The following information is from Ann Parsons Schwab's genealogical site: "Schwab Family History"
Our Schwab history is firmly rooted in the county of Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis, in Baden- Wuerttemberg, Germany. Many of our family members who are now young adults can count back 14 generations to our earliest known Schwab ancestor in the village of Hirschlanden. Between the years 1648 and 1880, our Schwab ancestors lived in three lovely villages--Hirschlanden, Sulzbach, and Grosseicholzheim. Hopefully you will enjoy a bit of the beauty and history of the villages, and see a glimpse of the Hand of God as He has guided and preserved our family.
In October 1880, Karl Ludwig and Susanna Brenkmann Schwaab arrived at the Port of New York as emigrants to the U.S.A. They had left their home in Grosseicholzheim, Baden, Germany for a new start in Coffey County, Kansas. As members of the Apostolic Christian Church, they longed for the religious freedom that living in America promised. With Karl and Susanna was Karl's elderly father, Georg Adam, sister Lissette, and their children, Charles, Edward, Elise, August, and Rudolf. They settled north of Gridley amidst a thriving group of Apostolic Christian families which included Susanna's parents and siblings, the Brenkmanns. They lived full, productive lives of faith on the Kansas plains. Today their descendants make their homes in many states across the United States of America.
Let this be written for a future generation,
that a people not yet created may praise the Lord.
Psalm 102:18
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Map Source: enwikivoyage.org
Sulzbach is a pretty village near Mosbach, the county seat of Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis. Here the homes and barns sit proudly along the main street, grand and ancient in appearance. Andreas Schwab came to Sulzbach from Hirschlanden in 1737, and married Maria Magdalena Faulhaber. In 1742, the Schwabs helped to form a small Lutheran congregation in Sulzbach; prior to this, Sulzbach had only Reformed and Catholic faiths. Many of our ancestors, in addition to the Schwabs, were natives of Sulzbach. Sulzbach is incorporated into the nearby town of Billigheim. Source: (A. Schwab, Schwab Family History, 2001)
Georg Adam Schwaab came to Grosseicholzheim from Sulzbach. In 1832 he married Maria Elisabetha Krieg in the Evangelical Church. Many of Maria Elisabetha's paternal ancestors had lived in Grosseicholzheim since the 1650's--however, her mother had fled to Grosseicholzheim from the Rhein Pfalz during the French Revolution. In 1842 Karl Ludwig Schwaab was born to Georg Adam and Maria Elisabetha. Karl Ludwig became a wagonmaker like his father. At some time prior to Karl's marriage to Susanna Brenkmann in 1868, the Schwaabs became members of the Apostolic Christian Church; in their German homeland they were referred to as "Neutaufers". Source: (A. Schwab, Schwab Family History, 2001)
Grosseicholzheim's main street. Source: (A. Schwab, Schwab Family History, 2001)
Amerique- steamship that Karl & Susanna (Brenkmann) Schwaab & family, including Charles L. Schwab, took to America from Germany.
Grosseicholzheim's main street. Source: (A. Schwab, Schwab Family History, 2001)
Photograph taken in Germany.