Birthplace of Max Schmittner

Max Schmittner 

 Born July 18, 1879 ~ Died 1945

Mom always thought Max was born in Freilassing, Bavaria, Germany because family members referred to him as "being from Freilassing." Now we know that "being from" and "being born" can be very different places.

We discovered Max's birth city when we came upon his World War 1 military record. It revealed that he was born in Feichten, Muhldorf, Toging am Inn in Bayern (Bavaria). At some point in time, Max and his mother Anna must have moved from Toging to Freilassing.

According to these military records Max Was born to Simon Boxhammer and Anna Schmittner. So far, we have been unable to locate any additional information on Max's parents. We do believe that Anna is from the area, as we can find numerous Schmittner records dating way back, but do not know the name of her father to verify these records as of yet. As for Simon, he is a mystery. Apparently, they were not married and the Boxhammer name does not return any records when doing a genealogy search.

Toging am Inn is a town located on the Inn River in the Muhldorf district in Upper Oberbayen, Bavaria, Germany. This area is not known for the many Medieval castles that can be found in other parts of Germany. Today it is a small town of approximately 9,000 people, and is known as a fun festival town with many street markets. 

I was able to find an old postcard photo of Toging, but am not sure what year this was taken.

Map of the city layout 

Max and his wife Babette Hillermeier raised their family in the City of Ochsenfurt, Bavaria, Germany. In the photo below from left to right are: daughter-in-laws Centa and Barbel, daughter Rosa, Babette, Max holding granddaughter Hildegard Centa Grunewald (Rosa's youngest daughter). Front row from left to right is Erna and Eleanor 'Lore' Grunewald (Rosa's 2 oldest daughters) 

A second World War 1 military record revealed the names of Max's parents. His mother's name is Anna geb. Schmittner Felben. Anna eventually married a man named Lorenz Felber who was a landlord. According to the same record his father's name is Simon Boxhammer (Boschhammer). We were not expecting to find this information, but records do reveal secrets. Unfortunately, the record did not reveal where Simon was born or lived.  

Max's granddaughter - Hildegard Centa Grunewald Grinnell - described him as a very patient and mild-mannered gentleman. Very kind and big-hearted.

Max Schmittner and Babette Hillermeier

Max Schmittner 

Max  who was born in Feichten, Toging Am Inn, Bavaria traveled to St. Petersburg Russia to learn the art of brewing beer. He worked as a brewmaster for the Oechsner Company in Ochsenfurt. 

and

Barbara 'Babette" Hillermeier 

Babette worked as a seamstress

who was born in Wallmersbach, Uffenheim, Bavaria married on February 25, 1906 in Ochsenfurt, Bavaria, Germany. 

Max was 26 and Babette was 33.  Babette was the widow Seiler and had 5 children when Max married her. Together they had the following 4 children:

1. Rosa Schmittner (our line)

Born April 13, 1907
Died - February 18, 1985

2. Max Schmittner

Born - August 1, 1908
Died - ?

3. Arthur Schmittner
Born - ?
Died - 1970

4. Otto Schmittner

They were married for 28 years before Babette died.

They resided on Badgasse (near the new city hall) in Ochsenfurt

Rosa Grunewald geb. Schmittner

Rosa Grunewald geb. Schmittner 1907-1985 of Ochsenfurt was the wife of Franz Xaver Grunewald and the daughter of Max and Babette Schmittner geb. Hillermeier.

Rosa in the 1980's. She always had a saying or quote to go with every situation, and some old  superstitions that I'm sure were handed down in her childhood. She was jealous of second wives because their husbands treated them like a princess and she would always say that "second wives have golden asses." When she saw an attractive man with a less than attractive wife her response was that "all cats look the same after dark." Her eldest son, Franz was a jokester and liked aggravating her to which she could not respond because she was laughing so hard that it brought tears to her eyes.  

Rosa (4th from the right) was a member of the Bavarian Dance Club

In her youth, Rosa, was involved in athletics, specifically the high jumping event. She excelled at it and won many competitions.

Certificate awarded to Rosa for winning high-jump competitions.

Rosa (located back left) excelled at the sport of high jumping in 1922 at the age of 15.

Photo taken of  Rosa (located on bottom row on the right) at a Bavarian high jumping championship in the early 1920's. She is the one with a white bow in her hair. 

Throughout my childhood we traveled to Germany 3 times to visit Oma and Opa and the rest of the family. Though we did not speak the same language, and I did not know her well, she was always smiling and very happy when we enjoyed the German food. She also would get very teary-eyed when we left. 

Rosa holding her granddaughter Sabine Grunewald

Rosa died in 1985 from complications of diabetes and heart failure.