European Family History: Day 11 – Salzburg, Austria, Southwest, Germany and Stein am Rhine, Switzerland

Friday, October 11, 2024 – We got up early to go into Salzburg, Austria. My mother wrote about visiting Mozart’s birthplace in Salzburg, Austria back in 1953. We followed in her footsteps and went to Mozart’s birthplace first. Dave, being the sweet, thoughtful man he is, handed me a wintergreen LifeSaver at the beginning of the tour and said, “From your Mama.”  When Mama passed away and I was going through her things, I noticed every single purse she owned had individually wrapped wintergreen LifeSavers. I held onto the LifeSaver and finally savored it in the piano room. That felt appropriate.

Mozart’s family tree

Dave in the room where Mozart was born

Mozart’s birthplace street

Mozart’s birthplace

Sound of Music

After seeing Mozart’s birthplace, we walked around the older part of the city and took pictures. Then, we went to the Marabelle Fountain that was in The Sound of Music. It’s in the scene where Julie Andrews teaches the Van Trapp children, “Do-Rae-Mi” and they dance around the fountain. They also ride a horse drawn carriage. I got some photos of those as well.

Crossing the Austrian – German Border

My mom also included a photo of herself and her friend Phyllis at the German-Austrian border in her personal history.  As we drove through the border, there were border guards, but they didn’t stop the cars, and there wasn’t a place to get out and have your photo made with a border guard. So, I did the next best thing and snapped a photo of the border crossing and the guards that were there.

We drove about 5.5 hours back into Southwest, Germany to stay in Bohlingen, Kris Sigen. The countryside was gorgeous. We hit a couple bad traffic jams – one before Munich and one after.

My Swiss Ancestors

As we drove, I worked on creating a document that itemized all my relatives and their life events that happened in each city. This way when we go into a city, I can quickly see who was born, lived, married, or buried there. I can also see how they are related to me.

For example, this evening we drove into Stein am Rhein to scope out the older part of the village to get a feel for what we might find there. Dave served in this area as a missionary over 40 years ago. He had been to Stein on Rhein several times and had it on our to-visit list before we even realized I had Swiss relatives.

For example, here is Stein am Rhine:

Hans Rudolf Wonlich – My 13th Great Grandfather

• Born in Stein am Rhein 1530
• Ordained 1552
• Married Susannah Jud on 5 Jan 1553 at the Grossmuenster in Zurich
• Priest at Albisrieden 1553
• Deacon at St. Peter inch Zurich 1553
• Priest in Rickenbach 1557
• Archdeacon at Grossmunster 1594
• Died 1596

Hans Conrad’s Wohnlich – 11th Great Grandfather

• Born 1590 in Stein am Rhein
• Priest at Huttwilen
• Priest at Lustdorf
• Died 1656
• Married Ursula Lavater 14 December 1612 – 11th Great Grandmother – Born 1589 Zurich

Walking with my Ancestors in Stein am Rhein

I had such an amazing experience as we walked through the old part of Stein am Rhein! I was overcome with emotion and had chills wash over my body and tears in my eyes as I stood in the village my 11th and 13th great-grandfathers were born. It felt incredible to see the old buildings with dates in the timeframe of their lifetimes and to know those same buildings were there as they walked the streets. I’ve included a video here of me sharing my experience.

Click here to continue with our visit to Stein am Rhein and the cool family history we discovered on our trip.

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