1467/68 Hans Hensli Naf was born at Vollenweid near Hausen am Albis, Switzerland. [1]
Hans Naf was a farmer in Vollenweid near Hausen. [2]
1495 Hans Naf illegally entered the military service with the French. He served as a free vassel in the Milan campaign and the battle at Marignano. [3]
1495 Hans Neff and Katharina Huber, daughter of Uli and Adelheit Huber, had been married at Vollenweid. [4]
1495 Their son, Adam Naf, was born at Vollenweid. Adam had two brothers named Konrad and Rudolf. [5]
1504 Katharina Huber Neff was still alive. [6]
1531 Hans Naf/Neff died at the battle of Kappel on 11 October. [7]
Research Notes:
Ron Zimmerman quotes this material. Some of these quotes have been atributed to The Neff (Naf) Family, Neff and Associates, 1991, and also to The Neffs of Switzerland by J. Robert (Bob) Fisher. [http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=zimm42&id=I13492]
The Swiss Reformation challenged the Catholic church in the early 1500s. The Council of 200, who directed the Reformed Church in Zürich, called Ulrich Zwingli as a priest without consent of the Catholic church. The Reformation became the state church and directly challenged the authority of the Catholic church. Zwingli began slowly and carefully to make changes in the church doctrine. It was not their intention to leave the church but only to make changes which seemed to be necessary reforms. The Swiss Brethren following Conrad Grebel were less patient with the rate of change in the Reformation and promoted the idea of the separation of church and state and the baptism of only those who had made a personal choice. They followed a simple form of life and a policy of nonresistance.
The five oldest Cantons of the Swiss Federation, called the Forest or Rural Cantons, strictly adhered to the Catholic philosophy and they objected to the Reformation with its headquarters in the Canton of Zürich. In 1529 they formed an alliance with Austria and began to move against the Reformation. The Reformation in Zürich formed an army of 4000 men and moved toward the Catholic army. The two armies met at Kappel. Kappel was a small town with a Catholic church and a farm. It was at the foot of the Albis mountains about half way between Zürich and the town of Baar and was loyal to the Catholic cause. As the two armies camped facing each other it soon became evident that the soldiers did not have so much animosity as did the leaders. They began to exchange food which included soup made of milk. Mediators began to talk about the folly of fighting; both sides were convinced. They set up a landmark of stone and turf as a token of their friendship. After some negotiations, in which the one party agreed to discontinue their alliance with Austria, a peace was achieved and the soldiers of both sides went home. This was known as the Milk Soup War of 1529.
The Neff (Naf) history reaches back to the battle of Sempach in 1386, at which a Rudi and Hans Naf won the right of citizenship at Zürich. Rudi Naf lived at Rengg and managed the manor belonging to the Kappel cloister. A Hans Naf managed a manor belonging to Rengg at Schnobelburg.
[1] Jane Evans Best, "Näf/Neff (NF) Family: An Update," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 16 (April, 1993), 25-30, at 26, NF.
[2] Jane Evans Best, "Näf/Neff (NF) Family: An Update," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 16 (April, 1993), 25-30, at 26, NF.
[3] Jane Evans Best, "Näf/Neff (NF) Family: An Update," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 16 (April, 1993), 25-30, at 26, NF.
[4] Jane Evans Best, "Näf/Neff (NF) Family: An Update," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 16 (April, 1993), 25-30, at 26, NF.
[5] Jane Evans Best, "Näf/Neff (NF) Family: An Update," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 16 (April, 1993), 25-30, at 26, NF.
[6] Jane Evans Best, "Näf/Neff (NF) Family: An Update," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 16 (April, 1993), 25-30, at 26, NF.
[7] Jane Evans Best, "Näf/Neff (NF) Family: An Update," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 16 (April, 1993), 25-30, at 26, NF.