Kleinaspach Parish in Württemberg, Germany: Home of the Schmückle Family compiled by John S. Schmeeckle [email protected] 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. 1 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 2 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. 3 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 4 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. 5 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. 6 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. 7 “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.