. Pleisch von Luzein (gest. 1862)", i.e. according to the Igis Bürgerregister (register of citizen families). A secondary abstract of that register; the register itself not yet seen. bglandquart.ch/die-igiser-buergergeschlechter.html

  2. 2

    "Switzerland, Catholic and Reformed Church Records, 1418–1996," database, FamilySearch, burial of Christina Hegnauer, 20 September 1862, Igis, Graubünden; died 17 September 1862; aged 70 [the index computes born 1792]; parents Leonhard Pleisch and Maria Nett. FamilySearch record 6F8D-93LL (indexed "Christian"); a second Igis entry gives the burial as 21 September 1862, with the same death date, birth year and parents but the father indexed as "Leonhard Hegnauer", FamilySearch record 6F8D-3PBK; father's entry in it FamilySearch record 6F8D-3PB2; the same death, with burial 20 September 1862, aged 70, parents Leonhard Pleisch and Maria Nett, was also entered in the register of Luzein, her home parish (index place "Schweiz"; Luzein church book, FamilySearch DGS 8126170, folder 004), FamilySearch record 6FZ1-Y5LQ

    In the archive: O01829 , O02099 , O01791 , O01790

  3. 3

    "Switzerland, Catholic and Reformed Church Records, 1418–1996," database, FamilySearch, marriage of Jacob Hegnauer and Christina Pleisch, 18 October 1808, Igis, Graubünden. FamilySearch record 6F84-F9CG; also indexed with the bride as Christina Flaisch, FamilySearch record 66VW-PY6Q

    In the archive: O01392 , O01130

  4. 4

    "Switzerland, Catholic and Reformed Church Records, 1418–1996," database, FamilySearch, baptism of Luzius Hegnauer, 8 December 1819, Igis; parents Jakob Hegnauer and Christina Pleisch. FamilySearch record 6F8C-1QQT

    In the archive: O01533

  5. 5

    "New York, Passenger Lists, 1820–1957," database with images, Ancestry, ship Chase from Havre, arrived New York 30 September 1856 (NARA M237, roll 167), lines 155–161, family of Luzius Hegnauer indexed as "Hegemann". ancestry.com/search/collections/7488/records/1377441

  6. 6

    "Switzerland, Catholic and Reformed Church Records, 1418–1996," database, FamilySearch, baptism of "Tschina" [Christina] Pleisch, 3 December 1791, Luzein, Graubünden (index place "Schweiz"; Luzein church book, FamilySearch DGS 8126170, folder 003); parents "Bernhard" [Lienhard?] Pleisch and Maria Nett; no birth date indexed. FamilySearch record 6FZB-ZQCF; father's entry FamilySearch record 6FZB-ZQCN; mother's entry FamilySearch record 6FZB-ZQCV

  7. 7

    Otto Clavuot, "Luzein," Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), version of 2002 (print-edition article, updated 7 December 2016), hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/001579/2016-12-07 (accessed 27 September 2026).

  8. 8

    Familiennamenbuch der Schweiz (Répertoire des noms de famille suisses), 3rd edition (Zürich: Schulthess, 1989), online edition of the Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz, entry "Pleisch": citizenships acquired before 1800 at Luzein and Saas GR; the book lists the families that held a Swiss communal citizenship in 1962. familiennamenbuch.ch (accessed 27 September 2026).

  9. 9

    Adolf Collenberg, "Von der Gemeindeherrlichkeit zum Kantonalstaat," and Peter Bollier, "Bevölkerung und Siedlung: Von der Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts bis zum Zweiten Weltkrieg," sections of Florian Hitz et al., "Graubünden," Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), version of 2004 (print-edition article, updated 29 August 2023), hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/007391/2023-08-29 (accessed 27 September 2026).

  10. 10

    Adolf Collenberg, "Igis," Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), version of 2000 (print-edition article, updated 12 July 2017), hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/001598/2017-07-12 (accessed 27 September 2026).

  11. 11

    "Switzerland, Catholic and Reformed Church Records, 1418–1996," database, FamilySearch, baptism of Ursula Hegnauer, 16 March 1809, Igis; parents Jacob Hegnauer and Christina Pleisch. FamilySearch record 6F8C-5QWW

    In the archive: O01559

  12. 12

    "Switzerland, Catholic and Reformed Church Records, 1418–1996," database, FamilySearch, baptism of Christian Hegnauer, 2 August 1810, Igis; parents Jacob Hegnauer and Christina Pleisch. FamilySearch record 6F8C-N58P

    In the archive: O01663

  13. 13

    "Switzerland, Catholic and Reformed Church Records, 1418–1996," database, FamilySearch, baptism of Leonhard Hegnauer, 14 June 1812, Igis; parents Jacob Hegnauer and Christina Pleisch. FamilySearch record 6F8C-5FWF

    In the archive: O01550 , O00775

  14. 14

    "Switzerland, Catholic and Reformed Church Records, 1418–1996," database, FamilySearch, baptism of Maria Hegnauer, 23 January 1815, Igis; parents Jacob Hegnauer and Christina Pleisch. FamilySearch record 6F8C-N6FM

    In the archive: O01666

  15. 15

    "Switzerland, Catholic and Reformed Church Records, 1418–1996," database, FamilySearch, baptism of Elsbeth Hegnauer, 25 December 1815, Igis; parents Jacob Hegnauer and Christina Pleisch. FamilySearch record 6F8C-5XG7

    In the archive: O01563 , O01531

  16. 16

    "Switzerland, Catholic and Reformed Church Records, 1418–1996," database, FamilySearch, baptism of Jacob Hegnauer, 7 June 1824, Igis; parents Jacob Hegnauer and Christina Pleisch. FamilySearch record 6F8C-TNT1

    In the archive: O01756

  17. 17

    "Switzerland, Catholic and Reformed Church Records, 1418–1996," database, FamilySearch, burial of Jakob Hegnauer, 20 July 1858, Igis, Graubünden; died 17 July 1858; born 1784; parents Christian Hegnauer and Ursula Nadig. FamilySearch record 6F8D-32BP

    In the archive: O01786 , O01807 , O01836

  18. 18

    Fridolin Kurmann, "Hungersnöte," Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), version of 2000 (print-edition article, updated 16 February 2011), hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/016226/2011-02-16 (accessed 27 September 2026).

  19. 19

    "United States Census, 1860," database with images, FamilySearch, Luzi Hegnauer, Boef Township, Gasconade County, Missouri; citing NARA M653, FHL microfilm 803619, page 123. FamilySearch record MHZ1-DLR; image FamilySearch image 33S7-9BS8-GQR

    In the archive: O02929 , O00001

  20. 20

    "Switzerland, Catholic and Reformed Church Records, 1418–1996," database, FamilySearch, marriage of Jacob Hegnauer and Katharina Spiess, 29 May 1859, Igis; groom's parents Jakob Hegnauer and Christina Fleisch. FamilySearch record 6F84-NR1Y

    In the archive: O01424