Talking loudly, she laughingly observes, might be a family trait, “that I most likely got from my German grandmother, Louise Schwartz, she was hard of hearing; she spent years in our household and we always had to talk loudly to her.” … But all in sequence! Carla Sue (78) finds her family history fascinating; she loves history and stories. To having Einsiedeln roots makes her immensely proud; to be a “Schoenbaechler” is superb, she says over and over again.
“My great-great grandfather, Meinrad Schoenbaechler, must have been an interesting and charismatic person.” She shows his large picture: he looks imposing, this man with white hair and long beard and vivid eyes.
She especially loves the watercolor that shows the double house of his parents above the “Sternen Inn”, the Inn of Stars, in the Birchli near Einsiedeln. “Meinrad made the painting of the home of his parents when in 1894 he traveled back to Switzerland. By the way, the house is still there - and I have been told that Schönbächlers are living there still today. We know a few things about him here, the immigrant and progenitor, and they are handed down in our family from generation to generation.”
In 1850 Meinrad Schönbächler emigrated on a sailing boat to America. It was said that Meinrad had been educated at the monastery Einsiedeln - and had been sent by the Einsiedeln monks to the monastery St. Meinrad in Indiana. He never arrived there. “I think, that in the land of unlimited opportunity, he was to discover money and women!”
Meinrad Schoenbaechler settled in Louisville and married Carolina Hund. With the German Frank J. Raidt he built the WILLIAM TELL Flour Mill on Broadway in Louisville. Great misfortune struck when the Tell Mill burnt down.
“Meinrad never learned English; there were enough countrymen in Louisville and besides, he got people for his enterprise from home. So he could continue to speak Swiss German. I remember that even my grandfather still spoke Swiss German. But he insisted his children go to public school and speak English, not go to the German church, St Martin’s, where they worshipped.”
In Louisville, Meinrad was to become a successful and respected businessman and he was a member of the Gruetli Society, the Louisville Turnerverein and the Concordia Singing Society.
His only daughter Pauline married Leo H. Allgeier. “The marriage with the drunk did not go well. She returned with her four children - three girls and a boy - to her parents. I didn’t get to know Pauline, but her son, my grandfather John. I knew him very well. He loved me, his only grandchild, like the apple of his eye, something which grandma Louise Schwartz did not like at all. She could never stand me, although she lived with us until she died.
Grandfather had gotten to know the poor factory worker when one day she had brought cigars from the factory to Meinrad. Normally, the housekeeper took the cigars at the backdoor - but just that day, and probably by fate, John went to the door that morning and right then and there fell in love with the lovely but poor German girl and married her.” In the 1920s John Allgeier sold the mill and bought various farms, also including the large one where Carla Sue and her husband and their two daughters have their houses.
“Grandfather was an entrepreneur and loved country life, cows and horses, especially racing horses. On that 99 acre (40 hectares) piece of land I grew up - as an only child, spoiled by my parents and grandfather.
He took me to banquets in Louisville, in the plane to horse races in Florida, on the train with many of my friends over night to Chicago….
With grandfather I also attended every Catholic school picnic in Louisville - he sold milk to the many Catholic schools.While he drank his beer, I tasted all the candies I could find. Grandfather bought a commercial dairy in town for my father, Carl. We delivered milk all over town.
There are many Schoenbaechlers in Louisville - and I feel very attached to them. It is exciting. Thanks to “Einsiedeln Elsewhere” I have now met more descendants of Einsiedeln people.Fantastic! When I was a child there was a garden area with a large community hall and park, called Swiss Park. They would have picnics, dinners, play cards, horseshoes, and all ages attended the picnics. I went as a child with my grandfather.”
Carla Sue and her husband Brad - founder and chair of the Louisville Theater Association and organizer of many shows for great names in the music scene of the United States - lead a most active social and cultural life; they are also in the front line of numerous charities. “But when winter comes we need to leave the cold of the Midwest and move by boat to warmer climates. But, next year, I think, I ought to plan a trip with my husband and daughters and their families to Europe and to Einsiedeln. I think that I have many Schoenbaechler relatives there - to get to know them would be marvelous.”
