John Jacob Link (Part 2)

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I'm picking up where I left off with the story of our trip to Leingarten. I have already uploaded the photos that we took there. I'm typing this as Rob is driving on the A8 autobahn from Salzburg to Munich. Traffic is heavy and it is raining; there are a lot of trucks. My laptop is fully charged and ready to go.

Herr Krieger drove us to the other side of Leingarten to the town museum, which he called the "Archives." It is housed in the former town hall, Rathaus, of the village of Schluctern. Schluctern and Grossgartach were merged into one municipality around 1970, when according to Herr Krieger, the German government had many small villages combined into new entities with new names. So the historical artifacts from Grossgartach are in this museum in old Schluctern. There, the reporter asked more questions, and seemed as much interested in Rob's ancestry (Westphalia) and his years spent as a U.S. soldier in Germany, as my story. (Herr Krieger is now working on Obama's maternal family connections to Grossgartach!)

The surprise was awaiting me in the basement of the Archives. There, displayed as part of a town blacksmith exhibit, was the very large wooden and leather bellows from the Link forge on Heilbronner Street. It was dated 1733, the same year as John Jacob's immigration, and the tip was carved in the shape of a dragon's head. Another wow! Some of the Link shop's tools were on display, too, along with the photo of the home/shop from the Link family history book that I knew so well. Here is where I learned that the photo was taken around 1914.

Our visit with the Kriegers concluded with a stop at the Grossgartach cemetery (Friedhof), where I learned that the burial plots are only good for 30 years (meaning that after 30 years is up, your gravesite is available for someone else to use and your gravemarker is taken away). Needless to say, with this system there are NO old gravestones in most of Germany - a disappointment. Herr Krieger remarked that it is different in America; I am glad. Before we parted, I presented the Kriegers with a poster from the attendees of the recent Link family reunion. The poster said "Greetings to Kuno Krieger from the Link Family, 22 August 2010, Uvilla, WV," and displayed a reunion group photo and the signatures of the American cousins.


Rob and I spent the rest of the afternoon strolling on Heilbronner Strasse and taking more pictures. The weather was great and we stopped in one of the many German bakeries we have seen on this trip for coffee and pastries. But it was finally time to say Auf Wiedersehen to Leingarten and head to our next destination - Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

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Comments

[Ann]

My "Link"
Sis -- I am SO excited for you because I know you are in euphoria right now!! I've never gotten into the German side of the family (I must admit to pretending I'm 100% Irish!), even though most of the traditions I remember growing up were German in origin. I can only imagine how you must have felt standing in front of where the Link home once stood and in the museum looking at his blacksmith tools. How wonderful it is that you made contact with our relatives and they were so gracious! Even more wonderful is that you had the foresight and kindness to have the "American Links" send their greetings from the August reunion and that you brought the beautiful Link coffee mugs. You are a very special person!!! BTW, while I have never embraced my Link heritage, I DO remember many hours looking at the pages of that green Link book with President Eisenhower's picture in the front! You rock! P.S. I saw you were wearing the Link seal necklace; did they say anything about it?