A blog dedicated to highlighting and collaborting with other relatives on the family tree of Clara Josephine Gruny (1907-1983) and Louis George Hirt (1904-1998) from Medford, WI.
Go on a virtual tour of the places where Louis and Clara (Gruny) Hirt and their ancestors were born, where they immigrated, where they worked, and their final resting places. A customized Google Earth file has been created to take you to all of these places. 1) Download and install Google Earth at this website. 2) Email me at jimoehler3 at gmail.com to obtain the Google Earth (*.kmz) file. 3) Download the file to your computer and double click it in Windows Explorer to open it in Google Earth. 4) Click on each yellow push pin in the menu on the left of the screen to "fly" to each location (see screen shot below). 5) Click on the push pin title, highlighted in blue, on the left of the screen to learn more about how that location relates to that family member. Have fun!
Click on any of the pictures or graphics for a larger view.
Andrew Hirt was born in 1810 in Bremen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany a very small farming hamlet east of Ravensburg. His parents are currently unknown. Ravensburg is a historic town that dates back to at least 1088. It still has 10 intact towers of the medieval fortification.
Explore current day Ravensburg by viewing this short travel and tourism
video that shows many of the town's historic buildings.
Location of Ravensburg, Germany. Click here to explore the area in Google Maps.
Sometime before 1840, Andrew migrated to America and settled in Lancaster, NY just east of Buffalo where he established a farm. In that year he married Mary Smithers. Mary was born about 1812 in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France. The exact town is not known. By 1831 she migrated to New York. How and where she met Andrew is not known.
Between 1841 and 1854, they had six children: Magdalena (1841–1935), Louis (1842–1893; perhaps my grandpa's namesake), Mary (1844–1904), Frances(1849–1883), Henry (1850–1949), and Andrew Jr, my great grandfather (1854–1916).
In 1855, Andrew and Mary settled in Allegany, where Andrew cleared 100 acres of woodland on Nine Mile Road and established a farm along the Allegany River. Mary died August 21, 1878 at the age of 66 of unknown causes. She is buried at St. Bonaventure Cemetery in Allegany.
By 1880, only Andrew Jr. resided at home with his father until he migrated west to Wisconsin. By 1892, Andrew Sr. remarried to a Catherine Hoffman, originally from the Bayern region of Germany. They resided on the same farm along with Andrew's son Henry and his family. Andrew Sr. died on October 1, 1897, in Allegany at the age of 87. He is also buried at St Bonaventure Cemetery, along with his original wife Mary. Several of the Smithers-Hirt children remained in Allegany and so there are likely distant relatives still there.
1880 Federal Census showing Andrew Hirt Jr as the only remaining member
of the Smither-Hirt family residing with Andrew Sr.
1892 NY Census showing Andrew Sr. remarried to Catherine.
Son Henry and his family are also living with them on the farm.
Andrew and Mary Hirt headstone at St. Bonaventure Cemetery, Allegany, NY.
Andrew and Mary Ann are the parents of Louis Hirt. As such, they are my generation's great grandparents. Andrew was born on October 24, 1854, in Lancaster, New York to Mary Smithers who was originally from Alsace-Lorraine, France, and Andrew Hirt Sr, originally from Bremen, Germany. Andrew Sr. was 44 at his son's birth and Mary was 42.
Click on any of the pictures or graphics to view a larger image.
Andrew Hirt in 1875 at age 21. He was a red head.
Andrew Jr. was Mary Ann's senior by nine years. She was born on December 25, 1863, in Alflen, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Her father, Anton, was 28, and her mother, Katharine Steimers Brost, was 27. She migrated to the US with her family in 1882 when she was 19 years old. For more on Alflen and the Brost family's immigration to America, read the blog post for Anton and Katherine Brost. According to one family history, the travel agency through whom they made arrangements directed them to Taylor County, WI. Two years after arriving in Wisconsin she married Andrew Hirt, likely in Medford, WI where they settled on 160 acres in Hammel township, a few miles west of the city.
Andrew came to Medford from Lancaster, NY when he was 24 or 25. According to that same family history, he was the youngest in his family and was slated to take over the family farm in NY. However, his father had remarried after the passing of his first wife Mary Smithers and Andrew Jr. did not like his new stepmother so he left and went to live with his sister Frances Hirt Bockmier who lived about six miles west of Medford.
Andrew and Mary Ann Hirt's 1884 wedding picture.
Copy of section 24 of 1890 platt showing location of Andrew Hirt ownerships (two 80 acre plots located at the corner of current day County Hwy E and Center Ave.). Note little black squares indicate locations of buildings.
Current day aerial photo showing Andrew Hirt's original 160 acres.
Click here to explore this area further in Google Maps.
Andrew and Mary Ann raised their family on the farm initially in a log house and then in a wood frame house. They had 14 children in 23 years: Maria Katherine (1885-1972); Joseph Peter (1886-1967); John Henry (1888-1967); Mary K. (1889-1972); Francis Julianna (Sister Gratianna: 1891-1987); Andrew Oswald (1892-1946); Gertrude (Sister Adele: 1894-1987); Helen Theresa (1895-1988); Elizabeth (1897-1947); Martha Elizabeth (1899-2002); Agatha Margaret (1900-1999); Louis George (1904-1998: my grandfather who was perhaps named after Andrew Jr's oldest brother); George Frank (1905-1984); Anthony Robert (1908-1996). A few of their children stayed nearby, but most ventured far and wide across this country, settling in places such as Spokane, Tokoma, Hoquiam, and Seattle, Washington; Bar Nunn, Wyoming; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Sonoma, California; and Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
Andrew and Mary Ann's farm was about four miles south of Joseph and Maria Gruny's farm (parents of Clara). Clara and Louis (my grandparents) would eventually marry. Did they meet at a local swimming hole on the Black River, or at the local school, or perhaps at church? They were both Catholic and attended Holy Rosary Church in Medford. It's hard to know at this point, but fun to think about.
Approximate locations of Gruny and Hirt farmsteads. Click here to explore the area in Google Maps.
Andrew lived on his original farmstead for almost 30 years before he passed away on March 12, 1916 at the age of 61 of a cerebral abscess due to infected mastoids. In other words he died of a very severe ear infection, something that would be almost unheard of today. Mary Ann lived another 17 years living in the same house and farm that was inherited by their son John. According to her obituary in the local paper, she died of the "flu and complications" but according to her death certificate, she died of "acute cardiac insufficiency." She died on January 24, 1933 at the age of 69. She is buried along with Andrew at Holy Rosary Cemetery, Medford, WI, GPS Coordinates: 45.14100, -90.32131.
Headstones of Andrew and Mary Ann Hirt at Holy Rosary Cemetery, Medford, WI.
Obituary for Mary Ann Hirt.
Andrew Hirt homestead at the time of John Hirt's ownership.
