After almost a year in Germany, we were finally able to make the trip to Grossgartach, now Leingarten, the homeplace of my ancestors. My grandparents, Rudolf and Elsa emigrated from here to California in 1929. They had both previously and independently traveled to America–my grandma to work as a housemaid in Peoria, Illinois for a few years, and my grandpa to experience what new opportunities held for him in agricultural world.
Both had returned to Grossgartach, and there they met, fell in love and married. They’d grown up across the street from each other, but Elsa was 5 years older than Rudolf, so he would’ve been only 12 when she left for America in 1912. When they finally got acquainted and learned both had lived for a time in America, they decided to emigrate and start their family there. They were married in 1929, and left on a ship about a month later, traveling through the Panama Canal and on to San Francisco.
This is a drawing of Grossgartach that my Grandparents had in their home:
It was a gift from relatives in Grossgartach in 1947.
Here is Leingarten (formerly Grossgartach) today:
And this is a map from 1902:
Today we drove the 2 hours south Grossgartach. My heart was beating fast the whole way. I’ve been to Grossgartach several times, the first was in 1976 when I was 17 years old and living as a foreign exchange student in Dettingen, by Konstanz. I spent a week visiting relatives, and that’s when my love for my German family began.
There is a main street that runs through Grossgartach called Heilbronnerstrasse (because it’s the street that leads to Heilbronn). It is on that street that my grandparents grew up, in the heart of this little village.
Grandma’s home was the first stop as we came into town. Grandma grew up in the home below, right across the street from the Lutheran church. Grandpa grew up across Heilbronnerstrasse in an old farmhouse that was torn down a few years ago.
When Grandma and her family lived here, they owned a stitchery shop and sold handwork and sewing items in the ground floor. Ten years ago, it was a pizza shop, today it’s a Döner and Kabab shop with the same name.
The owners noticed me taking photos of the shop and they came out to visit with me. I explained that I was an American and my grandma had grown up here. They were friendly and kind and invited me in. They said there are 2 families who now live upstairs.
These are the stairs inside the house that lead up to the 2 apartments. I spent a couple of nights here in 1976. My Tante Hilde Haussler was living here at that time. She served me breakfast–a soft boiled egg in an egg cup, toast and a cup of hot milk.
It’s always thrilling to me to walk where my people walked.
Here’s an old postcard of the Hauptstrasse, or main street in Grossgartach showing Grandma’s house as it looked when she lived here, with their shop inside the front door.
This is a photo of Elsa with her mother, Susanne, and her cousin, Hilde Kolb m. Haussler. These are the women who ran the shop. The photo on the right is of Susanne and Christof Schaefer, my Great-grandparents, in that same doorway.
While we were here, the church bells started ringing. I wanted to capture this sound, that my grandparents heard every day while they were growing up. The last time I was here, about 10 years ago, the church Pfarrer gave us a tour of the church and even took us up into the bell tower. From there we looked down on Heilbronnerstrasse and the homes of my grandparents.
The home was later sold to August Wendnagel, who also later emigrated from Grossgartach.
Here is an old boot scraper. The homes along this street were farm homes, with animals and farm equipment stored in barns behind the homes.
Here are some photos I took of Grandma’s home in June 2009:
Across the street from Elsa’s home, in the wall of the church is this fountain:
Many years ago I was told that it’s believed Grandma’s father, Christof Schaefer was the sculpture who made this figure. He was a stone worker and did this kind of work.
Here is the sculpture as it looks today. The head has been replaced. It’s not a good fit. I was sad to see someone had taken away this sweet little boy’s head.
Our Frankfurt Germany Mission 