Regula Weidmann was born 14 February 1808 in Bachs, Zurich, Switzerland. She is my 4G-Grandmother through my grandfather John Goodman. Bachs is a village about forty minutes north of Zurich. In 1634 the population was 391 and in 1836 the number was 596. In 1763 a catastrophic fire burned in the village creating in the aftermath Alt-Bach and Neu-Bachs. I have not identified her parents but there are two possible couples that were married in Bachs in 1790s - Hans Weidmann and Regula Mathis both of Bachs or Johannes Weidmann and Anna Schütz also both from Bachs. In 1825 Regula married Johannes Gutmann (1802-1838). Johannes was a blacksmith from Mellikon, Canton Aargau. Mellikon is about six miles northwest of Bachs on the Rhine river. Regula and Johannes lived in Stadel, Canton Zurich. Stadel is directly adjacent to Bachs to the east.
Johannes died in 1838 at the age of 36. Regula and Johannes had eight children between 1825 and 1838 but it is not clear if all of them survived childhood. The known children were Rudolf (1825-1874), Johannes (1827-1894) [my 3G-Grandfather], Heinrich (1830-1853), Katharina (1832-1917), Johann Heinrich (1834- ), Johann Georg (1835-1835), Johann Jakob (1836- ), and Anna (1838- ). In 1839 Regula married Johannes's brother Heinrich. Johann Heinrich Gutmann (1814-1886) was six years younger than Regula. To be married required a dispensation from the Aargau cantonal authorities for Heinrich to marry his brother's wife (https://suche.staatsarchiv.djiktzh.ch/detail.aspx?ID=740278). There were prohibitions in place across Europe up until the twentieth century against such marriages.
Heinrich was also a blacksmith. I don't know if he was already in Stadel or moved from Mellikon, but he and Regula remained in Stadel. They had one child, Verena (1840- ). Regula died the next year in 1841 at the age of 33. Heinrich subsequently married Verena Maag of Stadel and had three children with her - Anna (1842- ), Johannes Jakob Friedrich (1844- ), and Johannes Heinrich (1846- ).
