Our family would have been part of a group of Anabaptists that fled to Switzerland from Germany to escape religious persecution.   Although Martin Luther was credited with beginning the radical reformation, there were many others whose biblical study at the time caused them to question the state church (Catholicism).  

Anabaptists believed that only after a person was old enough to make a personal confession of faith should they be baptized.   Since everyone at the time was baptized at birth, this act of re-baptizing or believer’s baptism was considered heresy and punishable by death.   If discovered, they would be drowned, burned at the stake, beheaded or tortured in other ways.   

Because they were hated by both Protestants and Catholics, more Anabaptists were martyred for their faith than any other Christian group in history, including the early Christians.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabaptism#Beliefs_and_practices