places and names of family tree
 SCHMIDT LINE
(different spelling: Schmied, Schmitt, Schmid)

My father's ancestors are rooted in the area of the so-called Frankonian Switzerland around Pottenstein (Trägweis). They were craftsmen and farmers. They are documented in parochial registers back to the 17th century. Than they went to neighbouring Northern Upper Palatinate where you find today the training area Grafenwöhr. The villages Haag, Bergfried, Pappenberg, etc. are not existing anymore. In the Middle Ages there was an important iron mining industry and this explains the family name (smith).

Please go to "Links" (German part) and have a look at "Stammbaum Schmidt".
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Please have a look at the maps!

GRILLMEIER LINE
(different spelling: Grillmayr, Grillmaier, Grillmayer, Grillmeyer)

The Grillmeiers are the family of my mother and come from the area around Eger (today Cheb in the Czech Republic). See the Czech names of the villages in the German text. I can trace them back to the 17th century. These ancestors were mostly farmers. There existed a so-called Frais rule. This meant that the jurisdiction around Neualbenreuth changed annually between the Waldsassen monastery (later part of the Kingdom of Bavaria) and the free imperial city of Eger (later in the Kingdom of Bohemia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire). This also meant that my ancestors constantly married across the borders. One emigrated in the 18th century to Australia and changed during WW I his name into Andersen.

Frais: Look at German page: Links - Veröffentlichungen - Wikipedia - Frais and at the Czech publication: http://www.hamelika.cz/OSTATNI/frais/frais.htm

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