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.

A Direct Line of 10 Generations of Grunewald Men

A German genealogist has traced the Grunewald line back 7 generations in Frickenhausen am Main in Germany to the year of approximately 1693. If we include the 3 generations that live in the United States since 1959, it is a continuous male line for 10 generations.

Grunewald Line

1 -           Sebastien Grunewald

                Born About 1693 – Frickenhausen, Germany

2 -           Johann Adam Grunewald

                Born  About 1718 – Frickenhausen, Germany

                Occupation: Fisher

3 -           Georg Grunewald

                Born - 10/13/1743 – Frickenhausen, Germany

                Died – 5/23/1820 – Frickenhausen, Germany

                Occupation: Skipper

4 -           Wendelin Grunewald

                Born – 3/8/1790 – Frickenhausen, Germany

                Died – 11/2/1842 – Frickenhausen, Germany

                Occupation: Tailor

5 -           Wendelin Georg Grunewald

                Born -  8/12/1823 – Frickenhausen, Germany

                Died – 4/10/1884 – Frickenhausen, Germany

                Occupation: Paver            

           

6 -           Wendelin Grunewald

                Born – 9/13/1871 – Frickenhausen, Germany

                Died – 3/1933 – Frickenhausen Germany

                Occupation: Stone mason, police chief/town clerk/mayor

7 -           Franz Xaver Grunewald

                Born - 2/8/1903 – Frickenhausen, Germany

                Died – 10/23/1985 – Ochsenfurt, Germany

                Occupation: Foreman commercial buildings, city councilman, organizer of the local Socialist Democratic Party & local worker's union. 

8 -           Rudolf Otto Wendelin Grunewald

                Born – 11/5/1940 – Ochsenfurt, Germany

                *Immigrated to the United States (Florida) in 1959

                Occupation: Supervisor of custom built homes

9 –          James Robert Grunewald

                Born – 12/15/1968 – Eustis, Florida

                Occupation: United Parcel Service Delivery Driver

10 -         Jackson Gregory Grunewald

                Born – 5/4/2007 – Leesburg, Florida

                               

               

                

The Grunewalds of Frickenhausen

With the help of a genealogist, we have been able to trace 7 generations of Grunewalds to the 1680's in Frickenhausen am Main.

Frickenhausen is one of the oldest villages in Mainfranken. It is small,. but has been maintained beautifully. During our travels there this summer we took lots of photos of the village, including the home of Wendelin and Maria (Mandel) Grunewald (Franz X. Grunewald's childhood home). This house may have been home to several Grunewald generations.

The Grunewald home is located on Zehntgasse which translates to "10th
Street."

 This is a view looking down the lane to their home. 

We are making an assumption that the front part of the home was not part of the original structure. Our assumption is based on the shape of the homes in this area. They usually are a perfect square with a pitched roof.  

Perhaps this entire front section was added sometime later.

It is possible that several generations of Grunewalds lived in this home over time.

  Let's enter the village of Frickenhausen and take a look around.

This is the Catholic church that our Grunewald ancestors would have attended.

The gates to the cemetery where our ancestors were once buried.

A portion of the wall surrounding the village.

It must have been refurbished in 1958 because it was surely built in the middle ages.

The Main (pronounced 'mine') River

On the entry wall into the village they carve the height of the river for various years.