Lötscher is the name of a widely ramified Mennonite family
stemming from the Simmental in the Bernese Oberland of
Switzerland. The progenitor was Hans Lötscher (see Leutscher and
Latscha) of Latterbach near Erlenbach, born 1601, a pious man,
author of the song, "Schön new Geistlich Lied" (41 stanzas), in
which he gives examples from the Bible to warn his descendants
and contemporaries of the spirit and confusion of the world. On
21 January 1633 he married Anna Kammerer of Latterbach. The
three oldest of his five children, Hans, Melchior, and Anna
Lötscher, were taken to the Anabaptist prison in Bern in 1666.
The clergy on the Anabaptist Commission, including Abraham de
Losea, were instructed to visit them diligently, teach them, and
take away "their whims." Considering their youth, there was hope
that "they might be led on the right way." But they persisted
steadfastly in their faith. Hans and Melchior escaped from
prison in August 1667, but were soon recaptured and put into the
orphanage in Bern. After four