I had asked the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society to search for Joseph and Catherine's arrival at the port of Philadelphia in 1770. I could never find the ship upon which they had arrived. Neither could they. They searched their records, Internet records and records at the Philadelphia archives without results.

They did find an arrival for Hans Georg. Lysssy on the ship Peggy in 1753. They concluded, as I had before, that he was not the father of Joseph.

I also had asked that they search for the indenture papers of both Joseph and Catherine as such papers often listed the original home of the indentured servant. However, they could not find any papers in Lancaster's local registry nor at the state registry in Philadelphia.

They did locate a book titled "The Swiss Emigration Book" which listed a Joseph Leisi emigrating from Bern, Switzerland. Neither his birthdate nor the date of emigration was listed.

Searching for information in Switzerland prior to 1800 is very hard since records were only kept at local churches and they seem to not be willing to turn them over to the State today. Records of Mennonites are even harder to locate as they were being persecuted at the time and were even more secretive about their records.

I have located information that there were Leisi's living in the Attiswil and Untersteckholz areas in the mid to late 1700's. I am now trying to track down information from that area and will keep the family informed. - Ray Leisy, Leisey Family Discussion Board, September 17, 2014