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The Schwald Family Tree Project

Updated July 2, 2004
Roderick Schwald
schwaldroots@yahoo.com

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NEWS!!!!!

20 Jun 04:
- Come see our new Schwald Family Genealogy Web Site at www.schwald.org

15 Jun 04:
-Added 3 schwald family reports listed under the heading: Family Tree Maker Reports and Trees.

14 Jun 04:
- Summer 04 photo of Roderick & family.
- Photo of Raymond Schwald's first visit to see Christof Schwald in Maulburg.
- I just added **NEW** GEDCOMs and Family Reports of Schwald families not directly linked to my family tree. Take a look, are your family members listed here? It is just a matter of time until we find the connection!

OLD NEWS
18 May 04:
- Updated GEDCOM Schwald Family Tree File. Look inside the newest GEDCOM and say hello to Raymond Schwald from Colmar, France! He is my newly found 5th Cousin!
Raymond's ancestors immigrated from Germany to France in the middle 1800's and can be traced to Magdalena Schwald born in Fischenberg, germany on 14 Sept 1806! In fact, Raymond & I have the same Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather, Friedrich "Fritz" Schwald! So stay tuned for more news from Raymond!


GREETINGS TO OUR VISITORS!
Hello, and welcome to our original Schwald Family Tree Project's web site. My name is Roderick Schwald and I am the webmaster.

Our story originally started out as the search for the birth place & family of my Great-Grandfather Johann Friedrich "Fred" Schwald. But little did we know it would turn into a family tree project!

Great-Grandpa Fred Schwald was a short, long armed, black-haired German who left his German family behind & ventured by himself to America in 1896. He was the oldest born to Anna Maria (Kropf) and Johannes Schwald, in a small farming village named Sitzenkirch. This beautiful little village is located in the South Black Forest region of Germany, called Baden, and is roughly about 30 minutes from the Swiss border. Fred had one sister named Emilie Maria & two brothers; named Ernst Friedrich & Reinhard Julius. His Grandparents were Friedrich & Maria Barbara (Adolf) Kropf, and Johannes & Maria Magdalena (Pfunder) Schwald. At one point, Fred and family moved to the nearby town of Kandern. This is where we believe he learned his skills as a baker. In 1896, at the age of 22, he left Kandern & travelled to France. Where he sailed from the Port of Le Havre with just the clothes on his back.

Fred eventually made his way to Seattle, Washington, where we are told he stayed for a short time with his Uncle Karl Friedrich Kropf. Karl had changed his name to Frederick "Fred" Carl after arriving in the USA. Changing his name made it sound less German. This was a common practice of immigrating Germans back then, due to the prejudice towards European immigrants at the turn of the century. Taking after his Uncle, my Great- Grandfather changed his name to "Fred" also. It was here in Seattle, that Fred Schwald met & married my Swiss born Great Grandmother Elisa "Lizzie" Gyger, in 1898.

My sister Janet & I began the search for our roots in 1999, but ran into many dead-ends and stopped. We picked up the hunt again in 2001, after I was assigned to Sembach Air Base, (near Kaiserslautern) Germany. Realizing that I was only 2.5 hours away from the Baden region, I decided to look for Schwalds in the German phone book. After finding many Schwalds, & on a whim, my other sister Joanie and I decided to drive to the Baden/Black Forest area on September 1, 2001. In the town of Maulburg, I asked for directions for a street named Schwald street. The man replied there was not a Schwald Street in town, but there were many Schwalds in town! So he sent us across the street, & by sure luck and the grace of God, we met Christof Schwald & his father Ernst! Christof is the person who discovered the original birth record of Fred Schwald, hidden in the old birth register books maintained in Kandern's Records Office. Christof helped find more German Schwalds in my family tree, including him! Yes, Christof & I are blood-related cousins.

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