Emmanuel was born June 21, 1843, son of Mr and Mrs Bernhard Bossard, in Bern, Switzerland. Elizabeth Whitwer was born September 15, 1852 in Canton Bern, Switzerland. Elizabeth and Emmanuel were married on August 9, 1878/79.
They lived on a farm near Bern for several years. They had nine children, three died in infancy. The children were: Ernest, Hans, Gottfried, Martha, Eliza, and Frieda. Bernard Whitwer, Elizabeth’s brother came to America and homesteaded west of Tilden. He encouraged his sister to come to Nebraska as well as his brother John and his wife, Lizzie. The family came in 1891 and settled on a farm about 3 miles west of Tilden.
Emmanuel died in April 1919 and Elizabeth on December 28, 1921. Ernest Bossard and wife, Goldie, lived in this area for a short time and then moved to Idaho. Hans married Emilie Matzner and lived on his parents’ farm after they moved into town. They had four children: Earl, married Frieda Mueri, two children; Fred and his wife, Loyce, live in Iowa, three children; Bruno Carl and wife, Dorothy, two children, live in California and Eva Marie, married Berven Forde, live in Arizona, two children. Eliza married John Decker, one child. Martha married Henry Lee Oelsligle, four children; Frieda never married; and Gottfried married Anna Whitwer, no children.
Source Unknown: Originally submitted for this website in June 2007