Jan,
Familysearch.org does not have Katherine Kohli’s parents listed. She was born in St. Stephen Bern, Switzerland in 1816.
I have found some more Swiss Kohli family.
Just so I was keeping with open-minded frame of thought; I checked on the rest of DH’s Swiss side of the family. The previously mentioned Katherine Kohli married David Karlen. They had Louise Karlen b. 1853 in Bern, Switzerland, died 1901 Idaho, USA. There are no other siblings listed.
I checked up the Karlen line for any other non Swiss sounding names. On David Karlen's grandmothers line the Krammachers;3 grandmothers up is Magdalena Jaggi b. 1670. Jaggi is a very common Indian name.
So I thought why not, I will check Louise Karlen’s husband’s family Kunz. On the Kunz side of the family way back I find a whole lot of Kohli’s. Johannes Kohli b. 1578; Johannes Kohli 1604; Benedicht Kohli b. 1645; Johannes 1696; Susanna Kohli b. 1719. Susanna married Jakob Ludwig Mani. I wonder about that name so I check and find Tibetan and India roots. Tibet is next to Northern India so this makes sense. The Mani line goes back to 1732. I can see that there are cousins marrying cousins especially with the Manis. SO I would bet that there is a connection between the two Kohli families.
Also Indians have been emigrating from India to Europe since the last 1400’s beginning with the Portuguese and later the British. This really is very possible. That and DH’s DNA Tribes test. The India lines are WAY dominate in his test. Email me at thebriscoes at Comcast dot net if you would like to discuss this further.
Joanna