The Eby's belong to the Celts, an ancient people of Indo-european origins, who formerly inhabited southern, central and western Europe. In approximately 400 BC the Boii tribe of the Celts moved through the Alps into the Po Valley region of northern Italy, pushing the Etruscans from the area. Over the years they moved further south, eventually attempting to overtake Rome. In 191 BC the final rebellion against Rome was lost in Bologna, and the majority of the Boii were pushed further and further north. Most were forced from Italy completely.
During the early centuries of the Christian era, the Ebee's lived in the northern part of Italy, where they became part of the Waldenses (Vaudois in France, Valdenses or Vallanses in Latin), with whom they came in contact. They have also been known as the Defenceless Christians. Peter Waldes was the founder of this faith; a wealthy merchant who gave away his property and began preaching poverty as the way to perfection. The essential doctrines of the Waldensian Church were in existence since the time of the apostles, and were driven from southern Italy in the second and third centuries. They lived in areas that most people would not find desirable so that chances were better they would be left alone. The Waldensian Church is the oldest evangelical church in existence, predating the Protestant Reformation by at least four hundred years. The Waldenses apparently had their beginnings in the Cottian Alps, from where they sent missionaries over most of Europe. In 1184 they were formally declared heretics by Pope Lucius III, and many were burned at the stake. In 1487 Pope Innocent XIII fulminated against the Waldenses a Bill of Extermination. Between the years 1300 and 1320 the Ebee's, with others, left Italy, crossed the Alps and finally settled in Cantons Bern, Solothurn Schwyz, Zurich and Luzern, in Switzerland.
During the Protestant Reformation they were subjected to the same persecution as other protestants in northern Europe. The first Aebi mentioned in the Staats Archiv des Cantons Solothurn (State Archives of the Canton of Solothurn) was Mathias Aebi, who was in charge of Saint Wolfgang's Chapel as early as 1484. He died on 28 January 1508. In Canton Bern the first records of the name Aebi are from 1368. There are many records of Aebi's being involved in the clergy. The next recorded date of an Aebi in the church is in 1664, when Durst Aebi was ordained. More information about his life is included in this book under Register Report of Bartlis Aebi. The main body of the Aebi family comes from two families in the Canton of Bern. The Aebi's joined with Ulrich Zwingli, head of the Zwinglian Reformation Movement, who for a time were involved with the Swiss Brethren Church. The parted ways when it became clear that Zwingli was leaning towards a union of the church and state, which was not consistent with the Swiss Brethren doctrine. The main point of disagreement, however, was the question of infant baptism, which was deemed unscriptural by the Brethren. After the founding of the Mennonite body in 1537 by one of the early reformers named Simon Menno, a native of Holland, the Aebi's, with others, joined Menno's party. In the years to follow the Mennonites (also called Anabaptists) were to endure the harshest religious persecution the world had seen. They were stripped of their homes, their worldly belongings and even put to death by the Zwingilian state, which forced them to live as religious nomads. As early as 1564 they moved in great numbers to the Emmen Valley. There rose an establishment called the Taufer Jagen (Anabaptist Hunt), and the members were hunted down like animals and delivered to the authorities, where they were imprisoned by the hundreds. In 1659, the Bernese government established the Taufer Kammer (Office of Anabaptist Affairs) to act as an official agency on the Mennonite problem. The Emmental was soon filled with Anabaptist sympathizers, and rose to protect, defend and hide those who were being sought by the Taufer Kammer. Many were sentenced to pay the hunters for hiding Mennonites. The name Durst Aebi appears in records as being imprisoned many times between 1671 and 1684. In 1671 the first mass emigration of Mennonites took place, and the Swiss authorities were thorough in their enforcement of departure. On 5 July 1710, King Frederick I of Prussia petitioned the Bernese government and interceded for the Mennonites. Many migrated to the Palatinate, or Pfaltz, an old German division on the Rhine now discarded on maps. The first records of the name Eby in Alsace was in 1674. Indications are that they were engaged as farmers and farm hands. In Baden, the earliest records find the name in 1711, and the first records in the Palatinate were in 1700. Here they resided for some ime when again they were troubled by their enemies for not conforming to the laws and church of the state. The laws of the state were not so much violated by the parties, only they would not take up arms nor would they speak in favour of war, but took a decided stand against all manner of war. They were allowed to have meetings for their worship, but were not allowed the practice of baptism. The head of each Mennonite family was required to pay the "Schultzgeld", or protection money, of three Florins the first year, and six each year after. Year after year the taxes rose and the privileges formerly extended to the Mennonites decreased. The only record of an Eby in Germany owning property was Heinrich Eby, in Heckensaschbacherhof, and he sold it in 1722. The Mennonites would either have to convert to the Reformed Church (Lutheran) or leave.
When William Penn offered free homes to persons of all religious denominations, quite a number of Mennonites from Switzerland, Germany and Holland emigrated to America and settled in Pennsylvania. Among the numerous parties coming to America was Theodorus (Durst), who came in 1715, and Peter, nephew of Durst, who came in 1720. They had the assurance that, once in Pennsylvania, they could worship God according to their view of the teaching of the Bible and the dictates of their own conscience.
