Sauser-Sausser-Souser-Säußer Family History

Swiss Legend and Location of the Sauser name.

Many years ago, I received a copy of two undated typewriter written letters that pre-date 1995 that have references to the Sauser Swiss origins. Included is some of the details of the letters with additional supporting information I have added. It was passed along to me about 15 years ago from Kay Sauser in Duluth, Minnesota who had it passed along or sent to her from a “John (Cannot Read Name) ” . At a later date I will likely post the letter or at least the details of it in its entirety.

I will denote at the time of publishing this post on January 21, 2015 that the links still need to be built for the different name variations and families. There is some definitive evidence linking some family lines directly back this far, and only growing evidence that at least some additional name variations and families may be distantly linked, but likely not all lines. The hope is extensive documentation and research and DNA testing will help establish any link, for example I have multiple 0 generation gap DNA matches to both the Baden Germany area as well as areas within 60 miles of Interlaken, Switzerland at the Y-25 level as I wait for more extensive tests (Y-111) to be performed as well as additional individuals to be tested at higher levels (Y-67 or greater).  One possible source of the migration from this area, as hypothesized in the referenced letter, is people of the mentioned area below are believed to have been hired out as Swiss Mercenaries and not all returned to the area after their service and some are known to have definitely settled in Luxembourg.

Three similar versions of the same story, below the three versions are references to the locations with a map.

Version 1

A pretty little village is said to have been florishing in former times on Saus Alp
high above the Lauterbrunnen Valley. Once after a horrendous thunderstorm the
waters of the Saus Creek rose to an unprecedendet level and swept away all the
dwelling houses, killing every inhabitant. Only one single child miraculously
survived. Compassionate people from the valley raised him, and since l1is name was
unknown he was given the name of his origin: Sauser.
(Quoted after Wyss ‘A Journey into the Bernese Oberland’)

Version 2

The Saus Village had been completely wiped out by the Black Death in one of those
epidemics which plagud the val!eys or the area. There was a deadly silence when the
coroners inspected the deserted village. But suddenly, from a little house at the end of
one of the lanes, they hear a pitiful whimper. They enter and see a little child lying in
a cradle. On his blanket there is a loaf of bread cut into slices, so that the child could
just reach it with his tiny hands. This foresight of the dying parents had saved the boy
from certain starvation. Nobody knew the child’s name, therefore he was named
Sauser after his native village, and up to this day many people bearing that name can
be found in the Lauterbrunnen Valley.
(Quoted after Reverend Joss, Lauterbrunnen)

Both version 1 and version 2 can be found in Das Berner Oberland in Sage und Geschichte. (Prospekt.) [With coloured plates and
illustrations.]. Hermann Hartmann of Interlaken, 1909, 77 pageswhich is in German but can be found in some US libraries and portions of it in Google Books.

From letter talking about

Neither version 1 or 2 explains why Sigriswil, located on the slopes bordering the northern shore of Lake Thun, is (and has been for ages) considered the hometown of the Sausers. However, it might be assumed that the ‘compassionate’ people, particularly of the second version, were not inhabitants of the Lauterbrunnen Valley but of Sigriswil, which had been spared in the epidemic..(pages of additional text in letter)….. In the village church in Sigrisvil, a Christian Sauser is listed as one of the village/church council on 17th century plaque. The church is Zwinglian denomination, the reformed Protestant sect common to the Swiss reformation. …..

(In 1991) We were shown the village church with the 17th century plaque with Christian Sauser’s name. We Discovered the cemetary next to the church
filled with Sausers. And we met more living Sausers from the villages surrounding Sigrisvil.

Version 3; Verbal story told to the individual writing the letter by a living Swiss Sauser in 1989.

According to a Sauser family in Switzerland, the name Sauser came from the Saus Valley below Saus Alp, SW of Interlaken,
Switzerland. The valley is within view of the three high peaks of Jungfrau, the Munch and the Eiger. Back around
1348, when the Black Death Plague swept the area, all the people of the Saus Valley died of the dread disease except
for one little boy baby, He survived on the bread left beside hjm by his dying mother. He was rescued by the people
of Sigrisvil – a village up in the mountains and north of Lake Thun. Because the little survivor was from the Saus
Valley, he was called Sauser. Thus the orgin of the Sauser family. Two other versions of the family legend follow this
sketch. (Quoted: From an from undated letter to an unknown Sauser in Minnesota, USA that also refers to the person visiting the valley and meeting Martin Sauser of Bern who took him there on a return trip from the Soviet Union.)

The Swiss source of this information is said to be a Martin Sauser who from Bern, Switzerland but I believe from the letters he may have been originally from Sigriswil, Switzerland as his father Willie Sauser who has an Engineer and had served in the Swiss Parliament. In 1991 Willie was listed as 84.


My elaboration on the detail of above to put a context to the area being spoken about.

Saus Alp is located here (46°36’14.2″N 7°52’19.1″E) with the river “Sousbach” or Sous Creek flowing down it and into the Lockbruch, which merges with the river before terminating in Lake Brienzersee. The origin of the stream is just below Chilchfluepass aka Sausgrat Pass and the Rote Hard / Schwarzgrat ridge line. Information on the lower valley where people farm today is on this site as well. The traverse of the upper valley is found in several Swiss Alpine hiking guides.

I then put the following together based on information currently available in maps and the web.

Saus Valley, Saus Creek Switzerland associated with origins of the Sauser name.

Interlaken, Switzerland in between Lake Thuren and Lake Brienzersee and Sigriswil, Switzerland on the north Shore of Lake Thuren. Their is numerous photos across the web of the area which is mountainous and beautiful.

The peak’s mentioned, are all in succession along the Canton of Bern of the Bernese Alps South East of Interlaken. EigerMönchJungrau.