Santiago Schaerer

Background

Only son of a typical Swiss family, his parents were Jakob Schaerer, city councilor of Vordemwald, Aargau, and Johanna Barbara Kuenzli.

Education

He studied in his hometown and married Caroline Mueller Hess, of Unterambringen, Baden.

Career

They had two sons, Emil Jakob and Hans Otto. He was a widower at the age 27. In Uruguay he was one of the founders and first settlers of Nueva Helvecia, then he moved to Argentina finally settling in Paraguay in 1869 during the final years of the Paraguayan War.

He sailed from Hamburg in 1862 and arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Together with other Swiss settlers created Nueva Helvecia, the first Swiss colony in Uruguay. The latter would eventually become President of Paraguay and one of the most influential politicians in the history of this country.

He continued his colonizing work in Paraguay in times of Bernardino Caballero, with the foundation of San Bernardino, Paraguay, the first German and Swiss colony in Paraguay, August 24, 1881. He continued on founding cities like Benjamin Aceval and Yegros.

Santiago Schaerer died in Asuncion on January 28, 1895 at 60 years of age.

Achievements

• He ventured to the new world becoming a colonizer and the founder of numerous villages and colonies in South America.