Episode 43. A complicated family

Multiple members of the family had their problems in the mid to late 19^th Century. Johann [b. about 1815-17 probably the son of JBS-I, the beer brewer, and an uncle of my great great grandfather Ignaz Schweinsberger] had lots of financial problems. As mentioned last time, Uncle Johann was in the news nearly every month beginning in January of 1853 over a lawsuit against him by Dr. Sieber of Fechenbach. Johann was unable to repay a mortgage loan, so eventually his house was to be put up for auction. The claim against him is summarized below:

“(28b) Upon the advice of a mortgage creditor, the following as described … subject to the regulations of §§ 64 and 69 of the mortgage law, under the regulations announced at the court date from March 2^nd of this year in the afternoon, publicly to be auctioned. Würzburg , January 25^th 1853    Royal District and City court as ordered Wilhelm Heuflager Description: The Living estate, situated in front of the basement gate, is build with stone and studwork and two stories high with a German wide bricks covered roof. The construction condition is fair and the break down is as follows: 1) Under the house is an arched basement without content 2) First story passes an airway, 2 rooms with an oven, a kitchen and a storage room 3) Second story has an airway. 4 rooms, an oven, a kitchen; finally above that a freestanding attic. Attached to this estate is a spacious courtyard with a gateway and is enclosed partially with walls and partially with a wooden fence, in which a hall is located and to studwork a hog house; also a single storied studwork house is build here which is covered with a wide brick roof. The same contains a washhouse with an enclosed copper, two immured brandy pots a workspace and adjoining a baking oven.  At the end of the courtyard is a barn which is build with studwork and covered with a German wide brick roof; it contains an entrance way, a quarter and a double cattle stables and an arched basement.  Furthermore bordering to the house is a yard and in the back is a big vegetable garden; both are closed off with walls and a fence.”

In February they were back in court because the auction didn’t produce enough money to pay off Dr. Sieber. Würzburger Abendblatt Volume 13 2/11/1853:  (69a) …according to the demands, because the set amount of 4000 Franken was not collected from the said estate, a new court date is ordered for Thursday the 21^st of April of this year at 11 am in courtroom number 9 with the aggrieved parties, so that the additional fee will be paid without consideration of the earnings.” Eventually the case was dismissed and Dr. Sieber had to be satisfied with the auction results. However, Johann got into more trouble in October of 1863. He was found guilty of petty theft and served 3 days in the jail of Kitzingen, a small town, 18km south of Würzburg. The next year in the Würzburger Indicator August 14^th, 1864, it was reported that he was accused of domestic violence. For this offense he was sentenced to two months in prison, but on appeal the case was dismissed.   Uncle Johann disappeared from the record after this point, only turning up in 1870 living near Ignaz in Munich.

Things were more problematic for Ignaz’ brother Franz [b. Aug 1841]. Three years older than Ignaz, Franz went to the same trade school but did less well. Note that he was not well focused; his area of concentration in school was listed as “ohne” or “without.” Here are his grades [the column’s meaning is as described in Episode 41] for the two years he attended this school: 1855-56 grades while at Jahres-Bericht des Polytechnischen Vereins zu Würzburg über den Stand seines His grades III/IIII were average to low. In the next year he listed “economics” as his focus of study, However, while many of the students were getting all “I,” his grades were all failing “V”. What was going on with him that he failed in school? It turns out that he had some issues with the police.   In 1856 while still in school, he was charged with “aggravated theft.”   “Aggravated” presumably implies a weapon was used during the episode. Translation: “In the public meeting of the area and county courts Würzburg on the second of this month, the following have been sentenced: Bal. Bräutigam. Single cleaning assistant from Breitshöchheim, due to the continuous crimes distinguished by the sum as punishable to four years in a work prison; Eva Kraß, single maid from Edelbach, because of offense of aggravated theft to 2 month (double harsh) prison; and Franz Schweinsberger, 15 years old, from here, because of offense of double aggravated theft and punishable petty larceny to 21 days in prison.” The light prison sentence [21 days] was given because of his age. The prison time unfortunately didn’t get him on track. On Saturday the 16^th of October 1858 he was again facing a public hearing related to more theft. He had started working as an apprentice butcher, but in August 1859 he was sentenced to 2 more years in the prison workhouse for theft as a repeat offender. Aug 20 1859– Würzburger Stadt- und Landbote: Allgemeiner Anzeiger für Würzburg und Umgebung “Postcript.  Aschaffenburg. In Public Appellate Court meeting on 13 august…was for the crime of theft against apprentice butcher Franz Schweinsberger of Heidingsfeld, … …to two years punishment in the workhouse… the Kings District Court Würzburg from July 2 b.”

In January 1861 there is another news account of a theft; it is not clear what the punishment for that was. However, in July 1863 he was sentenced once again to 3 months for theft. Nürnberger Abendzeitung: (Bayerischer General-Anzeiger).july 16 1863 …3 months in jail. Translation: “From Nüruberger Royal District Courts was the single journeyman butcher Schweinsberger of Sommerach … because the thief stole … prison punishment … from 3 months is condemned”

When next out of jail he worked as a butcher and married 21 year old Margaretha Kuhn. He fathered a son whom he named “Johann Baptist” in honor of his grandfather [beer brewer JBS-I] and father [blacksmith JBS-II]. The infant died at 5 months age on July 23, 1870. The death notice for this Johann Baptist notes he was a “master butcher’s child” [metzgermeisterkind]. Falling in love and losing a child may have been the most important events in Franz’ life. Nonetheless, seven years later on Nov 7 1877 the Munich Central Police were looking for him yet again. Bavarian Central Police journal November 3, 1877 Volume 12 Nr. 85: “6429.  Schweinsberger Franz, married, butcher and cattle driver from Guenthersleben, lastly in Heibingsfeld because of theft according to § 242, Article 135 and 136.  Wurzburg 3 11 77.                    R. Unt.- Judge Guenthersleben [now called Güntersleben] is a small town 15km north of Würzburg. Nine days later the police gave a description of Franz’ appearance to aid in his apprehension. November 12, 1877 Central police     “6748. Schweinsberger Franz, born in Sommerach, City council Wolsach, currently living in Guenterseleben, court Würzburg, butcher and cattle driver (35 years old, middle tall, blond hair and mustache, which he shaves from time to time). He has already been punished for theft in 1853 and is strongly suspected to have committed a whole series of serious burglary thefts; it appears that he has been staying in Mainz lately. A careful search and arrest is requested.  Frankfurt on the Main, 12 11 77.Police department  Lastly 85, 6429 (1877) “

The record from Bavaria is silent after this point. But it is very unlikely that Franz committed these crimes, because he had left Germany more than a year before these 1877 police bulletins. In an attempt to make a fresh start, he had taken his family to America, arriving Oct 12, 1876. In fact, there is no evidence that he did anything worthy of police attention after marrying Margaretha, but his past haunted him.   He was automatically a prime suspect when theft was reported anywhere near Würzburg. Decades after the family emigrated, the Bavarian Police were still unaware that these Schweinsbergers had left the country. In 1898 they were looking for Franz’ sons Johann and Lorenz as draft evaders, not realizing they had left 22 years before as small children. In Brooklyn, Franz changed his name to Frank and Margaretha became Margareth. They moved into a neighborhood filled with German speakers. The neighbors were named Seizer, Wilke, Kramer, Humphrey and Schmid … all family names found in Würzburg. One of the neighbors may have been an old friend who helped Franz arrange travel, housing and a job. This neighbor was Hermann Wilke who, like Franz, was a butcher. Hermann was about 28yrs old with a wife, Babetta, and an infant son, Frederick, when Franz and family arrived. Hermann and Babetta had come to America the year before Frank and family. Frank was hired as a butcher in one of the local slaughterhouses, and continued in that trade for years.

Frank appeared before the Common Pleas Court of New York on Oct 6, 1888. This was his first and last contact with the US Court system.   On that day he was sworn in as a US citizen. Internet searches using the terms “jail,” “prison,” “convicted,” “police,” “theft,” and “thief” with Frank Schweinsberger [and variant spellings] all yield negative results. He and Margareth lived the rest of their lives in Brooklyn. They had a large family: Johann Baptist [b. 1870], John [b. 1871], George [b. 1874], Frederick [b. Sept 1875], Barbara [b. 1878], Retsa [b. 1879], Andrew [b. Jun 1881], Margaret [b. Nov 1883]. There are many Brooklyn and Queens Schweinsbergers today who are their descendants. Franz had a delicatessen for the last ten years of his life. So his tale is one of redemption. He went to America in hopes of making a fresh start and driven by love for wife and family, he turned his life around. Of all the family stories I’ve found, the story of my great-great-great uncle Franz is my favorite. Both he and Margareth appear to have died some time between 1910 and 1920; I can’t find either in the 1920 US Census.

So did the problems of close relatives have anything to do with the decision of my great great grandparents Ignaz Schweinsberger and Barbara Trenkler to immigrate to America? As a locksmith, one can imagine that the family notoriety could have caused him problems getting business. It may well be that the moves to Munich, and then later to America, were influenced by adverse publicity. But Ignaz came to America decades after the problems of his grandfather and uncle, and ten years after brother Franz had gone to Brooklyn. The decision to go may have been influenced simply by the opportunities offered in a new life. His brother Lorenz had already made good in Kansas City. But the fact that brother Franz had so dramatically turned around his life may have been a major factor. Anything was possible in America. By the end of the 19^th Century it appears that all of the Schweinsbergers descended from beer brewer JBS-I, except for the family of Johann [b. ~ 1815], had died or immigrated to America. Next time…the letters

Episode: 42 Problems for the family patriarch – Johann Baptist Schweinsberger

The figure shows the number of people named Schweinsberger living in each area of Germany today based on white pages of the phone book. Although I’m not sure whether this deals with cell phones, it clearly makes the point that the name Schweinsberger is rare. The program that shows the distribution of names, estimates that the total number of people in Germany named Schweinsberger is currently 192 [about one of every 400,000 Germans]. There are an estimated 840 Schweinbergers [lacking the “s” in the middle], mostly concentrated in the far south near Austria. Schweinberg is less common; there are only about 53 people with this variant, all of whom are in the extreme south. Since our branch of Schweinsbergers came from near Würzburg and Munich, it is also interesting that based on phone number data there is now no one in, or anywhere near, these cities with the name Schweinsberger. If you do the same mapping for other German names in our family tree, the results are strikingly different. For example, there are Henkes in almost every part of Germany; an estimated 20,589 Germans are named Henke. Lehmanns are even more common; they are found in every part of Germany with the highest concentration in Berlin. There are approximately 37,793 Lehmanns in Germany. Trenkler, like Schweinsberger, is uncommon with approximately 1,013 people having the name. The reason for introducing this information is that the number of Schweinsbergers in Würzburg is near zero currently, and in 1800 was not much more than that. The data available on line in old newspapers, books, etc suggest that the name Schweinsberger [with an “s” in the middle] was uncommon before 1745. Adding the “s” to the middle was a relatively late variation. Schweinberger [without the “s” in the middle] has existed in Bavaria since before 1620. So the Schweinsbergers of whatever spelling are relatively recent newcomers to Germany. For comparison, records relating to a more common name, Lehmann, begin showing up by 1478.

Just as in Munich, most of the official government and church records in Würzburg were destroyed during WWII. As the end of the war approached, Würzburg was bombed eleven times beginning in June of 1944. The worst damage and loss of life occurred during the March 16, 1945 fire bombing of the city, when 1,207 tons of incendiary bombs were dropped. This was just 7 weeks before the unconditional surrender of Germany on May 7. Despite the loss of official records there are still dozens of documents, mostly newspaper articles, ads, and court proceedings, that have survived to give us an idea about the life of the Würzburg Schweinsbergers. The estimated dates of birth and family relationships outlined below are based on the currently available data and may require refining in the future based on information not yet available.

Documents from Bavaria represent a challenge. Part of the problem is that they are in various dialects of Bavarian German, rather than High German. Many of the words are archaic and no longer can be found in dictionaries; guesses made from context may be totally wrong. The ambiguity of the archaic typed script is an additional issue.   The handwritten script is even more difficult. Wiki has a nice example of the differences between standard German and Bavarian German:

English – “Bavarian is a group of dialects in the south of the German-speaking area.”

Bavarian – “S’ Boarische is a Grubbm vo Dialekt im Sidn vom daitschn Språchraum.”

Standard German – “Das Bairische ist eine Gruppe von Dialekten im Süden des deutschen Sprachraumes.”

It also seems that 19^th Century Bavarian German liked to add an “s” in the middle of compound nouns so that “einbruchdiebstähle” or “burglary thefts” became “einbruchsdiebstähle” in Bavaria. An “s” is sometimes added to compound nouns in non Bavarian German, but the Bavarians seemed to be especially fond it. Perhaps this Bavarian tendency to add an “s” in compound nouns had something to do with adding an “s” in the middle of the compound noun describing a person from “pig hill” i.e. Schweinberger.

It appears that there was a single Schweinsberger [Johann Baptist] who came to Würzburg at some time early in the 19^th Century to make his fame and fortune. The Ediburgh Gazette of 1829 estimated that the population of Wurzburg was 20,000. In contrast, Munich had a population estimated at 47,000. Other relevant cities near and around Würzburg (Heidingsfeld and Sommerach) were too small to have data listed in 1829 Gazette.   It is not certain where Johann Baptist was born. The family in Würzburg was very small and, by the 20^th Century, nearly all of them had died or moved elsewhere. The first Johann Baptist Schweinsberger lived most of his life in and around Würzburg.

It was very uncommon in Germany in the 19^th Century to name a boy “Johann Baptist.” For example, in the “Allgemeines Intelligenzblatt für das Königreich Baiern” [General intelligence sheet for the Kingdom of Bavaria], a listing in 1818 of approximately 105,000 men in Bavaria, 49 were named “Johann Baptist,” or about 1 per 2100. However, the name was not uncommon in the Schweinsberger family. Johann Baptist the first [I’ll call him “JBS-I the beer brewer”] was born in ~ 1790-1800. He had a son and grandson named Johann Baptist [“JBS-II the blacksmith” b. ~ 1817 and “JBS-III the tailor” b. ~ 1835], as well as two great grandsons named Johann Baptist: sons of Lorenz, who was discussed in episode 40, and of Franz, who will be discussed in episode 43. This choice of names, coupled with the rarity of Schweinsbergers in Würzburg and Munich, is part of the evidence for listing Franz and Lorenz as sons of JBS-II the blacksmith. Each of these JBS is clearly a separate person, based on news accounts that document timing of events and the professions that each pursued.

Given the rarity of Johann Baptist as a name, it is interesting that there was an area southwest of Stuttgart about 280km southwest of Würzburg where Schweinbergers [without the “s” in the middle] also named boys Johann Baptist.  Antonius Schweinberger and his wife Anna Schick named a son Johann Baptist Schweinberger [b. 15 Apr 1765]. Maximillian Schweinberger and his wife Barbara Schneider named a son Johann Baptist Schweinberger [b. Sept 1841]. Jacob Schweinberger and his wife Katharina Bescher had a son [b. 11 Jun 1860] whom they named Johann Baptist Schweinberger. There is also a priest named Johann Baptist Schweinberger of uncertain parentage who was working in this area in 1852. Obviously it is tempting to tie our branch that begins with Johann Baptist Schweinsberger (JBS-I the beer brewer) born in about 1790-1800 to the Johann Baptist born south of Stuttgart in 1765. The likelihood that two families with so many “Johann Baptists” are not related seems remote. It seems more likely that our beer brewer JBS-I was part of this extended family and that he added an “s” to his name at some point after he moved to Würzburg. This interpretation is plausible enough that I have included the Johann Baptist Schweinberger born in 1765 near Stuttgart as part of the family in the online ancestry.com version of our tree. This interpretation may however be wrong. The distance between Stuttgart and Würzburg is significant and there was no railway to make the journey easy when JBS-I the beer brewer came there about 1810 or 1820. Construction of the Bavarian railways did not begin until 1844.

The records suggest that JBS-I, the beer brewer, had only three children who survived childhood. The eldest was Johann Baptist [JBS-II the blacksmith] probably born about 1817. The second surviving son, Johann, was probably born about 1815; he shows up multiple times in the news related to being sued by a Dr Seiber beginning in 1853. The last child of beer brewer JBS-I is better documented. She was Otillie Magdalena. Below you can see her death certificate and translation of the document. She may have been the last child of JBS-I, the beer brewer. Sankt Peter [now called St Peter and Paul] Katholische Kirche is situated at Peterplatz 8, in Würzburg about 4km north of central Heidingsfeld. This church was presumably the Schweinsberger family’s regular place of worship.

Schweinsberger, Otillie Magdalena

Geburtsdatum: 25.04.1837            Date of Birth : 04/25/1837

Beerdigungstag: 26.06.1854            Day of the funeral : 06/26/1854

Alter: 17 Jahre, 2 Monate            Age : 17 years , 2 months

Todesursache: Brustkrankheit            Cause of Death: breast disease

Familienstand: ledig                  Marital status: single

Berufssparte:  Kind/Jugendliche(r)      Profession : child / youth ( r )

Geburtsort: Heidingsfeld            Place of birth: Heidingsfeld

Sterbeort: Würzburg ?                  Place of death: Würzburg ?

Funeral service : St. Peter

Death from “breast disease” in a 17yr old is extremely rare at present. My guess is that she had a then common disease: disseminated tuberculosis with mastitis.

JBS-I, the beer brewer, became a very prosperous man. He engaged in a variety of enterprises. He acquired land and managed its cultivation, was a contractor for construction work, grew crops that could be made into beer and wine, brewed multiple varieties of beer, sold beer both to other tavern owners and served it in his own tavern. But eventually Johann Baptist had some problems. He ended up in court multiple times related to his businesses.

In 1830 beer brewer JBS-I was involved in the corruption investigation of Burgermeister [Mayor] Johann Fleischmann in Heidingsfeld in south central Würzburg. Johann Baptist’s last name is spelled without the “s” in the description of this case, although it is clearly JBS-I. Subsequent documents all list his name with the extra “s” except for one newspaper item that has both spellings two lines apart in an article about a lawsuit. It is not clear from the record whether Johann Baptist was himself guilty of anything or not during the investigation of Fleischmann. JBS-I is mentioned in reference to two payments. These payments were described as “pure fraud and deception” in the news accounts, but it is not clear from the translation if the “fraud and deception” was any fault of Johann Baptist’s or was the fault solely of Fleischmann. The translation leaves open the question of whether these were bribes to Fleishmann. The amounts of money in these two payments to the mayor were significant, totaling 31 fl. and 13.5 fr. One of the payments deserved separate comment: “26 fl 1 ½ fr. has been taken from Johann Baptist Schweinberger, from which the tax collector Balling never received a penny.” The units of money referred to Austrian, rather than German, coins. Coins were issued in copper, silver, and gold. There were two types of gold coins: florins [fl.] and franks [fr.]. So the payments to Mayor Fleishmann were in gold.

More problems developed in the late 1840s. According to the “Intelligence Journal of Lower Franconia Aschaffenburg and the Kingdom of Bavaria” of 1845, beer brewer JBS-I at that time was still living in Heidingsfeld, just south of central Würzburg. By 1847 he had moved to Sommerach, a village just east of Würzburg. Johann Baptist appeared in court multiple times in 1845, 1847, 1848, 1849 and 1852 in cases that involved the King’s courts and his police. These cases appear to be related to nonpayment of beer taxes, but the translations are unclear [even to my paid translator!].   Eventually there were no more court appearances, but the last one (in 1852) appears to end with a fine of 250fl and 25fr in gold to be distributed to some 45 different police and court agencies, as shown in the summary below from the “Würzburger Abendblatt.” The heading “Landgerichte” means “country courts;” “Gerichts und Polizeizbehorde” means “Court and police authorities.”

The number of agencies listed says something about the size of his operation [as well as the size of his memory deficit for paying taxes]. Shortly after the case was concluded, JBS-I put his property up for auction. The translation of the list of his property is shown below.

Würzburger evening journal, Volume 12 1852

Auction

“The signer has come for the purpose to put up his estate for action Thursday the 15^th of January in the afternoon at 1:30 for 3 crowns, consisting of a living house and stable outside the cellar gate above the baronial property.

The living house consists of:

a) an arched water free basement

b) first floor: 2 heatable and one not heatable bedrooms, bright kitchen next to a free room and a bathroom

c) second floor: 3 heatable and 3 not heatable rooms, bright kitchen and entrance way

d) a roomy attic

e) a big roomy barn in which there is

f) a big roomy water free basement

g) 2 stables with 16 pieces of cattle equipped with stone bars

h) 2 pig houses

i) a big wood hall

k) a big roomy wash house (in this is a blacksmith station); there are two brandy pots being able to hold 1 to 2 buckets, and one pot holding 4 buckets;

l) a big fruit, vegetable garden and vineyard with a big well and a big water wheel

m) a big courtyard, suitable for wood storage or business place

All is in best condition. Everyone is able to view it.

Properties are:

2 morgen of field inside next to Lorenz Müllerklein and the widow of Stephan Barachs

2 Morgen half vineyard half field filled with wheat

2 Morgen half clover half field, filled with wheat

3 ½ Morgen land with clover and ¼ Morgen vineyard in Spittelberg

5 Morgen field in middle Spittelberg next to Küßübel

2 Morgen field cultivated with wheat in upper Spittelberg

1 ½ Morgen field with Roth

More closely information are announced later-

Würzburg January 8^th, 1852 Joh. Baptist Schweinsberger“

The properties are in Sommerach [east of Würzburg] and Spittelberg [west of Würzburg]. The land description “morgen” requires a bit of explanation. He had a total of about 18 morgen of land. A morgen is a unit of land whose size varies based on the quality of the land. A morgen is the amount of land tillable by one man behind an ox in one morning. A given amount of good land [easy to till] is rated as having more morgens than rocky, hilly or otherwise problematic land. A morgen varies from about ½ to 2 ½ acres. This means that the total amount of farmland that Johann Baptist was putting up for sale was about 9 – 45 acres.

JBS-I regularly advertised his beer, particularly after his property was auctioned. Here is an ad from the “Würzburger Stadt – und Landbote” that run in 1848.

The translation for this is: “Johann Baptist Schweinsberger in Sommerach has a selection of 7 to 8 loads of good old beer [gutes altes Bier]. Therefore he is asking Beer brewers and bar keepers that are in deficit of such, to pay attention and approach him for such.”   This “good old beer” ad was one of JBS-I’s favorites. He used it multiple times.

He recovered well enough after his court issues and house auction, to keep selling beer, apparently only through his own tavern at Schildhof. His newspaper ad on July 19, 1859 focused on the fact that from that day he was selling “good old Rottendorfer beer.”

Several ads in 1859 focused on serving “liver meat and white meat with beer” at his tavern in Schildhof in the north part of the city of Würzburg.

In the 1859 “Würzburger Stadt- und Landbote: Allgemeiner Anzeiger für Würzburg und Umgebung” another ad read ”from today on is good must 10, 12 and 16 franc per liter, the same with wine for 20 franc per liter, whereby everyone is politely invited.”

“Must” is the expressed juice of fruit, especially grapes, before and during fermentation; it can also mean the pulp and skins of the crushed grapes. So he was making wine for sale as well as beer. The area around Sommerach is still a white wine producing area.

It is not clear when JBS-I, the beer brewer, born around the turn of the 19^th Century, died. His wife is never mentioned in the records I’ve found. The other Johann Baptists led less colorful lives, so their names are rarely found in old newspapers. JBS-II the blacksmith [Ignaz’ father], was probably born in about 1817 to JBS-I, but I can find no record of the birth or death date. Ignaz’ death certificate lists his father as “Johann Baptist.” In 1865 JBS-II was working as a master blacksmith [rather than beer brewer like JBS-I] and living in Würzburg according to the Adreßbuch für Würzburg. His blacksmith shop was on “Schmiede” or “Forge”, a street where all the blacksmiths had their forges. In 19^th Century Bavaria some streets were named just as in the older part of London, where there are streets still called Wood Street, Gutter Lane, Oat Lane, Bread Street, and Love Lane. A London buyer could go find wood, gutters, oats, bread, and love on these streets. Blacksmith JBS-II’s home address at that time was 286 Elephanteng in Würzburg. I’m not sure what “Elephanteng” means; perhaps it is an archaic or Bavarian spelling of elephant. High German prefers “Elefant” for the animal. I doubt that JBS-II lived on a street where elephants were bought and sold. Around 1870 blacksmith JBS-II died. By Sept 10,1870 the “widow A. [“A” = Anna?] Schweinsberger” sold the blacksmith property on Schmiede to Lorenz Müller. She continued to live at the home address of 286 Elephanteng.

There was a third Johann Baptist [JBS-III the tailor]. His precise relationship is uncertain, although he is clearly part of the family in Würzburg. The only newspaper record on JBS-III lists the date in 1857 that he obtained a license to work as a master tailor. Presumably he had been an apprentice during his teens, so he was probably born in about 1835.

The picture we get from the newspaper reports about JBS-I, the beer brewer, gives the impression that he was ambitious, hard working, aggressive, and perhaps well known [? notorious] for his flexible approach toward some laws. It is hard to know much about his relationship with Ignaz or whether the embarrassment of his occasional problems had anything to do with Ignaz and Barbara moving to Munich or later going to America. But there were other family issues….

Next time: A complicated family