Note: Charles Eggenschwiler was born in Basel, Switzerland, September 20, 1825, the son of Anthony and Margaret Egganshwiler. The parents died in Switzerland, and Charles was the only one in his family to emigrate to the United States. He received but a limited education in his native land. At the age of eight years he was taken into the home of a gentleman who employed him as an errand boy, and with him he continued until he was twenty-six years of age. He then went to Geneva to learn the French language; but for want of money, he was forced to abandon the undertaking. In 1853 he embarked on a ship at Harve, France and came to the United States with the intention of accumulating a fortune and then returning to his native land. He never went back, not did he accumulate much wealth, but he raised a large and decent family.
After his arrival in America, he proceded to Cincinnati, where he remained from September 1853 to January 1855. A friend in Cincinnati, Dr. Morgan, told him to go to Hartford City and ask Bill Healey for a job as a hostler. In 1860 he became salesman in the Hartford City Company Store. This position he held for the rest of his life.
In 1858 in Hartford City, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Aumiller, a native of Mason County who lived about two miles back of town. Both Mr. and Mrs. Eggenshwiler were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was a member of the I.O.O.F., and was a Master Mason. He died in 1892.