Janet and Robert Wolfe Genealogy --- Go to Genealogy Page for Adam Neff

Notes for Adam Neff

1495 Adam Näf, son of Hans Näf and Katharina Huber, was born in Vollenweid, Switzerland. [1] [2] [3]

Adam Näf was a farmer. [4]

1504 Adam Neff was a young attendant of the Huber family at Gluckshafen at Vollenweid. [5]

1529 Catholic and Protestant armies marched to Kappel, Zurich, Switzerland to fight. Negotiations led to a settlement without any battle. [6] The "Kappeler Milchsuppe" painting by Albert Anker celebrates the life of a soldier when peace is achieved.

Kunsthaus Zürich [7]

1531 The Milchsoup peace was short. Hans Näf died and his son Adam Näf won fame in the second battle of Kappel, fought in 1531, near the monastery of Kappel on the border between the cantons of Zürich and Zug in Switzerland [8]. Adam Neff fought as an ax guard under Hans Huber of Tufenbach and rescued the banner of Zurich [9]. Five Roman Catholic states in the south of the Swiss confederacy; Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, and Zug; called the Forest cantons, formed the Christian Union, which allied with Austria, while Zwingli advanced his vision of Protestantism from Zürich. The Forest Cantons declared war on Zürich and on October 10, began to march toward Zürich. At the same time, soldiers of Zürich began to march toward Baar where the Forest Cantons had their headquarters. On 11 October, the army of the Forest Canton gathered at the fields surrounding Baar called Baarerborden. They sent a messenger to challenge Zürich and began their march toward Kappel. The Zurichers did not wait to marshal their forces and fought with at most 2000 men against 8000 from the Forest Cantons. The armies met at Kappel. The Forest troops were pressed back but about five in the evening the tide of battle turned. The battle now favored the Forest Cantons As the Zurichers fell back, the standard bearer John Schweizer refused to give way. The battle became very fierce around the standard bearer but he would not yield ground. Zwingli, the religious leader, fell wounded in the head and in the thigh. As he fell he shouted, "You can kill the body but not the soul." John Schweizer, reached the mill stream. He was forced into the stream and the weight of his armor bore him down and he was drowned. Kleinsbaus Kambli rescued the banner. As he seized the banner he was rushed by a number of the enemy. He cried out, "Is there no honorable Zuricher here to save his army's banner?"

1531 Battle of Kappel etching by Johannes Stumpf (1548), Wikipedia [10]
Adam Naf of Vollenweid responded to the cry. Adam was an axguard who under Hans Huber of Tufenbach had come to defend Zürich. His father and two brothers were also in the battle as well as two sons. Adam Naf attacked with his broad sword and cut off the head of the man who had seized the banner. Kambli was again able to hold the banner high and retreat in an orderly fashion. In the retreat there were 512 soldiers left behind including Adam's father, Hans, and his two brothers. Zwingli refused to deny his faith and was dealt a fatal blow by Captain Bockinger. There were 26 members of the Zürich council and 65 canton citizens who lost their lives. Zurich was routed. On November 15-16, ambassadors from both sides met to arrange terms of a peace and on the 20th the treaty was ratified. [11] [12] [13]

1533 Adam Näf received many honors from Zürich for his heroism. On 10 March 1533, he received citizenship of the city of Zürich "which shall also be extended to his descendants." He was granted the Sennhof at Kappel as a [tax] free fief for 6 years. [14] The civic record of Zürich reads "Adam Naf of Hausen has been freely granted the right of citizenship by my lord on account of his integrity, when at the battle of Kappel, he helped to save my lord's standard, and honor, and mark and cut off the head of an enemy in the act of taking the standard with a battle sword." Three Nafs were killed in the battle of Kappel: Adam's father, Hans Naf, and his two brothers, Konrad and Rudolf Naf. [15]

1550 The Zürich Council awarded Adam Näf the newly created Senhoff, on July 5, as a free fief (feudal estate) for six years, when the Kappel cloister was partitioned. [16]

Kappel Cloister. "Kappel vilagxo" by Roland Zumbühl [17]

1561 to 1568 Adam Neff served as the deputy warden of Hausen and Heisch.

Naf house in Vollenweid [18] [19]

1550 Adam Naf, from the Nafhausen Portrait, circa 1550.

1550 Adam Naf Portrait [20]

1561-68 Adam Neff served as deputy warden of Hausen and Heisch.

1571 Adam Naf had died before November 7, at Vollenwied. [21]

One daughter married Heini Berlin of Heinsch, daughter Anna married Gorius Russer, Elsbeth married Wolfgang Berli (brother on Heini), and another daughter married Peter Bar.


Footnotes:

[1] Jane Evans Best, "Näf/Neff (NF) Family: An Update," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 16 (April, 1993), 25-30, at 26, NF1.

[2] Jane Evans Best, "Näf/Neff (NF) Family: An Update," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 16 (April, 1993), 25-30, at 26, NF1.

[3] Richard Warren Davis, Mennosearch.com Family Notes, Neff A1, [Website].

[4] Jane Evans Best, "Näf/Neff (NF) Family: An Update," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 16 (April, 1993), 25-30, at 26, NF1.

[5] Jane Evans Best, "Näf/Neff (NF) Family: An Update," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 16 (April, 1993), 25-30, at 26, NF1.

[6] Wikipedia article about First_War_of_Kappel, content subject to change, [Wikipedia].

[7] Image licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons, [URL].

[8] Wikipedia article about Second_War_of_Kappel, content subject to change, [Wikipedia].

[9] Jane Evans Best, "Näf/Neff (NF) Family: An Update," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 16 (April, 1993), 25-30, at 26, NF1.

[10] Image licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons, [URL].

[11] Elmer Ellsworth Neff, A Memorial of the Neff Family (1931), 4, [HathiTrust].

[12] Elizabeth Clifford Neff, A Chronicle, together with a little romance regarding Rudolph and Jacob Naf (1888), 28-32, [GoogleBooks].

[13] William Alfred Neff, The Neff-Näf family (1991), 8, [GoogleBooks].

[14] Jane Evans Best, "Näf/Neff (NF) Family: An Update," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 16 (April, 1993), 25-30, at 26, NF1.

[15] Elizabeth Clifford Neff, A Chronicle, together with a little romance regarding Rudolph and Jacob Naf (1888), 28-32, [GoogleBooks].

[16] Jane Evans Best, "Näf/Neff (NF) Family: An Update," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 16 (April, 1993), 25-30, at 26, NF1.

[17] Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons, [URL].

[18] Licensed via Wikimedia Commons, [URL].

[19] Jane Evans Best, "Näf/Neff (NF) Family: An Update," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 16 (April, 1993), 25-30, at 26, NF1.

[20] rootsweb Image source, [URL].

[21] Richard Warren Davis, Mennosearch.com Family Notes, Neff A1, [Website].