Jakob Baumgartner (YAH-kob BOWM-gart-ner)

Born in 1772 in the alpine foothills near Montreux, Jakob Baumgartner was the second son of a long line of stonemasons and land stewards. Unlike his brothers, he showed little interest in carving stone or following trade routes, preferring the slow discipline of earthwork, tool maintenance, and seasonal rhythm. He began working on estate grounds by his mid-teens, eventually gaining a quiet reputation for being reliable, honest, and nearly invisible when not spoken to directly.   Jakob’s life changed course when he was hired for routine exterior repairs at a lakeside villa where a sharp-eyed young woman was organizing the household from within. He met Annelies over a quarrel about firewood placement, which he lost—and admired her for it. They married three years later and began working as a team: she overseeing the house, and he caring for the land around it. Together, they formed a nearly wordless rhythm that made Villa Diodati not just functional, but enduring.   As the groundskeeper, Jakob handled more than just the visible estate. He cleared runoff from hillside springs, pruned overgrown vines, patched stonework, repaired shutters, and managed deliveries with an efficiency that made even Byron’s courier nervous. He was rarely indoors unless the weather demanded it, preferring the smell of moss and bark to fire and ink. Though soft-spoken, he possessed a memory for detail that made him invaluable to Annelies—and deeply unsettling to any guest who underestimated him.   To locals, Jakob was a familiar shadow—an early riser who nodded once and returned to work, who knew which trees to trim by moonlight and which to leave alone. Some said he walked the perimeter of the villa each dusk out of superstition. Others claimed he was simply listening for something only he could hear. Jakob never answered those rumors. He just kept walking.