During a recent trip to Germany, I (Teresa) was able to visit a farm that has been in my family for centuries. The town is Shuttertal-Schweighausen in Baden-Württemberg. Historically it was the village of Schweighausen in Baden. I have four great great grandparents who were born in this place. A quarter of my ancestry is from there. The farm in question is currently called the “Saubauernhof.” Essentially this translates to “Pig Farm.” I saw no pigs.
The current farmer’s wife graciously invited us into her home and fed us plum cake with fresh whipped cream. It was delicious! She explained that a farmhouse on their property is supposedly the oldest farmhouse surviving in Schweighausen. It dates from 1653! You can see in the attached photo the year is etched into the supporting column. The old post and beam construction in the living area was bricked up in 1934, but the inscription on this column was preserved. That inscription also tells us Hans Offenburger built this house.
It was a pure delight to see this farm and know that my great great grandmother, Catharina Ohnemus was born there. Her father was Protas Ohnemus. Apparently, he took over this farm when he married Franziska Offenburger. The farm’s history can be documented back to Catharina’s maternal great grandfather, Lorenz Offenburger, born in 1752. There is a gap in records that would connect Lorenz to Hans, the builder of this farmhouse.
While visiting the Grundbuchzentralarchiv in Kornwestheim (a branch of the Baden-Württemberg State Archive), I was able to see land records that gave a lot of detail about the transfer of this farm’s ownership from Protas to his son, Robert. It was so neat to see the farm and some associated records.
Notes:
Schweighausen (Schuttertal), Germany, Grund- und Gewähr-buch Band 5, p. 298, no. 111, Protas Ohnemus; Grundbuchzentralarchiv Kornwestheim, Stammheimer Straße 10.
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