October 2000  Volume4   Issue 3

Birthdays Gossip/Klatsch (formerly Dies und Das) One More Kid Makes 71 Johannes Schwenk Rides Horse into Townhall Bailiff Adam Hilsenbeck's Grief With Pranksters Links Schwenk Reunion Just Nine Months Away!  Midi Music Mini Mall

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.) The number of Konrad's descendants within our group has grown by two; Jim Schwenk reports that his daughter Kathryn Schwenk Axtell of Sunnyvale, CA is three times a mother as of July 16th. She and husband David named this little baby girl Lauren Copland Axtell...Charleene Laur Soos of Niagara Falls wrote: Please update your file.  Renee Lindsay Lauer arrived July 10, 2000 at 11:55 pm in Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, Amherst, NY, daughter of Daniel and Heather Lauer...In mid-August, Olinda Haelen Corin and husband Gordon of near Olympia, WA visited Don Schwenk in Idaho on their way to visit her sister Maurla Haehlen White in the Washington D. C. area. To see their six-generation tree and kinship to Don, click here. Olinda and Don are descendants of immigrant siblings who emigrated from SW Germany between 1855 and 1867. This was the first face-to-face meeting of these 3rd cousins. And this all through the miracle of the Internet!...It is hard to keep track of all the travels of JoAnn Schwenk Carlson. Her most recent trip was a flight from St. Paul, MN to the Pacific Northwest. While there in mid-September she paid a visit to her Aunt Mabel Schwenk in Sedro Woolley, WA...Rodney Schwenk and wife Jacki of Boise, Idaho are expecting their first child in mid-October. And they have already given a name to the little guy...Richard Schwenk and son John recently returned from an 8-day trip to So. Holland and East Belgium (once part of Germany), the later where Richard's maternal ancestry has roots, and from whence in ca. 1852 a group of German-speaking families packed their belongings and headed for Western Wisconsin where they settled and began to till the soil. While there, they met a few of their distant cousins whom they had never met personally before. In October, Richard and wife Caring intend to settle in their home in Pasadena, CA after spending the past 43 years in SE Asia as missionaries...Gordon Schwenk of Boise wins yet another award for the 2nd Quarter for a color ad created in his job as graphics artist for U.S.West Communications, now going under the name of Quest...In August, Dieter and Irene Rehse of Laichingen traveled by train to Berlin where they spent time with his brother Friedemann Rehse und his wife Frauke...Gudrun Hilsenbeck near Neu Ulm, Germany and her companion Markus visited the Hannover 2000 Exhibition in September. And it is rumored they then flew to Singapore for a short stay. Or somewhere in that part of the world...Rudi Schönfeld, wife Rita and son Bastian  of Leutkirch, Germany were hosts to Rolf Denz of Charlotte, NC in September. Rolf's sister Lore is married to Karlheinz Schoenfeld of Wappingers Falls, NY...Peter Hayes of near Auburn, NY writes, "Work has been oppressively busy for me all summer. Lots of travel. Son Andrew just started as freshman at University of Rochester..."...Michael Rehse and Philip Ruopp, both of Laichingen, have been going on excursions. Michael to Spain and Italy; Philip to a small island off the western coast of Spain...  ...Who of you plan to attend the Schwenk Reunion in the Black Hills of South Dakota, June 27-28, 2001? Please let Jim Schwenk know!Approximately 25 Kids, together with families, have already indicated they will attend. Remember, all descendants of our Konrad Schwenk and their spouses are welcome - whether online or not. We are counting on each of you to inform your non-computer Schwenk kin of this upcoming reunion of Konrad's descendants! The Black Hills is a spectacular part of America to see, to experience. Spend a week or so there, and two days of that vacation time meeting and mingling with your blood kin. Click here for a really great map of the region..And also, don't forget to send us news pertaining to what is going on in your lives...See you next time.

One More Kid Makes 71

Friedemann Rehse is our newest Kid. He was born 1 Mar 1952 in Laichingen, the brother of Dieter and Jürgen. Friedemann, who lives in Berlin and works as a cameraman for a local TV station, recently came online. He is married and has one child.  Welcome aboard. To see a tree of his descent from Konrad click here.

 If you wish to see pictures of Konrad's Kids, click here. (238 K. This is a gallery of photos of most of the 71). And click here for a map showing the location of these Kids. Welcome aboard!

Johannes Schwenk Rides Horse into Townhall

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." The following two anecdotal stories originate from these books.

Johannes Schwenk was born 30 Jan 1792 in Laichingen, the son of Johannes Schwenk, weaver, and Anna Maria Stuhlinger. In the early 1800s, like so many young men in Laichingen and throughout old Wuerttenberg, he was inducted into the military for fight for, and later against Napoleon. He returned home a hero. In 1819, he married a local girl, Anna Catharina Mangold. Before he died in Laichingen on Oct 1, 1881, he had been the last surviving Veteran in Laichingen of the Napoleonic Wars. He was buried with great ceremony. And in a eulogy, the tale of one of Johannes' many pranks was told. One day sometime between 1824 and 1834, he rode his horse up the steps of the Rathaus, then further up the staircase to the third floor office of the-then honorable Schultheiss Johann Wörner who stood there speechless and astonished at the brash behavior of this former cavalryman. Unfortunately, the author G. Oelhafen does not relate the reason behind this incident. But he did say, that Johannes had pulled off many other practical jokes during his life in Laichingen.

Herr Oelhafen wrote nothing about Johannes' parentage, only of his year of birth and date of death. So like any curious Konrad's Kid, this writer then promptly went to the local LDS library to check the Laichingen microfilmed church records to see if Johannes was a descendant of our Konrad. Yes, indeed! If you want to see the descent tree leading down to our bold cousin Johannes, click here.

Bailiff Adam Hilsenbeck's Grief With Pranksters

Adam was born 21 Jan 1843 in Laichingen. He was, by the way, a distant cousin to most of us. His father was Johannes, a linen weaver like most of the male population in this community. Johannes had a part-time job as Polizeidiener for the community, that is, sort of like a small town constable with little authority. In 1871, Adam married a local girl, Elisabeth Schlenk. And in 1877, probably due to his father's connections in this town, he was hired as bailiff, again a part time job which paid very little.

His boss was Gottlob Wunsch, the Schultheiss in Laichingen from 1877 to 1905. A Schultheiss in those days was the most powerful man in a community. He was The Man. If you can imagine a political figure with the power of a mayor, a sheriff and a judge all rolled into one, that was the Schultheiss. The bailiff was at his bidding.

Adam lived in the southern edge of Laichingen, some 330 yards from the Rathaus where the Schultheiss resided. In order to speed things up when Herr Wunsch needed the services of the bailiff, a primitive kind of telegraph system was installed. This consisted of a wire strung from the Rathaus to the Hilsenbeck residence. The wire was guided through hooks and eyes attached to the house fronts, and leading finally to Adam's home. When the Schultheiss needed Adam, he pulled on a handle which tugged on the wire which ultimately rang a bell inside the home of the bailiff. That meant, "Bailiff, get on your duds. I need you NOW!"

Now kids will be kids. Who of us has not rung a doorbell as a child and then run for cover to watch the resident open the door to find no one at the doorstep. Kids in old Laichingen were no different. So you can imagine poor old Adam relaxing after a hard day running errands for Herr Wunsch, then hearing the bell ring and knowing he had no choice other than to run up to the Rathaus - at the same time knowing full well that just last night and the week before local pranksters had pulled the wire - not the Schultheiss. Can you not imagine poor old Adam saying, "Damn this new fangled technology!!!"
 

Links

http://www.terraserver.com/  Here you can find topographic maps and aerial photographs of places in the US. Check it out. Very interesting!
http://www.kbb.com/   This is Kelly Blue Book's Website. Here you can check on the retail and wholesale value of your car. 
http://www.laichingen.de/ This is Laichingen's official homepage. Check out what's happening in our "cradle community." In the German language, naturally. 
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.
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 Nine Months Away!

YES!  On Wednesday, 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 July 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.

Midi Music Mini Mall

Some Webpages contain hidden imbedded links to midi files. That is, soon after you open the page, music begins to play which is usually entertaining, but the visitor has no control over this. Here, we will give you the freedom of choice. If you choose, simply click on the links and adjust the volume according to your preferences. A tip: If a large window opens containing the midi file, simply minimize it so as to allow the continued reading of the newsletter while the music plays in the background. If that doesn't work, right click (Windows users) on the link, then select Open in New Window.
 

Email to Don

Email to Jim

Note to AOL users: If upon clicking those email links above you find the symbols %20 in front of the address, simply delete those symbols.