February 1999     Volume 2  Issue 11

Birthdays in February

10th:  Arlene Schwenk Pearson of Wheaton, IL celebrates her 28th.
12th:  Gregg Schwenk of Towanda, PA turns 30.
23rd:  Karl Schoenfeld of Wappinger Falls, NY celebrates his 62nd.

Milton Schwenk and wife Joann will spend Jan. 24 to Feb. 16 on the island of Maui... Christine Schwenk Moore and husband Richard continue with various projects of beautification of their home overlooking the north edge of Boise...Nikki Schwenk Cartney will travel to Chicago in Feb. to display her original porcelain doll creations at a doll show... Jim Schwenk and wife Mary escaped the wrath of winter in Wisconsin to spend two weeks in January visiting their two children in the Bay Area and visited Yosemite Natl. Park while there...Thilo Mangold of Laichigen turned 18 in January and became eligible for a drivers license. His nervous father, Jürgen, says, "Now we will have to buy him a car so he can be independant."...No new members this month :-(   ...Correction:Rudi Schönfeld did not turn 55 on Jan. 17th as reported last month, but rather celebrated his 53rd on Jan. 22nd. Your editorial staff is chagrined to learn that it reported data for his brother Bernd in Laichingen. Sorry about those extra two years Rudi!...Has everyone made an email folder in which to store past issues of the award-winning SchwenkNet electronic Newsletter?...Michael Rehse is the webmaster for the Jugendgemeinderat homepage in Laichingen. The URL: http://www.laichingen.de/jgr/index.htm  Jugendgemeinderat translates approximately to a junior city council and is comprised of 16 students elected by the students in the several schools in Laichingen...Want to learn more about the state of Idaho? Here is an interesting Web site:  http://www.webpak.net/~looksmrt/ibm/
 

Holiday in Miami
By Gerd Schwenk. (Translated by Don Schwenk)

In Laichingen in the middle of the Schwäbischen Alb, winter is often very cold and snowy. Especially in December of 1998. Therefore, we decided ( brothers Gerd and Jochen Schwenk) to spend January 1-12 1999 in Miami in the southern part of the Sunshine State of  Florida. We lodged in a hotel in South Beach and undertook several outings because we had a rental car at our disposal. Our hotel was located directly on the beach, and from our room we had a very beautiful view of the ocean. What is more lovely than after getting up in the morning to have a view of the ocean? The weather in Miami was very pleasant. We had mostly sunshine and often temperatures up to 80 degrees Farenheit. The evenings were also pleasantly warm.

One day, we drove to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. A visit there is highly recommended. Visitors are offered bus tours which stop at all the interesting places. I had been there three years earlier and was very surprised by changes which had occurred. A lot of commercialization has taken place! Now at all the bus stops there are gift and snackshops and a large merchandise shop at the visitor's center in which a lot of junk is for sale.

An another outing, we headed for Key West. We were disappointed on this trip that the roadway consisted of so few bridges! Based on travel brochures and the news media, we had thought  the largest stretch of this 120 miles  would travel over bridges. But in fact including the 7-Mile Bridge, only about 10-12 miles traveled over bridges. This excursion  really is worth taking. While there in Key West, we viewed one of its famous sunsets and took a picture from the southern-most point in this chain.

In another excursion, this time into the Everglades, we learned much about nature. We drove to the Shark Valley Visitor Center. From there, one can travel 20 miles in an open vehicle called the "Shark Valley Tram" into this national park. The tour was accompanied by a very good guide through which one gets a very good insight into the surrounding nature. While on this tour, one runs into many rare birds and also many alligators which are up to 8 feet in length.

Besides these excursions, we also saw in Miami the Tropical Garden, the Seaquarium and other sights worth seeing.

It was a very interesting time in Florida which passed by too quickly. I was constantly amazed by the low car prices and  very cheap gasoline. There, a gallon costs $1.10 and here where I live this costs - translated to US dollars - $3.50!

A Word from Uncle Don
 
 

The image you see is that of St. Alban Church in Laichingen. It is a water color painted by a local artist Werner Pöhler sent to me by Michael Schwenk, although this is a very small version of the original. Our earliest documented Schwenk ancestor was christened in this church as well all his descendants born in Laichingen. These include all nine of you online kin living in the Stuttgart-Ulm region and Karlheinz Schoenfeld of NY.  The structure to the left of the church tower now houses the Weaver's Museum. Originally it served as a warehouse and grainery for the church. I had the privilege of visiting St. Alban Church and the museum in 1996 as did Richard Schwenk the year before. At least three of you American cousins intend to do the same this year. I would urge you who have never been to Laichingen to do so one time in your life. It really is a special feeling you experience to witness the 1200 year old stone christening font near the alter of this church.

My Favorite Grandma
By Don Schwenk

She was born on May 26, 1749 in Laichingen and christened Anna Ursula after her maturnal grandmother. Her father was Andreas Ostertag, a farmer and councilman. Her mother was Anna Maria Mangold. Anna's mother was Anna Ursula Mangold born Schwenkbeck, the daughter of Georg Schwenk, the so-called founder of the Schwenkbeck Clan. He was the son of Andreas Schwenk b. 1641, the son of our common Stammvater Conrad Schwenk. She would have known her Grandma Anna Ursula, but I doubt very much if she knew of that Schwenk ancestry nor would have cared. Just surviving was difficult enough in those days let alone being interested in one's ancestry - which of course has pretty much been the case until very recent times.

We know nothing of her childhood. She did have two sisters and one brother who survived and married there in Laichingen. How she learned in 1771 that a Conrad Schwenk, a recently widowed linen weaver in Feldstetten, was looking for a wife, we'll never know. Conrad then was a councilman in Feldstetten and perhaps he knew  Andreas Ostertag. Conrad had married in 1731, but his wife could not bear children. In any event, Conrad and Anna Ursula became acquainted and married in Feldstetten on October 29, 1771.

This was not your ordinary marriage. Oh no! The groom was age 69; the bride 22.  Before the wedding, the Feldstetten pastor took the pains to counsel the young bride and her parents on exactly what she was getting into.  He then filled an entire page in the church marriage register describing the counseling session; he noted that the groom was childless and that he had sufficient assets to take care of the bride upon death.  And then he had the bride and groom sign this document and had the parents of the bride sign it as well.  This is the only time I have ever seen such a document in all the research I've done in this part of S. Germany!

Conrad was born in 1702 in Feldstetten, the son of Bernhard Schwenk. Bernhard was the son of Andreas, b. 1641, the son of Conrad 1601. Thus, Conrad and Anna Ursula were 2nd cousins twice removed. I am certain they were unaware of this kinship - not that it would have mattered.

On April 15, 1773, a baby boy was born to them. They named him Conrad. He is my ggg-grandfather and the one who in 1797 settled in Mundingen and became the local innkeeper and brewer.  In May of 1775, a baby girl was born who was christened Anna Maria. She died two years later. Conrad Sr. died two months after this baby girl was born.  Six months later, the widow Anna Ursula married a local fellow Jacob Hilsenbeck, a brewer and innkeeper. He was her age. They brought four children into the world. Only one survived infancy. Then in March of 1781, Jacob died suddenly of illness. Now the widow had little Conrad and a 3 year old Dorothea to take care of.  And so six months later (the required period of mourning in which one could not remarry), she married Jacob Hezler, another brewer/innkeeper from nearby Machtolsheim who then moved presumably to the Inn/residence left to her by Jacob Hilsenbeck.  They brought 3 babies into the world, one of which survived.  Then on July 20, 1789 while in childbirth, Anna Ursula passed away.

I have named her my favorite grandma mostly because of the extraordinary difference in age between her and Conrad Schwenk. I can't help being unendingly grateful to her for consenting to marry that old childless widower, for where would I be if she had turned down his offer?

Online Humor

Important Questions to Ponder
(forwarded by one of the Kids)

Editorial