Many Schmidts from Machtlos, Germany left behind family, friends, jobs, and everything they knew when they ventured to a foreign land with a different culture and a different language. Driven by a belief in the American Dream, these Schmidts sought and achieved opportunity, freedom, and prosperity. No doubt they would have celebrated the Fourth of […]
The Schmidts of West Bend, Iowa will dominate the record-breaking 2016 Schmidt Reunion in Spencer, Iowa. Yet, of all the places that the Schmidt immigrants from Machtlos, Germany could have settled in, why did they choose West Bend, Iowa? Hessian Troops in British Pay in the US War of Independence, by C. Ziegler, 1799 (Wikimedia commons) The […]
The Schmidt family of Machtlos began with Hans Heinrich Schmidt and Barbara (Rimbach) Schmidt, who lived in the latter 1600s and early 1700s. The branches of the Machtlos Schmidt family who settled in America, however, exist because of Hans Heinrich’s great great grandson: Dietrich Schmidt. Dietrich Schmidt baptism record, 6 April 1803, Machtlos Dietrich Schmidt was […]
If you want to have a conversation about Henry John Schmidt of West Bend, Iowa, you had better be careful. There were, in fact, 3 Henry Johns in the Schmidt family of that town, who all lived at the same time, and were all related to one another. All 3 even used the nickname “Heiney,” […]
With sadness we report that our cousin, Mary Jane (Jergens) Hanselman (1935-2015), has passed away. Jane was born on April 9th, 1935, the daughter of Howard and Emaline (Walsh) Jergens. She married Richard Harvey Hanselman on October 24th, 1959. He preceded her in death earlier this year. Jane and Richard had four children: Patricia (Mrs. […]