June 27-28, 2001
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Birthdays Gossip/Klatsch (formerly Dies und Das) Hats off to Gerd Schwenk Four New Kids Make 70 German Settlement Reunion in Wisconsin Links Schwenk Reunion Just One Year Away! Swabia 2000, a Travel Report |
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| Birthdays
For Birthday List for Konrad's
Kids, click on cake > |
Gossip/Klatsch
(formerly Dies und Das)  up
stuff.
(Editors' note: The underlined persons are Konrad's Kids.) Charleene Laur Soos of Niagara Falls wrote, "Thought you might
want to include something about my son, Doug Lauer, in your next
newsletter. Here's the on-line address for an article on him -->>
http://www.transporttopics.com/members/topNews/0004680.html.
As you can probably gather, he received ANOTHER award and has taken another
position at the same company. Also, waiting for new grandchild.
She is due to arrive July 8 to my son, Dan, and his wife but we
expect her to arrive early. I'll keep you posted." ...Milton Schwenk
of Yakima, Washington recently traveled with his sons Kyle and Kevin
to Seattle where they saw their team, the Seattle Mariners, play the Baltimore
Orioles. Here is a really neat photograph of father
and sons. (Kyle on the right side). Milton and wife Joann also recently
attended his 50th high school class reunion in nearby Sunnyside...In June,
Uli
Schwenk of Muensingen, Germany took 3rd place in the nationional glider
plane championship competition of Germany. In 1998, he won 1st place in
the European competition and in 1995 2nd place in the World championship
competition held in New Zealand....Here are three young Kids with
promising futures: Philip Ruopp of Laichingen, age 18, is studying
to become a photographer in journalism. Does free lance work for the local
newspaper, Swäbische Zeitung. Michael Rehse, age 19 and also
of Laichingen, has many interests including history, archaelogy, writing,
computing. He writes articles part time for a competing newspaper, the
SüdWest Presse. He has not yet chosen a career. Bastian Schoenfeld
of Leutkirch, Germany at age 19 is studying languages at a language acadamie
in Riedlingen. He wants to become a professional interpreter. He loves
America and has traveled there three times...Speaking of newspaper articles
- for a reporter to get all the facts straight during a brief interview,
is not all that easy, especially when three or four other people are throwing
in their two bits worth during the interview. That was the situation when
Martin Geist, an editor for the S. Zeitung, interviewed Don Schwenk
at the Dieter Rehse home on June 8th last. First a little background.
Dieter's mother is Maria Schwenk Rehse, the sister of Heinrich Schwenk
(the father of Michael Schwenk). When the article appeared two days
later, it was indicated that through Don's extensive family history research,
he had determined that Dieter has kinship ties to the Schwenk Clan in Laichingen.
Dieter was quoted as saying, "Thanks to Don's research, I am now aware
of my Schwenk ancestry." |
Hats off to Gerd Schwenk
Back in 1958 G. Oelhafen, city archivist of Laichingen, self-published the first of three books on the history of Laichingen. These he entitled, "Beiträge zur Geschichte von Laichingen." Volumes II and III appeared in 1959 and 1964 respectively. Five years ago, I was fortunate to read volume III and gained much insight into the history of Laichigen and its people. While a guest in the home of Gerd Schwenk and his parents this month, his father Ernst brought out his copies of two of these volumes for me to see. He said they are no longer in print. Gerd then took it upon himself to locate the third volume through a friend, then went to a quick print shop. A few days later, he presented me with duplicates of all three volumes, but refused any compensation for his expenses. I told him there must be a way I can express my gratitude, but as of this moment I don't know how. Airline tickets to the Schwenk Reunion in the Black Hills next June? (Let's not go overboard here, Don).
I have yet to read all of the first two volumes. Perhaps in the following
months I will find material of interest to the readership, and will print
that in subsequent newsletters. Thank you once again Gerd, for this and
other kindnesses shown during my visit to Laichingen! 
Four New Kids Make 70
These four people were already documented as descendants of our Konrad, but it came to our recent attention that they are now connected to us through the Internet. First is Jürgen Rehse of Munich, Germany, born in 1956 in Laichingen, the brother of Dieter. Next is Holger Schwenk, born in 1958 in Laichingen, who practices law in that same community. His father is Karl, the brother of Heinrich - both of Laichingen. Hartmut Hilsenbeck, born in 1975, is a brother of Gudrun Hilsenbeck, and lives in or near Neu Ulm, Germany. Jerry Schwenk, born in 1938 in St. Paul, Minneasota, is the son of Earl, the son of Elmer, the son of Immigrant John Schwenk. If you wish to see pictures of these new Kids, click here. (238 K. This is a gallery of photos of most of the 70). And click here for a map showing the location of these Kids. Welcome aboard!
German Settlement Reunion in Wisconsin
By JoAnn Schwenk Carlson
On Saturday, June 17, 2000, a group of 160 people met at the Best Western Hudson House Inn for a reunion to honor the German Pioneers that came from Honsfeld, Malmedy, in present-day Eastern Belgium, to Hudson, Wisconsin in 1852 and settled east of Hudson in an area which came to be known as the " German Settlemen." Those attending were decendants of the families of : Bonnes, Yost/Jost, Mayer, Knott, Roehl, Rohl, Schwalen and Von Kuster. ( Richard, Jim, and JoAnn Schwenk Carlson are decendants of the Bonnes, Yost and Mayer families on their mother’s side).
After a noon lunch and program there was a bus tour of the German Settlement, stopping at farms of the original settlers and the German Settlement Cemetary. Richard Schwenk planned and organized this event with help from other family members. He also compiled a book for the reunion titled “Remembering Our Heritage”.
On Sunday, June 18, Richard, Jim, JoAnn and their families proceeded to Northern Wisconsin for an immediate family reunion at JoAnn Carlson’s cabin on North Twin Lake.
Links
http://www.dialpad.com/ is a site where you can download free software with which you can telephone people within the United States from pc to phone. These calls are free. No gimmicks. All you need is a simple microphone.
http://www.infospace.com/
Here you can locate phone numbers and addresses of people in many countries
of the world.
Type in Hilsenbeck for Germany and see what comes up!
This is a link received May 1 from a Hilsenbeck cousin. Take a look.
It is interesting. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/daughters000420.html
This has to do with a recent newsbroadcast on ABC News. This is what
it said in part:
April 21 — It may be the world’s largest known family tree. Researchers
from Oxford University in Oxford, England, have identified seven ancestral
matriarchal groups from which all Europeans appear to be descended. These
maternal clans form the root of a family tree that has sprouted millions
of individuals. Every European, according to the study, can trace his or
her evolutionary history back to the seven ancestral mother groups, also
referred to as the Seven Daughters of Eve.
http://www.thumbsplus.com/
will take you to the homepage of ThumbsPlus (Cerious Software, Inc). ThumbsPlus
is a remarkable image viewer and organizer program.
http://www.paintshoppro.com/
- This is where you can download as shareware an excellent image editing
program.
Schwenk Reunion Just One Year Away!
YES! On Wednsesday, June 27 and Thursday, June 28 Konrad's Kids
and other Schwenks off-line will be gathering at
the Sylvan Lake Lodge in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Hope you will be there! The Lodge is situated at the edge
of Custer State Park and is within easy driving distance to other scenic
areas of the Black Hills. Here is a chance for the
entire family to take a vacation and visit the area of Mt. Rushmore,
Crazy Horse Memorial, Wind Cave, The Badlands, etc. If you have yet
to venture "Out West", this will give you a great taste of what the
West is really all about! A great time for a Schwenk "gathering" and an
opportunity to meet other KK's that you have only seen or heard about online.
At the Sylvan Lake Lodge we will have the use of a dining and meeting
room so we can meet as a group. There are
also individual cabins for sleeping and rooms in the lodge, all at
reasonable rates for the summer season. For those
who love to camp or have an RV, there is also a campground nearby.
Sylvan Lake is a beautiful spot with clear water
for swimming. There is playground equipment for children and plenty
of hiking trails for the family to enjoy.
In January of this year, I contacted the manager of Sylvan Lake Lodge
and blocked out numerous lodge rooms,
sleeping cabins, and housekeeping cabins for the "Schwenk Family Reunion".
These accomodations will remain ours until the 1st of January
2001. After that date they will again be released and made available
to the public.
So far the plans are to rendezvous at Sylvan Lake Lodge on the forenoon
of Wednesday, June 27th and to carry over
our festivities to the following day, Thursday, June 28th. With this
in mind, Wednesday, June 27 would be the
night for you to book a reservation for the reunion.
Registration for the room or cabin will be up to you as a guest at
the Sylvan Lake Lodge. Just call 1-800-658-3530 and ask to reserve
a room or cabin and mention The Schwenk
Family Reunion room list. Information on the Lodge and
the area can also be obtained by calling that toll-free
number. I am offering this information so you can get a better perspective
in planning your visit to the Black Hills in
2001. Below is listed a description of the accommodations and
prices available:
Sleeping Cabins: 1 room Cabin, 2 queen size
beds with fireplace, 1-4 persons $105.00. (10 cabins blocked
for our use.)
Housekeeping Cabins : 3 rooms, full kitchen, 3 queen
beds, 2 sofa-sleepers, 1-10 persons $165.00 ( 4 cabins
blocked for our use)
Lodge Rooms: 1 room, queen size bed, 1-2 persons (No
A/C) $85.00 (4 rooms blocked out for our use.)
Lodge Rooms in the East Addition: 1 room, 2 queen
size beds , A/C 1-4 persons $120-130. (7 rooms blocked out for our
use) (Note that weather at this time of the year in the Black Hills should
be moderate and A/C may not be needed except for those that prefer it.
)
Since the May issue of the SNNL I have received a few responses to my
request at that time. Please let me know the
following information : 1. If you will attend
2. How many in your group 3. What kind of lodging you prefer.
Please continue to plan and let me know if you will be attending.
Your input will help both me and the committee schedule events. I will
continue to update you on reunion plans. Send responses or further questions
to me, Jim Schwenk, Chairman of the Schwenk Reunion 2001 at: jamesrschwenk@earthlink.net
(Note
to AOL users: If upon clicking this email link above, you find the symbols
%20 in front of the address, simply delete those symbols).
Here are two linked photographs which appeared in the last issue of
the SNNL: Sylvan Lake Lodge and
Sylvan
Lake. And here is a map of the entire
Black Hills Region.
Visit to Swabia May 25 - June
13, 2000
by Don Schwenk
Where is Swabia, some may ask? Very roughly speaking, it is the present-day state of Baden-Württemberg in SW Germany, the homeland of our Schwenk ancestry. I had visited there in June of 1996. Since then, I have found many distant relatives living in the region between Stuttgart and Ulm. Most of these are online. And so the main reason for this recent journey was to meet them face to face. Below is a summary taken from my diary. I have included a good number of photographs. Just click on the links to view them (indicated usually simply as photo).
Thursday May 25. 7 AM. Hailey to Salt Lake, City. Then to Atlanta, GA. Then direct to Stuttgart. Arrived 11 AM Friday. I was met by Uschi Gorzelany (photo) and friends Iris Kriks and Ralf who drove us to Kochstetten, a hamlet (wide spot in the road) SE of Stuttgart and the home of Uschi and her family. Her parents, Erich and Elizabeth, are farmers (photo). They raise swine, rabbits. Milk a herd of some 25 dairy cows. Have around 200 laying hens. Farm around 125 acres. Elizabeth bakes bread on Fridays and markets this, eggs and egg noodles every Saturday at the nearby Münsingen market. Erich also owns a lot of farm machinery and does custom farm work such as baling hay silage. Elizabeth does the milking. The teenage children, Uschi 17, Uli 16, Isabell 12, all pitch in with chores. Jasmin, age 2, is the youngest child. I have never seen such a hard working family. And so loving and respectful to each other. Erich's mother Emma, age 78, lives with them and likewise puts in a hard day's work. Emma is my 4th cousin. Our common ancestor was Conrad Schwenk 1773-1867, the innkeeper/brewer in nearby Mundingen. I was their guest until Thursday June 1.
Saturday May 27. Dr. Rudolf Kiess and wife Pauline picked me up in Kochstetten. They live in Stuttgart. Spend some weekends in Mundingen. We drove down the nearby Lauter Valley. Rode a steam engine train a short distance to Unter Mochtental. Had lunch at The Hirsch in Mundingen where we chatted with the innkeeper, Heidi Rupp Ulmer, another distant cousin (through the Breymayer line). Later we strolled around this tiny village of some 300 souls. Visited my 4th cousins Otto Mayer and Frieda Beck Rehm (both through Schwenk) whom I had met in 1996. Frieda and husband Hans live in the same house built by Konrad Schwenk in about 1864, he the other son of my Conrad. That son stayed in Mundingen. All our Schwenk relatives in this area are descendants of him and wife Eva.
Sunday May 28. I walked up the hill to visit Cousin Gertrud Schwenk Walter and husband Karl. The locals call him the "Millionaire Farmer." He and Gertrud built a huge, modern milking barn one year ago. Ten cows come in. Are milked. Then are replaced by ten more. Just like in America's modern dairy farms. This type of operation is rare in Germany. What strikes the American visitor as strange is that cows are kept in stanchions all the time. And I mean all the time (but not in this modern barn of the Walter family!) (photo). They are fed freshly mown grass, among other feeds. Do not go out to pasture. Do not spend the day in a corral. That is the custom since 1840 in this part of Germany. Karl took me on a tour of his farm land. A powerful tornado, Lothar, hit this part of Europe near Christmas last year. Large amounts of the forest were downed by that storm. The forest land between Kochstetten and Granheim, a village some 2 kilometers east of there, is still in the hands of nobility, namely the Späth family. This ownership goes back to the 1400s.
In the afternoon, Karl Walter, Gertrud, Uschi, Isabell and I drove to Marbach on the Lauter River. This is a huge stables owned since the 1500s by the state. It is here where the finest stallions are raised. Magnificant. At 5 PM, we drove to nearby Ödenwaldstetten where we met Herbert Schwenk b. 1951, another 4th cousin of mine, and 1st cousin to Gertrud (photo). I did not know he existed until that day. His father was Wilhelm 1912 - 1972, the son of Anton Schwenk. Herbert brought out a photograph of his father (photo). He and others at the table said I look much like Wilhelm.
Monday May 29. Uschi and I to Ehingen, a city on the Danube some 8 miles east of the Gorzelany home. I drove the family VW Van (young people not eligible for drivers licenses until age 18 in Germany). We shopped. Then drove to Münsingen where she showed me the agricultural school which she attends. We then went to the Schwenk clothing stores in this small city. http://www.schwenk-mode.de/Seiten/wir.htm There I met Peter Schwenk, age 70, the father of Uli and Dieter, the current owners and operators of these stores. This clothing and textile business was founded by Peter's great-grandfather Gottlieb Heinrich Schwenk in 1843. You can revisit the Feb. Issue of the SN Newsletter to see how this line of Schwenks are related to us. Peter offered to pick me up the next morning in Kochstetten and take me to Mengen where sons Uli and Dieter were competing in the national sailplane glider championships.
That evening, Erich Gorzelany and I drove to nearby Dächingen where we met Kurt Efinger, a teacher and part time reporter for the Swäbische Zeitung, a regional daily newspaper. He had written an article about me during my 1996 visit to this area. He speaks English quite well. But in deference to Erich, we spoke mostly German. A nice fellow. About age 63.
Tuesday May 30. Peter Schwenk and I drove to Mengen, some 60 km. SSW of Kochstetten. Uli and Dieter and their families were camping in their travel trailer and waiting for clear skies (photo). Later, we walked to what they call the Briefing Room where I had some wurst and bread (how I love that stuff!). Afterwards, Uli showed me his glider. It has a wingspan of around 80 ft. Cockpit holds two persons. Small motor for emergencies.
It was such a pleasure to meet these warm and hospitable distant kin. Peter and I then headed back to the Gorzelany Farm. We stopped at the Heiligenkreuztal Monastery. Built in 1533. Reminescent of the architecture of the missions in California. Then to Zwiefalten, another former monastery.
Wednesday May 31. Up at 6. Raining lightly. Coffee. Bread, butter and wurst. Yummy. Uschi and I to the home of Erwin Schwenk, farmer in nearby Hayingen. I had known of him. Already in my tree. Born in 1938. Single. His sister Erika born in 1936 was there. 4th cousins (photo).
2 PM. Lore Schwenk Hettich, sister of Peter, picked me up in Kochstetten. We drove to Münsingen and had a long visit and a scrumptious evening meal at the home of her sister Ursel (photo),(photo). Ursel and husband, retired medical doctor Ulrich Wolf, live next door to Lore, a widow. They have a wonderful view of Münsingen, pop. around 7000. Ursel is keenly interested in their Schwenk family history. She showed me all the printouts of trees and email I had sent last year to Uli via the computer. Peter brought me home that evening.
Thursday June 1. 10 AM I said my goodbyes to the Gorzelany family and drove to Laichingen with Dieter and Irene Rehse. We had become friends two years earlier via email, but this was our first meeting. Dieter's mother is Maria Schwenk Rehse, a sister of Heinrich C. Schwenk. One of Irene's grandmothers was a Christine Schwenk. Both Dieter and Irene are descendants of our Konrad 1601 (see tree). Their son, Michael age 18, lives with them. Their fairly new home is located about 4 blocks south of the center of Laichingen. I lodged there until June 12th. As in Kochstetten, I was made to feel like a family member.
Each of them own a computer. Dieter and Irene's are in a small room on the ground floor. Thus, I was able to stay in electronic contact with some of you during my visit there. Dieter is the chief of police in Laichingen. Irene works at a local tax consultant's office. Both had taken a vacation because of my visit.
Friday June 2. Dieter and I drove to Gerd Schwenk's electronic store in L. This was our first face-to-face meeting. He is likewise a Konrad's Kid. More on him later. 11 AM, Dieter, Irene and I went to the Saturday Market in the center of L. Here you can buy all sorts of fresh produce. This is an every-Saturday-event for the locals. While there, we ran into Monika, daughter of Heinrich Schwenk as well as a brother and sister of Irene. Weather heavenly.
That afternoon, Heinrich, Dieter, Irene and I to Breitenstein, a lookout point some 20 miles west of L. The panorama from there is fantastic (photo). Countless clustered communities separated from each other by a few kilometers of cultivated fields and woods. So very different than in America. From that lookout point I could see Zell, a small community where I visited Heinz and Elsbeth Schwahn four years earlier, and where I would spend the night the day before my return to Idaho.
Saturday June 3. Dieter is a fitness freak. He jogs. He climbs mountains. This morning, he, Irene and I drove to the woods at the west edge of L. Dieter jogged. Irene (photo) and I strolled. The woods are owned by the city of Laichingen. For centuries. Wild pigs are confined within a large fenced area. Another such fenced area contains deer. Without these confinements, the gardens in Lachingen would be plundered.
Had Eiskaffe (ice cream in coffee) on the patio of Dieter's parents who live directly next door to them. Heinrich Schwenk joined us there. That evening, we were invited to a feast at the home of Hans and Heidi Schwenk. Rabbit was the main dish. Yummy! Hans is the brother of Ruth - Heinrich's wife. All blood kin. Ruth's sister Sigrid from Bremen was also there. Han's son Alexander, wife and two small children also in attendance (they live in the same building in a separate unit). I was asked an endless stream of questions about America, esp. by Hans and Alexander. It was a wonderful evening.
Sunday June 4. In the morning helped organize folders for graphics in Irene's computer. She loves ThumbsPlus. Throughout my visit, we worked together with Paint Shop Pro, the grapics editor which we both use. 10:30 she and I to the home of Heinrich and Ruth Schwenk for their traditional Sunday Morning Brunch (photo). Dieter had left early that morning for a mountain climbing exercize in Bavaria. After brunch, Michael Schwenk, son of Heinrich, presented a slide show. It was of the trip to Western United States last August (he, wife Maike and three others stayed two nights with me in Idaho). The photos were spectacular. Germans who have not been to America cannot comprehend such vast distances. Germany is about 600 miles north to south. When I tell them that I drive 700 miles to visit my mother, they simply gasp. They asked, "How far is the Black Hills from Idaho?" "About 1500 kilometers." Again, they gasp.
2:30 PM, Heinrich, Irene and I to Berghülen, a small village just SE of L. 900th year jubileum. Huge Tent. Brass band. Full of people enjoying beer, wurst, hard rolls, music. 7 PM, seven of us to the Albhof, a wonderful restaurant just south of L. Wienerschnitzel, Spätzle, bread and butter; life can't get better than this! Hans and Heidi were there. The next morning, they would be off to Greece for a 10 day vacation.
Monday June 5. Typical breakfast: fresh white bread, jams, butter, large assortment of cheeses and wursts, strong coffee (photo). 3:30 PM. Dieter and I to the Engel, a popular restaurant/inn in L. Owned and operated by Jacob Hilsenbeck and wife. She is closely related to Karlheinz Schoenfeld. Jakob is distantly related to me (Hilsenbeck). Jakob not particularly interested in his ancestry. Heinrich joined us there at 4:45. He is one of the greatest story tellers I know. He began reminesing about when the allies marched into Laichingen, May 1945. His father Konrad was never a member of the party. He was actually anti-Nazi (he refused to display the swastika flag on their house when Hitler passed through Laichingen in ca. 1938). An German officer approached Konrad in April of that year. Said that son Heinrich, then not quite 16, must enlist. Against the wishes of his father, Heinrich rode a bicycle to Münsingen - some 20 miles distant. There an officer called him a coward (for failing to enlist earlier?). Somehow, Heinrich slipped away. Rode back home. The war ended 4 weeks later. End of story.
Late that afternoon, Dieter showed me through the police headquarters. Met Horst Wurtz there who is a member of the local police force (photo). He is Dieter's first cousin (son of Ly, the late sister of Heinrich and Maria). Only eight men on the police force which serves Laichingen and a couple surrounding communities. Some 17,000 people. I was astounded. That evening, Gerd Schwenk visited at the Rehse home. And Also Rüdiger Schwenk, the son of Walter - Heinrich's brother.
Tuesday June 6. A thermos of hot coffee is always waiting for me. I am an early riser. My dear Cousin Irene makes coffee just before retiring the night before. Even if it might be midnight or later. Raining lightly. Fresh white bread from the Mangold bakery. Irene asked Herr Mangold for the recipe. She said I - his distant cousin from America - would not reveal this to anyone. No luck!
11 AM. Gerd Schwenk picked me up. Drove to his home where he lives with his parents, Ernst, age 63, and mother Doris (photo). Gerd has two brothers, neither of whom I had the opportunity to meet. Had a scrumptious lunch there. Ernst showed me two booklets written in 1958 of the history of Laichingen (see accompanying story in this newsletter). Ernst showed me albums of old family photos and pictures of Laichigen.
2 PM. Gerd took me to the home of Bernd Schoenfeld (photo). More on Bernd and siblings later.
Irene picked me up at 4:45 PM. At 6 PM, I had the chance to watch The Simpsons, my favorite adult cartoon show. I had looked forward to this just to experience how Homer, Bart, et al sound in German. A riot! However, 15 minutes sufficed in that this was a rerun. What else! This was the only television I watched during my entire stay in Swabia. That evening, Rüdiger (photo) as well as Heinrich showed up again. R. speaks some English. Dieter speaks English quite well. Irene and Heinrich do not. I conversed mostly in German during the entire trip. Only when I was alone with Dieter (photo) or other English-speaking persons, did I speak English. At first, this was a brain strain. But as time went on, it became less strenuous. With some people in a one-to-one conversation, I spoke English and they spoke German. That worked out well. And then there is the dialect, Schwäbish, spoken by all in this part of the world. That subject is complicated, and this is not the place for a discussion of it.
Wednesday June 7. 6:30 AM. Blue skies. 40º F. Crisp. 11 AM. Heinrich, Dieter, Irene and I to Heuneburg, an ancient fort and settlement of the Celtic People on the Danube (Donau) River by Hundersingen (photo). Founded ca. 600 BC. Remarkable! Large museum in Hundersingen. Lunch at local restaurant. On way back home, stopped at Friedrich's Höhle, the site of an ancient water-powered mill. A springs-fed stream comes out of a mountainside. Loads of large trout. For a price, you can have one served at your table. Talk about fresh fish! This was a very memorable day. Heinrich, in particular, made that same comment many times in the following days.
Thursday June 8. Noon. Markus Hilsenbeck from nearby Neu Ulm came to Rehse home (another Konrad's Kid). Age 24. College student (photo). Irene served lunch on the patio. Weather perfect once again. 3 PM. Martin Geist from the local newspaper, the Schwäbische Zeitung showed up - per appointment - for an interview with me. The article appeared two days later. Michael Rehse has a part time job writing for the SW-Presse, a competing daily newspaper. After Herr Geist left, Michael also took photos. His article then appeared also on Saturday. I scanned these. If anyone wishes a copy, send me email. And how did Martin Geist know I was in town? Through a phone call from Kurt Efinger of Dächingen.
5PM. Heinrich, Dieter, Irene and I to the town of Ruit near Stuttgart where Michael and Maike reside in a large, modern, lovely apartment complex. They served a wonderful dinner on the balcony. Michael now has the Schwenk Family Tree Maker file in his computer. I had brought the FTM Program CD with me from Idaho as well as the 10, 200 person file. Likewise for Dieter and Irene.
Friday June 9. To Monika (Schwenk) and Uli Ruopp's home for lunch. There I met their son Philip (also online). There home is one of the three residential units in the same building where Hans Schwenk and family reside. It was built some 150 years ago by Hans' great or great-grandfather Johannes Schwenk.
7:30 PM. Dieter, Irene, Dieter's mother and I walked to the home of Walter and Sigrid Schwenk. I had been there exactly four years earlier. This event was again a birthday celebration for Sigrid. This party was held outdoors in the backyard (photo). Lots of food and beverages. About 20 people present. Most I had already met. Holger Schwenk, son of Karl (brother to Walter and Heinrich), age 42, local attorney, was present. I met him for the first time this evening. Learned he just got online one week earlier. Another Kid joins the Klub! Also met for the first time Christine, wife of Rüdiger Schwenk. And all four of their small children.
Saturday June 10. 11:30 AM. Gudrun Hilsenbeck and her boyfriend Markus here (photo). She is a first cousin of Markus Hilsenbeck. Age 27. Works in genetic engineering in Ulm. Online.
2:00 PM. To the home of Bernd Schoenfeld where I was met by his brother Rudi from Leutkirch and his wife Rita and son Bastian. All online. Also present was their sister Sonja and her husband Al Ziemen from near Herrenberg south of Stuttgart - also online. And so now I have met all four Schoenfeld siblings in person (photo).
In the evening on the Rehse patio, Reinhard Breymayer phoned from his home near Tübingen. His aunt in Feldstetten had phoned him telling him of the S.Z. article about me. I had intended to get together with Reinhard during my visit, but it just didn't work out. He and I correspond often via email during the past two years. We both are very interested in our mutual Breymayer ancestry. --- Later that evening, Heinrich and Gerd again here for a visit.
Sunday June 11. In the morning to Gruorn, a village which no longer exists, the birthplace of Irene's father. In the late 1930s, Hitler ordered that this community and a large area of land around it become a military manuver area. The houses and church became artillery targets. In the 1960s, the church was restored. It and the brick schoolhouse are the only remaining buildings there. On one designated Sunday each year, people who have roots in Gruorn come to this place. This area is otherwise off limits to non-military persons. Dieter, Irene and I drove there this Sunday morning. Irene's brother Hans and sister Maria met us there. We walked to the place where their father was born and raised. Nothing left but some old fruit trees and the opening to the basement. Nostalgic. Sad. We later all had lunch at the Alpenhof restaurant.
4:30 PM. I went to the home of Elsie Breymayer Kirsamer, a documented Breymayer cousin. Her husband is Bernhard Kirsamer, retired mail carrier. They served a wonderful lunch (photo). She asked if I would trace a few generations of her husbands paternal ancestry in Laichingen and Feldstetten upon my return home. I did that and found that Bernhard is also a distant cousin through the Hilsenbeck line. And so is she. So here we have another couple who are distant blood kin, and didn't know it until Uncle Don did some detective work.
Monday June 12. To Heinrich and Ruth Schwenk's for brunch. Said farewell. At noon, Dieter and Irene took me to Zell unter Aichelberg to the home of Heinz Schwahn. We had stayed in touch since the death of his wife Elsbeth two years ago. I introduced Dieter and Irene to Heinz. Then we hugged, quickly said Aufwiedersehen before emotions had much of a chance to surface.
Heinz' two sisters were there visiting. We later - all four - drove to the ruins of an old castle, Reussenstein, far above a beautiful valley. The weather was perfect. Then we went to a nearby restaurant near the village of Schopfloch where we had a lovely evening meal. That evening, Heinz and I (photo) stayed up late sampling wine on his patio. Not bad! Heinz speaks English quite well, and so we conversed in English.
Tuesday June 13. Heinz drove
me to the Stuttgart Airport. Checked in. Had coffee and rolls. Said so
long. I departed via Delta Airlines at noon for Atlanta. Forgot my new,
gray colored sweater somewhere in the Atlanta Airport. Then to Salt Lake
City. Then to Hailey. Arrived at 9PM and was greeted by my good friend
Tom Farr. Sodele! (Schwäbisch for done!).
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Note to AOL users: If upon clicking those email links above you find
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You
can read that article (in German) in Markus Hilsenbeck's Website:
