Truth
Matters
Kirchen & Kuchen - Places & Traditions
Bridging the River of Time
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Most of us, especially in North America, have very little in common with our Schmitt ancestors. Few of us speak German, and two hundred years of technologic and cultural change have swept away most of the remainder of the our ancestors' way of life. Despite this, there are rare cultural markers of the Schmitts' life in 18th century Alsace and 19th century America that have come down to us with, in some cases, little change.
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Churches hold special interest for family historians as (1) sources of genealogic data, (2) places important to our ancestors that may still be visited and (3) cultural markers that suggest how our ancestors viewed the world and who they associated with.
Church affiliation can be helpful to genealogists, especially in communities where the Schmitt/Schmidt name is common. Most Hatten descendants attended German Protestant churches, both Lutheran and other German sects, and this cultural marker can be helpful in guiding the genealogist's research. In addition, many churches attended by or even founded by Schmitts in the 19th century still exist, and some still hold records of significant genealogic interest to Schmitt family historians.
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Kirchen (churches)
The power of place
My father grew up only a block away from where Friederich Schmitt (1800-1880) built his log cabin in 1834, and many of Friederich's descendants still live in Central Ohio. It's fascinating to think we live where we do, partly because a Schmitt decided to settle there almost 200 ago.
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Or maybe your ancestor was one of the Schmitts who continued to move farther and farther west as the country expanded, and this helped determine where you live now. Even if neither of these is the case, you may be interested in visiting sites of significance in Schmitt family history - churches and cemeteries perhaps, and other kinds of places as well.
One of the most unusual of these is the Schmidt Maple Woods in Wisconsin. This 100 acre woods was the childhood home of Margaret Schmidt Bergseng (1908-1995), a member of a highly accomplished family of naturalists. After her mother and brother were killed in a house fire, she donated the land to the state as a nature preserve, and placed a plaque at the site of the original farmhouse. This undeveloped land is still open to the public. You can find more information in our Atlas.
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About our Family Atlas
Our Atlas shows places important to the Schmitt family, with links to Google Maps. Many of them also have a link to additional information. There are three types of entries:
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Churches
Founded or attended by Schmitts of Hatten prior to 1910
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Cemeteries
Where Schmitt ancestors are buried
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Other sites
Connected to Schmitt family history
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Note: The list can be sorted by any column. Sub refers to the Submitter listed by number in our List of Contributors.
Kuchen (cakes)
A second link to the early Schmitts is the baking and eating of certain foods, especially the picture cookies known as springerles (pronounced "springerlees"), also sometimes called "anise cakes."
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Having long thought of these cookies as "German," our family was surprised to meet present-day Germans who had little or no knowledge of springerles. Turns out that the cookie is rather specific to southwest Germany, Alsace (across the Rhine River in present-day France), and northern Switzerland.
Now I admit to being a member of the "Cult of Springerles" (yup, all those little pictures have secret meanings known only to us...) eager to recruit more cult members, so you'll find on my Springerle Page enough information to begin or perhaps expand your springerle habit.
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Not long ago we were fortunate to receive two apparently authentic Old World recipes from another Hatten descendant; remarkably, one of these is called "Hatten bread." Perhaps you also have a recipe that has come down from historic Alsace through Schmitt descendants. Or maybe you have some other family tradition that you've been told came from Alsace or southern Germany.
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Our recipe box has recipes and traditions believed to have come down from Schmitt or other Alsatian ancestors.
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Beyond springerles
Can you contribute a place to our Family Atlas, or a recipe to our Recipe Box?
Check out our Contact Page for information
and submission forms.