The Schmidts of Hartfeld, Galicia

Here are my great grandmother Elizabeth Eberwein Schmidt and great grandfather Wilhelm Schmidt standing in front of their house on Bridge Street in Medicine Hat. This little house has been pointed out to me many times while growing up. It is easily recognizable by the distinctive white clapboard and location adjacent to an automobile repair shop.

So, when I was touring family history sites with my Dad this summer, imagine our surprise when we could not find the house. We navigated by urban rockpile, of course, not thinking about the name of the street but not concerned at all that we would not be able to easily reach our destination. "I just saw it last year," I say, remembering the drive past the house after a family trip to the Medalta site. After driving up and down the street several times without success, we were left scratching our heads (as dad would say). Where the heck did it go?

Then we realized it was there - but now clad in beige stucco! I guess it's considered an upgrade?

Four generations in Hartfeld, Galicia

The scant family history I had written down about the Schmidts indicated that Wilhelm was born in "Limbruck, Poland". But when Wilhelm immigrated to Canada with Elizabeth and their eight daughters, he listed his place of birth as Hartfeld. Schmidt is such a common name, I honestly didn't think I would get anywhere with searching for this family history.  

But, thanks to researcher Manfred Daum (again!), I believe Wilhelm's birth may have been registered in Lemberg, aka Lviv, the capital city in a territory known as Galicia (part of which is present-day Ukraine). This would be consistent with Daum's research that places Wilhelm and the previous four generations of our Schmidt family in the nearby German Protestant colony of Hartfeld, Galicia. 

Johan Schmidt and Barbara Huber

Wilhelm's parents were Johann Schmidt and Barbara Huber. I have an amazing original photo of these two. The back of it reads, "1928", the year Wilhelm left for Canada.

Johann was born in 1852 and Barbara in 1859, both in Hartfeld. They married and lived in house number 114 there. 

Four children were born between 1879 and 1885. Shockingly, in the span of 10 days in August, 1886 three of the four children were dead. The cause of death is listed as "Braune" which translates literally to "tan" or "brown". It means diphtheria, a bacterial infection that spreads much the same way that COVID-19 does today. Diphtheria was once one of the major causes of death of children but, yay for vaccines, immunization has virtually eliminated the disease in countries like Canada that began to immunize for this in the 1930s.

Wilhelm was born the year after this, in 1887. At least three siblings were born after that, including Johann (John) who came to Manyberries, Alberta and married Wilhelm's sister-in-law Maria Eberwein.

Other Schmidt family in Canada?

While I don't believe that Johann and Barbara emigrated to Canada, at least one of Johan's brothers (Adam, his wife Christina Klee and their baby Wilhelm) appears to have come in 1892 and settled in Winnipeg. I had not heard anything before about this branch of the family.

I also have seen a photo of someone my mom labelled as "Leopold Schmidt", supposedly a brother to our Wilhelm. Leopold is said to have lived in Germany and so he may have been part of resettlement from Russia after World War II.

Back up the line of Schmidts in Hartfeld is Johann's father Jakob (b. 1823) and his mother Helena Magadalena Vetter (b. 1826); and,  Jakob Sr. (b. 1791-ish) and his wife Maria Margaretha Katharina Johanna Anna Rollauer (b. 1791-ish). Jakob Sr. wins the prize for longevity, dying of "old age" at about 86 years! Wow!  His wife Maria wins the prize for most given names... Maybe she was royalty, ha, ha.

Schmidts in Czech Republic

The furthest back the Daum research from Hartfeld goes is Jakob Sr.'s parents, Kaspar Schmidt (b. 1753-ish) and Elisabetha Margaretha Schwenk (b. 1753-ish).  Kaspar was born in the Bohemian area of Hluboká nad Vltavou, Czech Republic (known as Frauenberg in German) and moved to Hartfeld by 1791. Kaspar's birth place is the site of the famous 11-tower Hluboká nad Vltavou Chateau, whose history dates from the 13th century.

And so, I will leave this high-level tour of the Schmidt family for now. I have more information, many more questions, and much more work ahead of me!

Further Reading:

Diphtheria immunization in Canada

Lemberg/Lviv

German Protestant colony of Hartfeld, Galicia

Hluboká nad Vltavou, Czech Republic

Hluboká nad Vltavou Chateau

Happy Thanksgiving, Grandma! - Catherine Anne Schile

Holidays are traditional times for families to gather and see one another. My dad explains that as he and his siblings grew up, married and had families of their own, getting together for all the holidays got tricky with travel and in-laws pulling people in different directions. So, each year for at least a couple of decades, grandma Catherine (Schile) hosted Thanksgiving as her time to see all of us together. 

Since this weekend is Thanksgiving, this blog post is for you, Grandma! 

Catherine Anne (Schile) Schlachter

Catherine Schile was the fifth child of nine, born April 22, 1913 to Andrew and Elizabeth (Roth) Schile. She was born on the family homestead north of Foremost. I grew up on a farm south of Bow Island not that far from Foremost but, amazingly, I did not know that Grandma's house was standing there all that time. In fact, it's still there, and this year I went to see it.

Andreas and Elizabeth Schile Homestead NW-18-7-11-W4

I was able to spend a few days with my Dad this past summer, to focus specifically on family history, and we took a full day to drive around in the country. We visited lots of places that are very familiar to me, because it is "home". But then he showed me the house that his mother was born and grew up in. I took this picture from the road, but I wanted to get closer. It was a super hot day on the prairie and, though I was wearing my high rubber boots to guard against rattlesnakes, both Dad and I thought that it would be unwise to walk that far through the rustling wheat. So I will come back another day to get a better feel for the place. I'm still gob smacked that I didn't know this house was there.

Remainder School SE-6-7-11-W4

Catherine attended Remainder School, so-named because it was the last school district in the area to be organized. It was, literally, the remainder. There is Grandma, third from the left, in the second row. Her older brother Paul is sitting in the front row, second from the right. The photo caption indicates it was 1922 and so Catherine would have been eight or nine years old when this was taken. She completed grade eight and, at age 15, her school days were done.

St. Joseph's Cemetery

Directly east of the homestead is St. Joseph's Cemetery. There used to be a church there but that is long gone. The cemetery itself is in the middle of a field because the road allowance is now farmed over with lentils. Fortunately, the day Dad and I visited, the lentils had been harvested low and so we were able to drive closer to the cemetery without risk of starting a fire from the hot car. The cemetery itself was surrounded by tall wheat. I mentioned the rubber boots and the rattle snakes, right? In this case, I was determined to get into that cemetery so I grabbed Dad's cane and swished it ahead of me as I walked, trying very hard to believe that all the rattles I heard were only the ripe wheat.  I made it to the short prairie grass and then, at least, I felt I would have a chance to hear any snake's advance warning.

In this cemetery is the grave of Elizabeth (Roth) Schile, Catherine's mother, who died in 1931 at age 50.

Iron grave markers are common among Germans from Russia and can be found in the Dakotas, as well as Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Each maker, usually a local blacksmith, had their own style and level of expertise. Some of these markers are elaborate and some of them are quite simple.

Marriage

Catherine married our Grandpa, Joseph Schlachter, February 9, 1932 in the church of St. Anthony at Granlea. Our family has a long history with this church, and I will be writing an upcoming blog post just about St. Anthony's.

Catherine and Joseph farmed two quarters of land at Granlea and raised seven children there. An infant son, Joseph, is buried at St. Anthony's cemetery.

Catherine and Joseph semi-retired to Bow Island in 1966, the year I was born. So I only remember them living there. Grandma would always welcome me to her round kitchen table with a cold glass of apple juice and the Serenity Prayer looming down from the wall. She was an avid reader and a homebody. I can still taste her apple pie, the crust so flaky. Grandpa would be tinkering with something in the garage or sitting in his easy chair listening to honky tonk piano with headphones on (he was deaf but, if the volume was up way-loud, he could hear the beat). When I slept overnight there in the living room, they would wrap the family clock in a blanket to dull the ticking.

Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa's

The Schlachter families gathered en masse once a year, for Thanksgiving, at that little house in Bow Island. 

This tradition carried on as the extended family grew larger and the house, mysteriously, still seemed to hold everyone. Part of the reason why it held everyone is that all of us kids, the cousins, were outside playing "kick the can" and drinking the case of multi-flavoured Pic-a-Pop that Grandpa bought for us each year. Later on, we'd go down in the basement and listen to the older cousins tell ghost stories or hover around the uncles while they played "smear". The women, of course, were in the kitchen. Every cousin has their own version of what went on at Thanksgiving and I have very fond memories of those times together at Grandpa and Grandma's.

Grandpa passed away in 1984 and Grandma moved to Medicine Hat, living there until her passing in 2010 at 97 years of age.

Family history and photos are collected from various sources, including:

• Jackie Doran scanned collection
• Shortgrass Country - A History of Foremost and Nemiskam
• Ancestry.ca homestead records