| Notes |
- BIOGRAPHY: http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/i/e/Kenan-R-Siegel-Mt-Calvary/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0584.html
Joseph, his wife, Katherine, and their 7 living children left Grunmettstetten, Germany and arrived from Horb in 1881. Source of following notes: Jack Lutz Grunmettstetten ("The Green Little Town in the Middle") is a very small town, about a 20 minute drive into the hills west of Horb am Neckar. Horb is equivalent to a 'county seat'. Horb calls itself "Tor Zum Schwarzwald" (Door to the Black Forest). This is where the Lutz Family partied, the night before they left for America, at the Griefen Inn which still stands just off the main road near the center of town. Jack Lutz has the original receipt, dated March 28, 1881, for the beer drunk at the party. The Inn exists today under the same name, but is now an Italian restaurant. Horb, from about the year 1000 AD, was a military outpost for Tubingen, the main seat of the Bavarian princes, with its castle (still there) so impregnable as to allow for the development of a major university. A mile or so northwest of Grunmettstetten lies the 'boundary' between the Schwabisch and Badisch areas. the language and the customs vary considerably between the two; even the architecture is noticeably different. One custom that makes the division almost immediately obvious is that the land in the Schwabisch area goes to the oldest son (the rest of the family gets 'bought out'); whereas in the Badisch area, the land gets split up. Consequently, in the Schwabisch area, the land lies in larger plots and looks not dissimilar to a Wisconsin countryside; whereas in the Badisch area, it lies in long ribbons (often as narrow as 30 feet or less and as long as 1/2 mile), each with its own little shed. Just out of Grunmettstetten (about 1 km), on the main Horb-Freudenstadt road and just off a local rail line, lies a place called Seehaus, too small even to be called a town. It consists of about four buildings, one of which is a larger inn and another of which is a smaller inn. This is being mentioned because the smaller (and much livelier) one, called then and now "Lowen" was owned by Joseph Lutz prior to his leaving for America in 1881. It is now owned by Karl Steiger, a son-in-law of another Lutz family. Jack was not able to determine definitively that the two Lutz families are related; the current Lutz family, however, seemed convinced that they are related. The Wossner Family: There was a Joseph Woessner born sometime in the 1730's who lived in Bettenhausen. He was a miller there when he grew up. He also, at that time, occasionally spelled his last name Wessner. He married a woman named Marie Schenk; they had a son, whom they named Martin, born in 1763. When Martin grew up, he moved to Grunmettstetten, where he became a weaver. In 1796, he married a widow, Maria Dettling, whose maiden name was Hipp. They had a son, Joseph, born in 1797. Martin died at the age of 70, in the year 1833. Joseph, as an adult, was a day-laborer; at the age of 25, in 1822, he married Katherine Gakle, from Rexigen. Seven years before his marriage, he had built for himself House #103 in Grunmettstetten; prior to that, he had lived with his family in House #16. Joseph and Katherine had 14 children. One of these children, Katherine, was born April 29, 1830. Katherine was the one who married Joseph Lutz of Seehaus, who came to America in 1881. House #103, built by Joseph in 1815, still stands in Grunmettstetten and is still owned by the Wossner's. Joseph lived to the age of 87; died in 1884. After Joseph, his son (also named Joseph) took over the house -- then the younger Joseph's son, John -- then John's son, Franz, who lives there now (1987). The Lutz Family: There are still many loose ends remaining in trying to sort out the connection between the Lutz's and the Lowen Inn at Seehaus. Sometime in the latter part of the 1700's, there was a man, Clemens Dettling, who came from Bittlebron. His only child was a daughter, Magdalene. She married a man, Martin Lutz, who came from Untertalheim. Martin was a 'burgemeister' of Grunmettstetten from 1786-1791. He shared that title (1809-1828) either simultaneously, conjunctively or consecutively with Lukas Grieb (whose family also came to the US during the 1880's). Joseph and Magdalene Lutz had one child, a daughter named Agatha. Agatha married a 'talheimer', who was like Agatha's father in two respects: he was from Untertalheim and he was named Johan (or John) Lutz. No record could be found to determine whether they were previously related in any manner. There are still today many Lutz's in Untertalheim John and Agatha Lutz were married in 1814; their son, Joseph, was born on December 10, 1825. In 1838, when Joseph was 13, his great-grandfather (Clemens Dettling) built the "Lowen" Inn at Seehaus. However, between the time that the Inn was built and Joseph took it over, someone else ran it (and most likely owned it) for a while. That person was Wilhelm Steimle (from one of the old families of Grunmettstetten), who until that time was away from home being a 'beer brewer' in Hanover. He somehow won 30,000 marks, returned home and purchased the Inn. When Joseph grew up, he wound up either owning or at least 'running' this Inn, for a rather short period of time, which may have occurred either prior to or after he married Katherine Wossner. He was succeeded by another proprietor in 1882, after Joseph and Katherine and their 7 (of 11) surviving children emigrated to the United States. The family lived in Sheboygan, WI. Joseph died on May 23, 1901; his wife, Katherine, died on February 15 1892; their son, John, died in 1917, at the age of 50. They are buried on the same plot, in Calvary Cemetery, Sheboygan, on the hill just north of the former cemetery chapel.
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1825 - 1901 (75 years)
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