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Kleinaspach Parish in Württemberg, Germany: Home of the Schmückle Family

compiled by John S. Schmeeckle

jonva325@yahoo.com revised June 2013

The Schmückle family came from Switzerland

The Schmückle family appeared in the Toggenburg Valley in St. Gallen Canton, Switzerland in

the early 15th

century.1 Schmückle records (with variant spellings of the name) appear in over 30

towns and parishes in the Toggenburg Valley. 2

This map of present-day St. Gallen Canton, Switzerland,

shows the Toggenburg Valley (with the Thur River) in pink.

1 Per the following Swiss website: http://www.zehnder-

vescoli.ch/stammbaum/faminfo.php?info=Schmuckli*30&f1=&f2=

2 The website in footnote #1 cites research by Alfons Schmückle, whose article “Die Schmucki und

Schmuckli im Toggenburg” was published in the Toggenburger Heimat-Jahrbuch (p. 122) in 1953.

2

This portion of a historical map of Switzerland3 shows St. Gallen canton in the upper left.

Above St. Gallen (at the top edge) is “Schwabia,” which is the general area of Württemberg.

Switzerland wasn’t directly affected by the 30 Years War (from 1618 to 1648). After the war,

many Swiss families emigrated and re-settled in areas of Germany that had been depopulated by

the war. This is presumably the origin of Martin Schmückle, the progenitor of the family in

Kleinaspach parish, Württemberg, who arrived in 1650, shortly after the end of the war.

3 The entire map can be found at

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Old_Swiss_Confederation.jpg

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Kleinaspach parish, Württemberg

In the 15th

Century, Germany (including Württemberg) was part of the Holy Roman Empire,

which included of hundreds of semi-independent little states and cities.

“The possessions of the Württemberg family, forming the part of Swabia bounded by the Black

Forest, the Palatinate and Baden, were raised in the Middle Ages to the status of a county by the

Emperor Maximilian-Conrad as a reward for services rendered on the field. In 1495 the Emperor

converted the county into a duchy and bestowed upon the new Duke of Württemberg the post of

Grand Master of the Royal Hunt. At one time this duchy was confiscated by Austria for the

benefit of Charles V’s brother, then restored to its ancient owners on condition that it would

always be considered a fief of the House of Habsburg. Finally in 1599 the feudal vassalage

ceased, but Duke Frederick pledged himself that in the event of escheat [failure of the male line

of descendants] the property should revert to the Imperial family.

“’The Duchy of Württemberg,’ writes Montesquieu, who visited it in 1729, ‘is a fine well-

rounded domain. A very beautiful and fertile land.’ And in truth, the territory was rich in

vineyards and forests and its agriculture prospered. Good pasture land, irrigated by the Neckar,

supported a number of cattle and horses. From its subsoil iron, copper and fine marble were

extracted. The burghers and peasants, grouped in seventy-two towns and four hundred hamlets,

were affable, bright and obliging, but according to d’Argens, ‘as a general rule an open mind was

not a Swabian characteristic.’

“Until the end of the seventeenth century Stuttgart, the capital, numbered 6,000 inhabitants (100

years later this figure had only risen to 22,000). It was still only a village. A brook ran through

the narrow streets, which were partially paved with rough pointed cobbles, and were thronged

with flocks of geese, herds of cows and sheep which the shepherds rounded up in the morning

with the sound of a horn, led to graze on the neighboring hills and brought back to their owners

at nightfall.”4

Martin Schmückle appears in Kleinaspach parish in the Duchy of Württemberg in 1650.5 However, Martin’s descendants in Kleinaspach

parish also descend from an earlier family in Kleinaspach parish, the Hammers of Allmersbach. (Martin’s grandson Abraham Schmücklin married

Anna Barbara Hammer.)

4 Adrien Fauchier-Magnan, Small German Courts in the Eighteenth Century, translated by Mervyn Savill

(London: Methuen & Co., 1958), pp. 125-26.

5 Per the Kleinaspach history.

4

This map shows Württemberg and its neighbors in 1648.6 Germany was divided

into hundreds of little or tiny states and enclaves (many of which aren’t shown on

this map). Some of these (in red on the map) were “free imperial cities” not

controlled by a Count or a Duke; they owed their allegiance directly to the Holy

Roman Emperor.

The thick blue line running north-south in the map is the Rhine River – the modern-

day boundary between Germany and France. But in 1648, most of the land west of

the Rhine (Alsace and Lorraine) was still German territory. Württemberg is north

of Switlzerland (“Schweiz” in this German map). The capital city, Stuttgart, is in

the center of the main block of territory, on the Neckar River. However,

Württemburg included several other pieces not connected to the main block,

including Mömpelgard (Montbéliard) toward the bottom left corner of the map.

6 Taken from a map of the Holy Roman Empire at

http://www.thebreman.org/exhibitions/online/1000kids/HRR_1648.png

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Kleinaspach is at the top edge of this map, to the right of the center. Stuttgart is in the

bottom left corner, and Backnang is 30 miles away in the top right corner. The Schmückle

family of Einod intermarried with the Haag and Stark families of Backnang parish.

Starting in the early 1700s, a branch of the Schmückle family (starting with Abraham

Schmücklin’s brother Jacob) lived in Backnang, and another branch of the family (starting

with Abraham Schmücklin’s nephew Martin) lived in the village of Reilingshausen,

directly west of Backnang and south of Kleinaspach.

6

Einod, the home of the Schmückle family, is in the center of the map, marked with a cross atop a

circle. The black triangle close by is Kleinaspach. Kleinaspach parish also included

Allmersbach (east of Einod), Sinzenburg, Völkleshöfen, Vöhrenberg and Steinhausen.

All of the ancestors of Gottlieb and Barbara (Kunz) Schmeeckle, going back at least five

generations, lived in the area on this map. The Kunz family came from Prevorst, at the top edge

of the map on the right, underlined in red. Barbara Kunz’s mother’s family, the Spörles, came

from Kurzach (toward the top of the map, underlined in purple).

From 1639 (when the village was destroyed during the war) through 1659, Kleinaspach couldn’t

afford a minister, so it was part of Grossbottwar parish to the west. I haven’t checked the

Grossbottwar parish records, which might contain information about the early Schmückle family,

as well as the related Hammer, Schad and Bartholoma families.

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Government in Württemberg

The constitutional basis of government in Württemberg was the Tübinger Vertrag of the 16th

century which gave all Württembergers the right to move at will around the duchy (no one could

be “tied to the land” as a serf). This early constitution was unusual among German states and

principalities. The Tübinger Vertrag gave the “Landtag” (parliament) the right to levy taxes,

and reserved to the duke the right to summon the Landtag.

The landtag was made up of two representatives from each Amt, or district. These

representatives were always prominent townsmen. Württemberg had no native minor nobles,

which was also unusual among German states and principalities. Village leaders were not

allowed to serve in the Estates.

The Thirty Years War (1608-1648)

The Thirty Years War between Catholics and Protestants in Europe broke out in 1608. Most of

the battles took place in various parts of Germany, and many areas, including Kleinaspach

parish, were heavily depopulated during the course of the war. “While the community did not

suffer in the first years of the war under any war-burdens, the plague however was rampant in

1626. The clergyman-manager of Grossbottwar writes in 1631 in a report regarding leases of

grazeable land, that the people were no longer interested in leases, since for four years many

people died and left enough properties that were inherited by the remaining citizens. He noticed

in the same report that in the year 1630 the undisciplined soldiers of the duke captured as booty

farm animals like sheep, approximately 100 and had them graze the meadows absolutely clean in

the greater valley of Grossbottwar.”7

In 1634, during the 30 Years War, Württemberg’s Duke Eberhard and his Swedish allies were

defeated at the battle of Nördlingen, and the Duke was forced into exile. The Württemberg army

was practically wiped out, and Austrian and Spanish troops occupied the duchy. “A tremendous

terrible force hit our homeland in 1634 when the Protestants were badly beaten down in the

Nördlinger battle. Burning and looting the Catholic army poured across our poor land. Taken

was not only anything edible, but under unbelievable torture the last penny was extorted by the

greedy hordes. Spanish troops stayed for many years in our area….

“As very bad luck would have it in 1635 the plague started again. Those who had not left

previoualy due to the war and plague in the past now were leaving their homes and farms behind

and hid out in the forest in a meager existence and became victims either due to hunger or the

soldiers. Yes, many farmers exchanged the plow with the sword and became soldiers also.

Famine was everywhere. Soon our villages, meadows and homes were almost totally

uninhabited.”8

7 Quoted from the Kleinaspach history, p. 42, translated into English by Sieglinde Martin of Phoenix,

Arizona.

8 Kleinaspach history, pp. 43-44.

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“In 1638 when Eberhard returned from four years of exile at Strassburg, he confronted a ruined

principality that not only had been bled through arbitrary taxation, forced billeting and

requisitioning, and looting and burning by an ill-disciplined soldiery but also had lost some 50%

of its territory.”9 (This lost territory was all recovered by 1650 through Swedish diplomacy.)

“In the 1640s Eberhard had tried to set up a chain of ducal breweries that would produce beer for

domestic consumption. The estates denounced the move as ‘a dangerous innovation,’ pointing

out that prior to the war ‘no one in Württemberg had ever heard of brewing beer’ and implying

that Eberhard was forcing the Württemberg innkeepers to stock and sell his product to the

9 Kleinaspach history, pp. 93-94.

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detriment of local winegrowers and of the commercial interests that handled their wine. The

complaints reached a full crescendo at the general Landtag of 1651-2, when the estates made

suspension of the ducal efforts a condition for the grant of the additional moneys so sorely

needed by the government.”10

In this case, an upright Duke went along with the will of the

Estates. Later Dukes would lead Württemberg back into ruin through their profligate stupidity.

Kleinaspach after the 30 Years War

“From 1639 through 1651 Kleinaspach was a religious arm of Grossbottwar. The community

was unable to contract for their own preacher. This situation of depopulation continued for many

years. When the war ended in the year 1648, those people returned who did not mind hard work.

However there were very few citizens that returned…. Naturally the few people were unable to

work all of the fields, not even taking into consideration that there was a lack of seed and no

farm animals. During the long years since 1635 acreage, meadows and vineyards were wildly

overgrown….Very slowly the tilled acreage increased due to some increase in population….”11

The population of Kleinaspach parish in 1654, eight years after the war, was 251 people. There

had been 1076 people, or four times as many, back in 1634. “The population rose in 1676

(including Allmersbach) to 322 souls, 1684 to 530 souls meaning that 50 years after the

catastrophe of 1634 it had not even reached half of the prior population level.”12

According to the history of Kleinaspach parish, Martin Schmücklin settled in

the village of Einod after the end of the 30 Years War, some time around 1650. Jacob Schmücklin of Einod was presumably the son of Martin

above. Jacob’s eldest son was named Martin. Jacob’s wife Catharina was born in 1642.

Duke Eberhard, the ruler of Württemberg, died in 1674, and his son and successor Wilhelm

Ludwig died three years later, leaving a nine-month-old son Eberhard Ludwig. The German

Emperor Leopold named old Duke Eberhard’s younger son Karl Friedrich as regent, until young

Eberhard Ludwig came of age.

The regent Karl Friedrich, and the French “Robber War” 1688-1693

The regent Karl Friedrich was a lover of French culture and also wanted to create a standing

army. Both of these issues created much friction between Karl Friedrich and his subjects. Karl

Friedrich began raising regiments of mercenary troops which he rented out to various other

rulers. This resulted in complaints that young men were being forcibly impressed, which was

prohibited by the old constitution, the Tübinger Vertrag. Even worse, when Karl Friedrich

10

James Allen Vann, The Making of a State: Württemberg 1593-1793, (1984: Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell

University Press), p. 108

11

Kleinaspach history, p. 45.

12

Kleinaspach history, p. 45.

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started renting mercenaries to Holland, Holland’s enemy France demanded a large payment and

threatened to invade Württemberg.

War broke out between France and the German Empire in December 1688, as Karl Friedrich

continued struggling with the Württemberg Landtag over military expenditures. “Kleinaspach

had to muster four men to help defend the land when the French advanced. War materials and

provisions had to be delivered to Philippsburg, Heilbronn and Lauffen….After the enemy moved

in on December 1688, our community was hit again to perform many cart and wagon deliveries

for the advancing Empire troops to Bruchsal, Heilbronn and in the Odenwald….In the following

years our community sustained heavy losses due to quartering troops and making deliveries for

the Imperial and Saxon troops which did not differ much from enemy troops.

“During the winter of 1690/91a very large number of Montecucculischer cuirassiers [armored

soldiers riding horses and using pistols instead of medieval lances,13

under the command of the

Count of Montecucculi14

] were quartered in Kleinaspach. The guards which were quartered at

the town hall broke all the windows and heaters. In order to put a limit to the large number of

foreign troops in his land Duke Karl Friedrich tried to muster his own troops. Therefore in 1690

the Land Miliz was created. Our community had to provide nine foot-soldiers, three heavily

armed cavalrymen, and had to equip and arm them as well as feed them. The men were chosen

from the young people of the community, trained and kept in place until further orders from the

government….”15

“Very often smaller contingents of troops moved through here. For instance one day a knight

with 50 Hussars [light cavalry from Hungary]. He wanted to ‘make all kinds of trouble and

demands,’ but was calmed down with wine paid for by the community. The next time 2

corporals, 1 infantry ensign, 1 master writer and 1 drummer came into the village and tried to

recruit soldiers. They also lived well with everything paid and provided by the community.”16

Karl Friedrich, the regent of Württemberg, was captured by the French at the battle of Ötisheim

in September 1692. He was brought to Paris “where he was received with elaborate courtesy and

attention by Louis XIV.”17

In January 1693 the German Emperor dismissed Karl Friedrich as

regent in Württemberg, because of suspicion that Karl Friedrich had made a secret alliance with

France. The Emperor declared that Eberhard Ludwig, now 16 years old, was of sufficient

maturity to rule the duchy. France promptly invaded Württemberg.

“The year 1693 brought very bad luck to our land. Kleinaspach also had its share to carry. In

May 1693 a portion of the French Army crossed the Rhine and advanced all the way to

13

See the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuirassier

14

See his brief Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_Philip_Montecuccoli

15

Kleinaspach history, p. 47.

16

Kleinaspach history, p. 48.

17

Vann, p. 92.

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Heilbronn. At a later time, another detachment of their troops combined with the earlier troops

and a battle raged between Grossbottwar and Lauffen, in which the French were pushed back

across the Neckar. However they had plundered wherever they had been and even at a later date

roving bands of their soldiers kept making incursions in all directions.

“Very often the residents fled in front of the advancing French troops. Therefore one finds the

following entry in the mayoral protocol of Kleinaspach on July 16, 1693:

“’People dispersed by the French ‘blood hounds’ came from the Brackenheimer community and

took refuge in our small community Kleinaspach. From May 28 to June 3 the following persons

stayed here: Johann Jerg Thile, the judge of Brackenheim, the minister of Northen; the mayor of

Northen as well as 30 households, more than 125 drayage animals. Further I need to report and

write about, that due to the enemy in the community of Brackenheim, a large part of the winter

fruit was harvested. Further our community of Kleinaspach was responsible to take care of

Hessian troops and Imperial people with provisions, lodging etc. etc.; so much so that the

community of Kleinaspach had less than 4 to 5 tubs of hay left. Great damage was also done to

winter and summer fruit.’

“At the end of July French troops pushed into the Bottwar valley and Murr valley and plundered

– especially Marbach and Backnang. At that point our Kleinaspach citizens decided to flee the

area. They moved on similarly like the Nordheim people before, taking their best goods and

chattels and animals into the area of Hall…The abandonment of the area lasted evidently for

several weeks….The French seem to have left the empty village relatively intact. Due to a later

order three persons were exempt from paying taxes for several years, because their homes had

burned down by the French on August 3, 1693….Sorry to say, but the church registers of

Kleinaspach that were ‘rescued’ in taking them to Backnang were burned. For this reason birth

and death registers had to be recorded anew from 1701.”18

A new Duke with a new vision

“At the age of 16 the heir [Duke Eberhard Ludwig], on his majority, undertook the indispensible

tour of Europe. Although his country had hardly recovered from the recent disasters caused by

the French troops, he was fascinated by France. On his return to Stuttgart he was still thinking of

enchanted Versailles, which had welcomed him most cordially. Now he only wished to imitate

Louis XIV. Everything changed in Württemberg. Until then its dukes, with their simple

bourgeois customs, had lived like the nobles of their land. Eberhard, dazzled by absolutism, of

which the Roi Soleil [Sun King] was a living symbol, intended to live as a potentate. His

immediate programme was to introduce the arts into a country which had previously ignored

them. But it was a costly affair trying to ape the Court of France, particularly since the Duke had

a revenue of barely two million at his disposal. Nevertheless his stay in Paris had taught him that

taxes and certain skillful though somewhat dubious financial operations could often prove very

lucrative.”19

18

Kleinaspach history, pp. 50-51.

19

Fauchier-Magnan, p. 127.

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Jacob Schmücklin died shortly before the 1696 marriage of his son Abraham. Abraham married Barbara Hammer, an orphaned daughter

from an old family in Kleinaspach parish.

24 Nov. 1696 marriage record of Abraham, surviving son of Jacob Schmücklin, to Barbara, surviving daughter of Andreus Hammer.

The six children of Abraham and Barbara were born at Einod between 1698

and 1710. Son Michael died before his third birthday. The other children (Barbara, Friedrich, Jacob, Catharina and Abraham) all lived to maturity.

This is the 1701 birth record of Hans Jacob, son of Abraham and

Barbara Schmücklin; his date of death is also written into the record.

In 1698 protracted debate broke out between Duke Eberhard Ludwig and the Estates over

whether a standing army would be maintained in peacetime, with the Estates refusing to provide

money for the army. As this conflict stretched into 1699, Eberhard Ludwig unilaterally decreed

a tax to support the army. The Estates threatened to go to the Emperor, claiming a breach of the

Tübinger Vertrag, but Eberhard Ludwig used strongarm tactics to make them back down. The

Estates dissolved without taking any action, never again to meet during Eberhard Ludwig’s

lifetime.

In 1701 the minister of Kleinaspach compiled a "Catalog" listing the inhabitants of Kleinaspach parish born prior to 1693 (when the parish

registers were burned during the chaos of French invasion). This record shows Catharina, widow of Jacob Schmücklin, born in 1642, living in

Einod with children Elisabetha, Jacob and Conrad in her household. The households of Martin, Michael and Abraham Schmücklin were listed

following that of Catharina. There were a total of twelve households in Einod in 1701, including that of Georg Christoff Bartholoma, whose

granddaughter Anna Rosina would later marry Abraham’s grandson Johann Michael Schmückle.

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Part of a page from the 1701 “Catalog” of Kleinaspach parish, listing everybody in the parish who was born before 1693 (when the old record book was destroyed during the French

invasion). This excerpt shows four of the twelve families living in Einod. Family #4 (the first one shown) is that of Georg Christoph Barthlomos. Family #5 is that of “Catharina Jacob

Schmücklins widow” with younger children Elisabetha, Jacob, and Hans Conrad. The next three heads of families are

Catharina’s sons Martin, Michael, and Abraham.

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Duke Eberhard Ludwig and the Grävenitz

“The Treaty of Ryswick [ending the war with France] authorized him [Duke Eberhard Ludwig]

to maintain an army of 2,000 men, whom he decked out in pale yellow uniforms (yellow was the

Württemberg colour). He led them into battle for the first time in the War of the Spanish

Succession, where he fought on the Austrian side against Bavaria and France….Events however

soon took an unfavorable turn for Württemberg. In 1707 the country was once more invaded by

the French under Marshal de Villars. The Württemberg army could not save Stuttgart, which

was once more captured and sacked….The enemy did not leave the country until they had

systematically looted it and levied an indemnity of 200,000 florins.”20

Eberhard Ludwig is remembered for building the famous palace at Ludwigsburg. “If we are to

believe Pöllnitz, the Court of Württemberg was for twenty years the most brilliant in Europe.

These constant fêtes in the new palace, reported in all the European gazettes, consisted of balls at

which the prince danced vigorously; suppers where, at their conclusion, this generous host

distributed presents to the value of 50,000 florins; diversions in the gardens by the light of

100,000 fairy lights; and kermesses where ruler and subjects rubbed shoulders at fairground

booths. On certain evenings the court gathered in the small wooden theatre, where a handful of

French comedians in the pay of the Duke performed operas with a solemn splendor that aroused

the admiration of the Mercure de France.”21

Eberhard Ludwig is also remembered for his scandalous affair with a mistress known as “the

Grävenitz.” He had the German Emperor create her a countess and then tried to marry her, even

though he already had a wife. Eberhard Ludwig was thwarted in this scheme, and the Emperor

ordered the Grävenitz to leave Württemberg. But the Duke found an alternative solution. The

Grävenitz married a compliant old nobleman, which allowed her to legitimately attend the

Duke’s court. Then the Duke sent the old nobleman as an envoy to Vienna, leaving Eberhard

Ludwig to enjoy his mistress in peace:

“The favourite distributed the best posts at court to her relatives…she also received the right to

nominate bishops and to sign treaties. Finally she claimed the right – Mme de Maintenon

obtained the same from Louis XIV – to create a Privy Council composed entirely of members of

her family, a council of which she and her brother the minister were presidents. All the affairs of

state passed through their hands.

“The Gravenitz insisted on taking precedence over all the members of the ducal family….She

also obtained the privilege that her name should be joined with that of the Duke in public prayers

recited to invoke the blessing of heaven on the principality. The pastor Osiander was severely

admonished for having insinuated that there was a clear allusion to the favourite in the Lord’s

Prayer – the words ‘and deliver us from evil’.”22

20

Fauchier-Magnan, pp. 128 & 131.

21

Fauchier-Magnan, p. 145.

22

Fauchier-Magnan, pp. 147-8.

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In 1719 Abraham Schmücklin and two other men from Kleinaspach parish established the settlement of Sinzenburg. For more than 20 years this

settlement was under the jurisdiction of the Forester’s office of Reichenberg, although its inhabitants went to church and baptized their children in

Kleinaspach.

Hans Jacob Schmücklin, son of Abraham, was a farmer and linen weaver.

In 1724 he married Anna Dorothea Hofsäss. Anna Dorothea’s father, Hans Jerg Hofsäss, was one of the two men who had joined with Hans

Jacob’s father to found the settlement of Sinzenburg in 1719. After his marriage, Hans Jacob built a house at Sinzenburg, where he lived for the

rest of his life.

21 Nov. 1724 marriage record of Hans Jacob Schmücklin, son of

Abraham, to Anna Dorothea, daughter of Hans Jerg Hofsäss.

The nine children of Hans Jacob and Dorothea were born at Sinzenburg. There is no record of any of the children dying in infancy. Two daughters

(Magdalena and Barbara) died as young children (under age 10). For a son and a daughter (Georg and Barbara), I found no record of death or

marriage.

30 Dec. 1726 birth record of Hans Michael Schmückle, son of Jacob and Anna Dorothea (Hofsäss) Schmückle of Sinzenburg. The first column gives the

name of the child, and also shows his date of death (17 Oct. 1782) under a cross. The second column shows the names of the parents, with the mother’s maiden name and the year of marriage. The third column gives the

names of the sponsors including Hans Michael Steinbacher and wife Anna Barbara (sister of the father). The fourth column gives the dates of birth and

baptism – the same day. The fifth column gives the place of birth.

16

Duke Karl Alexander and the notorious Süss Oppenheimer Eberhard Ludwig died in 1734 and was succeeded as Duke by his first cousin Karl Alexander. Karl Alexander had married a rich Catholic heiress and had become a Catholic himself. He was a military man of some renown in the service of Austria. “Karl-Alexander was already fifty-three when he came to power. Camp life had made him boorish, violent and prone to drunkenness. Nevertheless he was not a bad man, amiable if not contradicted, and a cheerful companion at the supper table or on a hunt. As soon as he came into possession of his duchy he showed every intention of restoring the country’s finances and inaugurating an era of strict economy. His first step was to get rid of the remains of the Grävenitz clique, which had been the cause of so much harm.”23 However, this promising beginning didn’t last long. “It was ordained that misfortune should dog the Duchy of Württemberg… [which] became, throughout the reign of Karl-Alexander, the slave of a strange figure, Süss Oppenheimer, the prototype of a new generation of elegant Jews who, not content as in the past with amassing enormous wealth, now wished to figure in society and even to enjoy the satisfactions of power….He won the reputation of being the most refined man in Württemberg. Süss wore an enormous diamond, a present from Karl-Alexander, and was generous to the women who accorded him their favours. He operated with swift cunning. Thanks to the establishment of conscription, he promptly procured for the prince the semblance of an army, of which the old warrior was very proud. With the aid of most of the financiers of Europe, among whom he had placed his own paid men, he feverishly introduced a thousand ingenious if not always legal methods of furnishing the Duke with money to replenish the state coffers. The minting of specie was farmed out and the eleven million in base coinage which left the workshops in nine months were little better than counterfeit. Manufacturers who were declared bankrupt saw their factories seized and sold to the profit of the state. The tax on wealth was tripled; an ‘emergency tax’ was levied on foreigners who visited the country. Monopolies, sold to foreign companies, were introduced on coffee, beer, tobacco and groceries. Lotteries made their appearance. A special bureau of favors was created where posts were sold to the highest bidder, and a fiscal office where exemption from taxes could be bought. Justice became entirely corrupt and the winning of a case merely the question of money.

“Although Süss’s ambition was still very much alive it had not yet come out into the open. Since the Jews could hold no honorific titles he could not accept an official post. He remained invisible in the recesses of his palace, giving only rare audiences; but every day he held long secret sessions with the Duke, becoming his real councillor and playing the role of first minister. As the Grävenitz had done, he ruled Württemberg and his palace became the seat of government. He distributed all the offices of state to his minions. The Duke, a prey to some mysterious fascination, delivered himself blindly to Süss. He heaped presents on him and closed his eyes to the enormous profits his protégé drew from the reforms introduced into the country. He enjoyed the company of this man, who without any fanfare

23

Fauchier-Magnan, pp. 152-3.

17

of publicity kept the most delightful mistresses. He even took the Duchess occasionally to visit the Jew. She appreciated the boundless submissiveness of the all-powerful favorite.

“Public opinion, however, had been aroused. In the country, again the victim of oppression, heavy storm-clouds piled up against the Jews. The science of amassing wealth which they alone understood, made them suspect and hated. This financial Moses worked miracles and brought gold into a country which had forgotten what it was – but at the cost of how much execration! Curses were already hurled at the supporters of the Süss party, threats were uttered at the gates of the ghetto, and shops were looted….

“Süss had a charming only daughter, Naomi. The Duke did not remain insensitive to her beauty, and secretly contrived to meet her one night in a small country house. The girl, to escape the pressing advances of her seducer, climbed up to the top storey and flung herself out of the window to her death.

“Her father’s despair turned to uncontrollable rage. His arrogance towards the Catholic party, which he blamed for his misfortune, knew no bounds. Ministers were treated by him like lackeys; his subordinates were humiliated, the people overburdened with crushing taxes. Destroying what he had built up with his own hands, Süss took a refined pleasure in pillaging the public treasury by deducting enormous commissions for past transactions. He sold jewels and worthless art treasures to the Duke at exorbitant prices. The atmosphere at his parties, which were more brilliant than ever, was embarrassing. The host adopted an intolerably haughty attitude towards his guests and not even the women were spared his sarcasm.

“Matters could not continue in this way for long. Everyone was waiting for the cup to overflow. Süss, in a fit of megalomania, brought about his own downfall. Thinking the time right to assert his authority and seeing the Catholic prelates as his sworn enemies, he persuaded Karl-Alexander to have them arrested. The Duke had planned a journey to Danzig to see a specialist about an old war wound, and on the evening of his departure he spent a pleasant and apparently carefree evening with Süss. Carnival was at its height. There was a fête and concert, followed by a ball at the castle. On the 12th March 1737 the Duke set out and stopped at Ludwigsburg whose upkeep, for reasons of economy, he had neglected for some time. The following morning a courier brought him the news of events in Stuttgart; a hussar of the guard had discovered the plot against the officials; the coup d’état had failed and the town was in an uproar. Before midday the Duke was found lifeless in the famous Mirror Cabinet, which his predecessor had decorated for the Grävenitz.

“The state archives are silent on the incidents of that morning and the causes of the Duke’s death remain shrouded in mystery. The body bore no trace of a wound but bloodstains – thew were still shown until 1850 – were visible on the floor. Some maintained that he died of a seizure on hearing of the failure of the conspiracy; others insinuated that he had a stroke in the arms of a mistress. Until the middle of the nineteenth century the people, clinging to their love of the supernatural, were convinced that Karl-Alexander had been carried away by the devil….

“The Duchess…hurried back to Stuttgart where, as the Duke had stipulated in his will, she was to share the Regency with Count Schönborn, Bishop of Würzburg.

“The widow arrived in her capital to learn that the Württemberg Estates, determined to ignore the last wishes of Karl-Alexander, had already appointed Duke Karl-Rudolph, the

18

uncle of the deceased, as regent. This severe old Protestant, who until then had lived in retirement on his Neuenstadt estates, categorically refused to share power with a bishop. He did, however, consent to collaborate with the Duchess, although she was a Catholic, but on condition that he should have the final say in the Council.

“One of the first acts of the new master was to wind up the Süss case. On the news of the Duke’s death the Jew had left his palace in terror by night and fled into the country alone and on foot. Some peasants recognized and arrested him. His return to Stuttgart was greeted with a storm of hisses. The populance, intoxicated with happiness, were allowed to loot his palace and to persecute the co-religionists of the hated tyrant….His sentence ordered the confiscation of his goods and the most infamous punishment of all – hanging. In vain the Jews offered an enormous ransom of half a million double ducats to save him.”24

“After the death of Karl-Rudolph in 1739 the Regency was continued by his cousin Frederick of Württemberg-Oels. A relatively happy period set in for the country. The era of economy returned. The high officials received their salaries, half in money, half in deliveries of wood, coal and corn. The troupes of French comedians were dismissed and the court now had only a small orchestra of rather badly paid musicians.”25

Abraham Schmücklin lived out the rest of his years in the “relatively happy period” of the regency of Frederick of Württemberg-Oels. At some

point Abraham returned from his settlement at Sinzenburg; both he and his wife Barbara died in Einod in the 1740s.

13 Jan. 1743 death record of Abraham Schmücklin, practically illegible in this reproduction, but the original microfilm was a bit more readable, with some

help from the friendly staff at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

25 Aug. 1749 death record (buried on the 27th) of

Anna Barbara, Abraham Schmückle’s widow.

24

Fauchier-Magnan, pp. 153-161.

25

Fauchier-Magnan, p. 162.

19

The desperately profligate Duke Karl Eugen and his ridiculous clockwork army

The young Duke Karl Eugen was proclaimed an adult in 1744, while he was a student in Prussia. In 1748 he married and took up the reins of government in Württemberg, but by 1753 he had become estranged from his wife. “To forget his marital troubles, Karl-Eugen plunged into a whirl of pleasures and mad extravagance. The beast had been aroused in him, and unfortunate Württemberg was in future to be ruled by an unleashed tiger….The court of this small ruler of a bare 600,000 subjects was, as Casanova maintains, the most brilliant in Europe; it was also ‘the centre of pleasure and attraction for all the foreign nobility’. Karl-Eugen ‘kept 800 horses for his private use. He had the best opera, the best orchestra, the finest ballets in Europe, the best French comedy after Paris and in addition to the many performances which he gave free he staged the most extraordinary fêtes’.”26 Karl Eugen was the proud possessor of a ridiculous clockwork army: “In order to imitate the King of Prussia as faithfully as possible, the Duke presented his soldiers with magnificent equipment and drilled them so severely that the English traveller Burney compared them to clocks. ‘Never has such mechanized precision been seen in human beings. It is possible that the inventor of the Machine-Man took his ideas from these automata. They look quite terrifying. Black moustaches, white powdered wigs with as many as six curls on each side, blue tunics, patched with much skill and care – that is their rig.’ The grenadiers wore as head-gear a monument in the shape of a pointed sugar-loaf, to preserve the balance of which a chin-strap was needed. For this reason, a contemporary relates, they had to march ‘with lowered heads like rams’. The soldiers’ thighs were so tightly encased in their breeches that it was impossible for them to get up if they fell… Created to satisfy the self-esteem of the young prince, the army never did him great honour. On the battlefields of the Seven Years War it lacked initiative and discipline and, to quote Casanova, ‘was only distinguished by its blunders’.”27 “…one cannot help wondering by what miracle Karl-Eugen managed for twenty years to lead a life of luxury which infected all classes of society. How could he support the enormous expense of buildings, fetes, journeys, hunts, mistresses and theatrical ventures? The revenue of Württemberg was barely six and a half million florins and there was no question of raising the taxes, which were already crushing. Doubtless every expedient was found acceptable to feed the coffers of a public treasury whose deficit reached twenty-eight million florins….Karl-Eugen had a monopoly of all the main necessities of life. One fine morning he confiscated half a million florins’ worth of ecclesiastical property; another day he cut down half the Württemberg forest, one of the country’s main sources of wealth. In his search for money Karl-Eugen resorted to lotteries and debased the currency. He was forced to knock at every door, to borrow from bankers and private individuals.”28 26

Fauchier-Magnan, p. 184 & 200.

27

Fauchier-Magnan, pp. 175-6.

28

Fauchier-Magnan, pp. 204-5.

20

Johann Michael Schmückle, son of Hans Jacob Schmückle, was a farmer and linenweaver. He married Anna Rosina Bartholoma in 1750 at

Kleinaspach. She was from Einod, where they lived after they married. Their seven children were born between 1752 and 1764. Five of the seven

died young. This was the period of the Seven Years War, when the desperate Duke of Württemberg kidnapped peasants for his army and

crushed his people with taxes.

2 June 1750, marriage of Johann Michael Schmückle, linenweaver, son

of Jacob Schmückle of Sinzenburg, legitimate son, to Anna Rosina, daughter of Johann Martin Barthlomai, lineanweaver of Einod, legitimate daughter.

10 April 1759, birth of Johann Jacob Schmückle, son of Johann Michael

Schmückle and wife Anna Rosina. The first column shows the child’s name and also shows his date of death. The second column gives the names of the parents. The third column gives the names of the

sponsors: “Old Michael Steinbacher” of Einod and wife Anna Barbara (who had been sponsors at the baptism of the father in 1726). The fourth column gives the date of birth and baptism, and the fifth

column gives the location.

Johann Michael Schmückle was thirty years old when the Seven Years

War broke out in 1756. This was a time of oppression, upheaval and turmoil throughout Württemberg:

21

Duke Karl Eugen tricks the King of France “Karl Eugen was a noted patron of the arts and held a splendid court, which was far beyond the means of his little duchy. So he made a deal with King Louis XV of France: in exchange for large sums of money, Carl Eugen agreed to maintain an army of 6000 men ready to be used by France when needed. But instead of raising an army, Carl Eugen simply spent the money on lavish festivities. “Karl Eugen’s trickery came to light in June 1756 when the Seven Years War broke out (against England and Prussia) and France called for its Württemberg troops. “Since he had nothing to fulfill his contract, the duke now faced the immediate necessity of raising an army in a country whose constitution expressly forbade impressment and authorized recruitment only in the event of a military danger to the duchy. Moreover, he was supposed to fund this enterprise out of a purse that he had long since depleted…. “By the end of the summer of 1757 Rieger [Karl Eugen’s military advisor] had recruited some six thousand peasants and artisans into the Württemburg corps destined for French service. To accomplish this feat he had ridden roughshod over the Württemburgers’ civil liberties. His agents had raided local taverns and even surrounded villages to impress into service any unattached young men they could find. They stood guard outside the churches and abducted healthy males as they came out of Sunday worship. Then they took these men to local recruiting stations where they held them without bread or water until they consented to enlist ‘voluntarily’ in the mercenary army. Having once signed, the rustics received almost no training. Instead, undisciplined and completely ignorant of military tactics, they were herded off to join the Austrian army in Saxony. They arrived just in time to take part in the Battle of Leuthen (5 December 1757) and to suffer a crushing defeat by Frederick the Great. Only 1,900 of the original six thousand recruits survived that winter to return to Württemberg….By the end of the first year of the war, Rieger was organizing manhunts up and down the duchy for the hordes of peasants who had run away from compulsory service.”29

“Finally, in 1760 Karl Eugen raised to the rank of first minister Count Montmartin, whose base servility and skill in conjuring up money were the reasons for his success. “Thanks to the introduction of a poll tax, not unlike the present-day income tax, Montmartin succeeded in five years in bringing several million into the treasury. During the ministry of this statesman, who eventually had to resign as the result of a public outcry, the Württembergers, harried by the tax collectors and condemned in cases of concealment to the heaviest fines, lived through a period in which they were sorely tried.”30

29

Vann, pp. 273-276.

30

Fauchier-Magnan, pp. 210-211.

22

Anna Dorothea, wife of Hans Jacob Schmückle, died 19 Dec. 1766 at Sinzenburg. Hans Jacob died 7 Apr. 1771 at Sinzenburg. They were

survived by two sons (Johann Michael and Leonhard) and two daughters (Dorothea and Magdalena). One of the surviving sons (Leonhard) and one

of the surviving daughters (Dorothea) didn’t have any children.

7 April 1771 death record of Hans Jacob Schmückle at Sinzenburg. The day of death is illegible, and the name is mistakenly given as “Abraham” instead of

Hans Jacob. We know the correct day and name because Hans Jacob’s date of death was also written on his birth record (see above). Abraham was the name of his father (who died in 1743) and of his brother (who died in 1788).

Johann Michael Schmückle died in 1782 at Einod. His widow Anna

Rosina died twelve years later, in 1795 at Einod. They were survived by two sons: Johann Jacob and Johann Michael. Five of their seven children

died young. The deaths of their first three children were marked simply by crosses in their birth records.

7 Oct. 1782 death record of Johann MichaelSchmückle, citizen and weaver of Einod.

Johann Jacob, son of Johann Michael Schmückle married Catharina

Haag in 1784. The marriage took place at Kleinaspach, although the Haag family lived at Zell in Backnang parish.

13 July 1784 marriage of Johann Jacob Schmückle, son of Michael Schmückle,

citizen and linenweaver and farmer of Einod, legitimate son; to Catharina, daughter of Caspar Haag, citizen and farmer of Zell in Backnang parish, legitimate daughter. The first column lists the Sundays on which the marriage banns were read, and

the third column gives the date and place of the wedding.

23

Kleinaspach parish “Family Book” record for Johann Jacob and Christina Catharina (Haag) Schmückle, showing their

dates of birth, marriage, and death, as well as names of their parents (including mothers’ maiden names); and a

list of children with dates of birth and either date of death or the number of the child’s own page in the Family Book.

24

Württemberg and its neighbors in 1789, on the eve of the French Revolution.31

31

Online at http://www.hoeckmann.de/germany/bwsouth.gif . For a bigger map, clearly labeling all the

tiny little pieces of territory in southwestern Germany, see http://www.pantel-

web.de/bw_mirror/history/bwmaps/bw_316.jpg

25

The effects of the French Revolution spill over into Württemberg

“The eighteenth century did not end without profound changes occurring which radically

upset the social and intellectual life of these small German states. Germany did not escape the

contagion of the new ideas from France, and the efforts to achieve emancipation led in Germany,

as in the rest of Europe, to the New Age and the principles which were to prevail in the

nineteenth century….The French Revolution and the subsequent wars enriched Germany; they

forced the princes to lighten the people’s burden; they wiped off the map that infinite diversity of

small states whose vanities and interests brought them in constant conflict, transforming them

into that formidible bloc with which Europe would have to reckon in the future.”32

“On Karl-Eugen’s death [in 1793] the throne passed to his brother Ludwig-Eugen, at that

time aged sixty-two. As a young man he had served in the French Army…. He was the

implacable enemy of the new ideas and at the outbreak of the Revolution this aversion changed

into such a violent hatred that he wanted to join the coalition against France at the head of his

troops.

“Ludwig-Eugen died in May 1795 from an attack of apoplexy whilst walking in the park

at Ludwigsburg….The throne passed to Karl-Eugen’s second brother Friedrich-Eugen, who at

that time was sixty-three years old….Friedrich-Eugen had little time to enjoy his power. The

French Army under Moreau invaded Württemberg in 1796. The Duke was forced to flee and

take refuge in Ansbach. He returned to Stuttgart only to die there on the 23rd

December 1797.

“He was succeeded by his son Friedrich II, whos majority was declared in 1803. This

prince, two years later, was to face the thunder of Napoleon. The Emperor, during the campaign

which was to terminate with the capitulation of Ulm, notified Friedrich that he would visit him at

Ludwigsburg on the 3rd

October 1805. Dazzled by his magnificent reception, Napoleon said to

his host with a smile: ‘I am not sure whether I could ever entertain you so magnificently.’ He

conquered the Duchess by a few graceful compliments, praised the Duke to the skies and

admitted that he had not met such an enlightened prince in the whole of Germany. Such rare

capacities, he declared, were out of proportion to a country which held such a small place in the

European concert. He promised that he would change the title of Duke of Württemberg to that of

King. The charm worked and Friedrich, filled with gratitude, proclaimed his host to be

‘charming and the equal of Frederick the Great’. The ground having been thus prepared, the

Emperor began to discuss the matter which had brought him to Ludwigsburg. After meeting

with strong resistance he persuaded the Duke to declare war on Austria and to cooperate in the

campaign by furnishing 8,000 Württemberg troops. The reward was not long delayed. In the

following year, 1806, Friedrich-Eugen was given the title of Freidrich II with the pretentious

Gothic addition of Emperor of Swabia and King of Württemberg, in other words of the smallest

kingdom in Europe.

“Friedrich II, proud of his new title, seemed anxious to emulate the youthful follies of his

uncle, Karl-Eugen, whose unbounded vanity and lust for pleasure he had inherited. The petty

despot exercised his authority down to the smallest details, to the point of forbidding his subjects

to smoke in the street. An enormous eater, he soon became so disgustingly fat that a piece had to

be cut out of the table so that he could sit down.”33

32

Fauchier-Magnon, pp. 110 & 119.

33

Fauchier-Magnan, pp. 242-246.

26

A much larger Württemberg (now reaching all the way to the Swiss border) and

its neighbors in 1806, after Napoleon “cleaned up” the map of the area.34

34

Online at

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rdrunner/web_data/exhibits/map_kingdom_wuerttem

27

First steps toward German unification

As Napoleon re-drew the map of western Germany in 1806, he forced Württemberg and its

neighboring states to join the Confederation of the Rhine. The members of this new

confederation promised to provide troops and supplies to France in case of war.35

(And as the

members of the confederation were now under the “protection” of Emperor Napoleon, the birth

of the Confederation of the Rhine marked the death of the old Holy Roman Empire.)

Württemberg did indeed provide troops to support Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1813, which

is how one of the Schmückle sons died in Russia with Napoleon’s army.

Under the shadow of Napoleonic France, the new King of Württemberg (together with his

neighboring rulers in Baden and Bavaria) set about transforming and modernizing his little

kingdom: “Schools were taken over by the government, churches were placed under state control

and transformed into national churches on the French pattern, class privileges were abolished,

the newly acquired territories became administrative districts or departments in the style of

French departements, legal systems were simplified and modeled directly on the Code Napoleon

or revised in its absolutist yet bourgeois spirit, expert ministries with administrative hierarchies

were set up, old universities reorganized and new ones founded…”36

In 1815, with the final defeat of Napoleon, the Confederation of the Rhine was replaced by the

German Confederation, a loose association of the 39 remaining German states, which lasted until

1866, around the time that John Schmeeckle left for America.37

Johann Georg Schmückle,son of Johann Jacob, married Christina Stark

of Steinbach in Backnang parish in 1816. They only had two children: Gottlieb (born in 1817) and Christina Dorothea (born seven years later).

1816 marriage record of Johann Georg Schmückle and Christina Stark. Starting in 1809, keepers of the church registers used pre-printed pages.

berg_1806.jpg . For a larger map of Central Europe in 1806, see

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Rheinbund_1806,_political_map.png

35

For the Confederation of the Rhine, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederation_of_the_Rhine

36

Golo Mann, The History of Germany Since 1789, trans. Marian Jackson ( New York: 1968), p. 30.

37

For the German Confederation, see http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Confederation

28

Johann Jacob Schmückle died in 1825 at Einod and his widow

died within the year. They were survived by three sons: Johann Michael, Johann Georg and Gottlieb (who became the ancestor

of the Schmickley family of Iowa). Already dead were daughter Christina Catharina (after the birth of her second child) and son

Johann Jacob (died with Napoleon’s army in Russia in 1813). An additional five children died in childhood.

Family Book page for Johann Georg and Christina

(Stark) Schmückle, showing only two children. The

first child, Gottlieb, was the immigrant ancestor of the

Schmeeckle family of Nebraska.

29

In 1834 Württemberg and neighboring Bavaria joined Prussia and other German states in the

“Zollverein” or German customs union. The Zollverein reduced trade barriers between its

members, while maintaining a high protective tariff against products from outside the union.

“The importance of the customs union between Prussia and southern Germany, wrote the

Prussian Minister of Finance, lay in the fact that ‘unification of these states in a customs and

trading union leads to the establishment of a unified political system.’”38

The “Zollverein” or Germany Customs Union in 1834.

Württemberg’s neighbor Baden joined the next year.39

38

Mann, The History of Germany Since 1789, p. 66.

39

Map at

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/German_unified_1815_1871.svg/1000px-

German_unified_1815_1871.svg.png

For the Zollverein, see “Zollverein” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zollverein . The prime mover of the

Zollverein was a native of Württemberg, the economist Friedrich List, who went to the United States in

30

“The framework created by the Zollverein was filled in by the railways….In 1845 Germany had about 1,250 miles of track; only ten years later there were almost 5,000 miles and the construction of the major lines was in full swing. Is this not the secret, the essence of the history of this and subsequent decades? Is it not this which changed Germany more profoundly and more irresistibly than all revolutions, wars and political intrigues taken together? The railways produced, consumed and reproduced capital which was invested in more railways, they encouraged the establishment of banks and stock exchanges and gave a decisive stimulus to the mining and machine industries. They created the new types of men who built and operated them, industrialists, workmen, engineers and office-workers. They displaced and speeded up news services before the days of the electric telegraph, and raised the volume of passenger and goods traffic – literally a thousandfold. They revolutionized the art of war, changed the face of towns and the rhythm of rural life, and brought lonely villages within the reach of the towns. They created wealth, they created poverty and transformed the poor into what were now called ‘proletarians’….Of all this only the very first beginnings were felt in 1840.”40

The first beginnings of railway development were delayed in Württemberg, which is full of hills, making railroad construction more difficult and expensive. The government built the railroads, creating the Royal Württemberg State Railways for the purpose. The railroad reached Lake Constance on the southern border with Switzerland in 1850. Railroad connection with Baden to the west was achieved in 1853, and with Bavaria to the east in 1854.41 (See maps next page.) Backnang, ten miles east of Kleinaspach, was connected to the railway network in 1876.42

Johann Georg Schmückle died in April 1843, and his son Gottlieb married Barbara Kunz three months later, in July. Gottlieb and Barbara had

thirteen children, but five of them died young. Seven of their children emigrated to America starting in 1868, and Gottlieb and Barbara followed

their sons to Nebraska in 1885.

the 1820s and studied the successful “American System” economic policies of President John Quincy

Adams. See “Friedrich List” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_List . John Quincy Adams’

economic policies were based on the earlier policy initiatives of President George Washington’s Secretary

of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. The “American System” was destroyed by J.Q. Adams’ successor

Andrew Jackson, which caused financial collapse and economic depression. American System policies

were later revived under President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. See “The Historic ‘American

System’ of Political Economy” at http://christian-science-csd.info/lovescapenovels/love_history_2.html and

40

Mann, The History of Germany Since 1789, p. 66.

41

Per “History of Railways in Württemberg” at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_railways_in_W%C3%BCrttemberg

42

See “Waiblingen–Schwäbisch Hall railway” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murr_Railway

31

The growth of the railroad network in Wurttemberg in the 19th

century

1854 1864

1874 1890

32

Kleinaspach Parish Family Book, page for Gottlieb Schmückle, army veteran and church elder, “nach Amerika.”

33

The Kleinaspach church, where Gottlieb Schmeeckle was elder before coming to America

34

German unification

In the summer of 1866 Prussia fought the Seven Weeks War against Austria. Most of the smaller German states, including Württemberg, took Austria’s side in the war. After Prussia crushed the Austrian army on July 3, a Prussian army invaded Württemberg at the end of the month, drove off the local troops, and occupied the northern part of Württemberg. In the ensuing peace treaty, Württemberg paid an indemnity to Prussia and signed a secret military alliance. (Two years later, in the summer of 1868, Gottlieb Schmeeckle’s son Johannes – John – left for America to avoid being drafted into the army.) Württemberg and its neighbors fought alongside Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, and with the Prussian victory in 1871 they became part of the new German Empire.