Zschokke & I
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Six generations stand between my great-great-great-great-grandfather Heinrich Zschokke (1771-1848) and myself.
The descendants of Heinrich and his wife Nanny (more than 800 of them are alive today) are spread over at least four continents, if not all five. Some of them, like myself, still live in Switzerland. Heinrich Zschokke is now honoured by an exhibition in his beloved city of Aarau, in the building that was Switzerland’s first Federal Palace, until June the 30th (after which date, the exhibition will move to Basel for the Summer). There, my wife has taken this shot of us two together: the ancestor and his much more ordinary descendant.
I honestly don’t know if the apple has fallen far from the tree or not. But I often wonder what the old man would have thought of the world we live in…
Six generations: when you think about it, the direct line involves only 7 people (and their partners)… You could easily fit them all in a room, around a table. What family reunion would that be! Just imagine the stories they could tell, across less than two centuries and a half!
Also on Medium.
(Double portrait courtesy of Cécile Matthey)