The History of the Von Farne Family : The Descendants of Christanus Von Farne & Barbara Matthysenn

The History of the Von Farne Family takes the reader on a journey through time that spans over five hundred years, describing massive historical upheavals in the lives of fourteen generations of one family-lineage's history going back to the Reformation of 1528 in the Swiss Berner Oberland. Over time, our Von Farne descendants changed their patronymic in Europe to Farni and later to Fahrni; those who emigrated to the USA became Fahrneys and Forneys.

Some Farni ancestors had converted to Anabaptism (Amish) many of whom faced torture and confiscation of their properties; their preachers were simply hanged or drowned in the river. Some bloodline Farni Anabaptists became martyrs; others were forced to flee to Pennsylvania in 17th Century.

Several Farni ancestors were also involved in local wars such as the War of Thun and, a few years later, the Swiss Peasant War in which bloodline-Ulli Farni Junior was a leading hero and suffered torture during his eight years' imprisonment in the Castle of Thun.

During the early 19th Century, waves of Fahrni ancestors emigrated to the USA and settled in New Philadelphia, Ohio, and elsewhere. Some of them or their descendants became important business owners. Several second-generation Fahrneys became high ranking military officers, one of whom rose to the height of Rear-Admiralty of the US Navy. Another Fahrney sat on the Board of Directors of Standard Oil, then the largest oil company in the world, and saw large ships and carriers proudly carry the Fahrney name on the oceans of the world.

In early 20th Century, three Fahrni brothers emigrated to the Kingdom of Saxony, then the leading industrialized state of the German Confederation, to set up a transport company in Meissen. Their business was booming, but the brothers lost everything with the start of WW1 and were unable to return to Switzerland. The book does not shrink from telling of the extreme cruelty our ancestors suffered during the slaughter of WW1 and its shattered aftermath, followed by the brutality of Nazism and later the horrors of WW2, followed by the tyrannical Soviet occupation and finally the social chaos of communism.
It is a story millions of readers can empathize with, whose own ancestors have survived the historical events and upheavals in Europe and North America over the centuries and would have very similar tales to tell, if they could still speak.