[Kendig(Best).FTW]
(Best WS2) b. 1623; in 1634 aged 11, servant in Birmensdorf; in
1637 serving in Birmensdorf with Jakob Bentz, miller;
by 1657 emigrated to Eppingen, Germany; (? in 1685 a Mennonite
living in Reihen, Germany). m 1653, Eppingen,____.Jacob Widmer (WS2), the eleven year-old son of Heini Widmer
(WS) and Margareth Bentz, was recorded in 1634 in the
census of Hedingen, southwest of the city of Zurich, as working
in Birmensforf nearby with his sister Anna, aged fifteen.
The 1637 census shows they worked at the mill for Jakob Bentz.
The household included Hans Benz and his wife,
Verena Meylin (ML41), niece of Hans Meylin (ML2), the
Anabaptist minister. Her brother Hans Heinrich Meili (ML42)
was miller of Oberembrach and later of Basserdorf, and was
married in 1634 to Barbara Dubendorfer.The 1657 and 1663 lists of emigrants from Hedingen included
three single sons of the deceased Heini Widmer,
Jagli (Jakob), Kasper, and Uli Widmer, who had gone to Eppingen
in the Kraichgau. Jakob Widmer married there in
1653, Uli in 1655, and Kasper in 1658Because of his connections with the Anabaptist Meylin family,
his age, and the places in which he lived, I (Best)
believe this Jakob Widmer (WS2) was the Jakob Wittmer recorded
as a Mennonite in Reihen in the Kraichgau in 1685,
and probably the father of the John and Benjamin Witmer,
Mennonites, who immigrated to present Lancaster County in 1717.
John Witmer's daughter Barbara (WS211) married George Kendig,
probably (?KA3521). Uli Widmer (WS5) was probably the
father of the Michael Witmer who immigrated in 1733, aged 65,
on the "Hope" with sons Ulrich, Peter, and Hans.
[Martin Kendig Anc.FTW]
Best (KA) b. ca. 1565; d. aft 1601; in 1591 and 1594 lived in
Walenweil/Allenwil, Baretswil; in 1598 and 1601 lived in
Auslikon, Pfaffikon;
probably a brother of Jacob, Heinrich, and Fridli Kundig, who
lived in Walenweil.