Timeline

Our family history book by John Schmitz traces the family tree backward from Nicolaus Schmitz (who immigrated in 1867). Everyone of the people who came before Nicolaus on the chart, was born and died in Kell, Germany. I think it is unlikely that we can find out any more information about these ancestors than John Schmitz has been able to turn up. I also think we can assume that for several hundred years before our oldest ancestors, the information would be the same: born, lived, and died in Kell. Still, our family tree does go back as far as the mid-17th century, which is amazing to think about. I decided to create a little timeline that shows the years and some events against the lifespan of our ancestors. (double-click to see image full size)


The lines underneath the names approximate the life of the people named. A bar at either end means that their birthdate or date of death was recorded. An arrow means that it is unknown. It seems that from looking at this information we can see that if you lived to adulthood, you had a decent chance of living to old age. I think infant mortality had a lot to do with the low lifespan that pre-modern people were accorded.

The most common last names in our German family tree seems to be Meurer, Siebert/z, and Schmitz. The most common boys names are Peter, Johann, and Anton. The most common girls names are Anna, Maria, and Margaretha.

Helensburgh, Scotland

Since I posted a photograph of Kell, I thought I should add a photograph of Helensburgh, too. We've all been there, so we all know the town well, but I think it is interesting that the satellite easily picks up the sugar ship in the middle of the Clyde (look at the bottom of this picture).

By the way, note that you can double-click on images to see them larger in a separate window.

Kell, Germany

One of the extremely cool things about the Internet is being able to do things like find the town where our ancestors came from and see a satellite image (picture) of it. If you are looking for Kell on the map, first find the city of Koblenz in western Germany, then find the nearby town of Andernach, and then look for a small village west of Andernach. That's the birthplace of Johann Schmitz (great-grandfather), Nicolaus Schmitz, Anton, Michael, and probably generations upon generations before.

Mathilda's family

For some reason I have this picture saved on my computer at work, so I thought I'd post it. Grandma Schmitz (Mathilda Hemmesch) is the youngest girl in the family. I believe Aunt Margaret is the smallest standing girl, but Herb can correct me if that is not the case.

Tilly (as she was known) was born in 1895—before the first car or airplane. This photograph must have been taken around the year 1900.

The Herb #1 Son's Family Entry

Hi Fellow Bloggers, we are excited to be part of Clan Schmitz!

Photo from Gran's 90th Birthday

Mom and I were over in Scotland to celebrate Gran's 90th Birthday on November 9, 2007. The photo above is Gran at her party ready to blow out the candles with some help from Lewis and Emily! She got a bit teary eyed when the cake was brought out and "Happy Birthday" was sung.

I can only hope I'll look half as good at 90!

Suzy's Adventure in the Big Apple

Last week I had the opportunity to travel to Manhattan for work. I've been a few times before, and I never cease to be amazed by the blocks and blocks of skyscrapers. It makes downtown Minneapolis look like a small town by comparison!

I had an hour to find some cookies or sweets to bring to my meeting. You wouldn't think that it would be so difficult to find a good bakery in NYC, but I walked and walked until I finally found something. Back on the street with a box of treats under my arm, I had 15 minutes to walk the 8 blocks to the meeting. That's the when the breeze kicked up to gale-force winds and the drizzle turned into a driving rain. Juggling the bakery box, my laptop case, and my purse I managed to get my umbrella out of my bag, but still showed up at the meeting looking like a wet dog!