The Schmalz ~ Horth/Hoerth Connection.
Note: Since the writing of my speculations below I have received definitive proof that my thoughts were correct. The record in the parish register of the marriage Gabriel Schmalz and Luise Horth identifies her parents which links the Wisconsin Horth's with the Schmalz's of Arkansas as suspected.
My Original Thoughts
When I contacted Lu & Marie Schmalz and interviewed them about the Schmalz lineage, they gave me a lot of really helpful info on the "Schmalz" side of the family that came from Germany. Most of the Schmalz family lived in or around Paris/Short Mountain, Arkansas after arriving in America. I do know that they (at least I have emigration records that say they did) emigrated from Germany in 1879/1880 and were in Paris by 1900. The reason I say the emigrated in 1879/1880 is that Gabriel's brother, Adolph, came over in 1879 and then Gabriel and Caspar Felix (Gabriel and Adolph's father came in 1880 (on different boats). I don't have any other info on where they were before the 1900 census except for a couple incidental items.
Conrad Schmalz (my grandfather), son of Gabriel, left Paris sometime after 1900 and headed North. I was told by Lu & Marie that he had relatives in Wisconsin and that he lived and worked there for a while. He eventually met his future wife, Nettie Urness (grandma), who was born in Minnesota and they were married on January 3, 1910, though Lu and Marie were unsure if grandpa and grandma met in Minnesota or Wisconsin. They shortly thereafter moved to South Dakota and homesteaded a farm near Belle Foursche raising cattle and tending crops. Then in about 1920-21 they moved to Red Wing, Minnesota where they lived until 1931 when they moved to Cleveland. So, over a time span of a couple years I tried to make the "Schmalz" connection in Wisconsin without any success. I assumed that the relatives were of "Schmalz" descent and for some reason had tunnel vision in that direction. Then one day in January, 2006 I decided to look into Gabriel Schmalz's wife a little further since I didn't have any luck finding info on her ancestry when I was looking for her parents a couple years ago.
This is where it gets interesting. First I found the Luise Hoerth on the LDS site with her birth place and date. The birth date was only one day off from what I had and the place of birth was a match. Then I found the LDS entry for Luise, her parents and siblings. I found all this to be, maybe?? just an interesting coincidence. At this point I was wondering if I could find any of her brothers that had emigrated to America. I did census search for Hoerth in Wisconsin and it brought up a lot of interesting possibilities. Before I investigated the Wisconsin Hoerth's, on a whim, I searched in Arkansas and found Frank C. Hoerth, who was born in Wisconsin, living in Short Mountain, Arkansas. Another interesting coincidence! And, he was the only Hoerth I found in Arkansas. My next move was to look at where he was living while he was in Arkansas. What I found really got my attention. He was living next door to the Binz and Gack families both of which have ties to Schmalz by marriage and only two doors down from Gabriel and Louise Schmalz. There are also several other Schmalz families living in the same district ( 1910 & 1920 Short Mountain, Arkansas). I then Googled Hoerth and found a site of a researcher in Wisconsin that has done a lot of research on the Hoerth family. What I'm thinking now is that Conrad had probably connected up with the Hoerth side of the family when he was in Wisconsin. I have verified through census data that Frank Hoerth was the son of Karl (Charles) Hoerth. Karl is listed as one of the siblings to Luise Horth. If, Luise Horth is our Louise (grandma) then Karl Hoerth would have been grandma's brother and Frank (living two doors away in Paris, Arkansas) would have been her nephew. It's not a far stretch to believe that Karl could be one of the Wisconsin relatives that Conrad had told Lu & Marie about.
You can view my documentation on Gabriel's Louise on Louise's page... Her obituary is of particular interest because it mentions her birth place.
The following links are to the site of Rita Rukashaza another researcher who is a descendant of Athanasius Hoerth. I don't know exactly how she relates but Frank Hoerth was her father's uncle and he related to her that Frank lived in Arkansas for a while.
Luise Horth: http://www.rukashaza.com/gen/Hoerth/hrtg05.htm#769
Luise's brother, Karl "Charles/Carl" Hoerth: http://www.uwplatt.edu/~rukashar/gen/hrtg06.htm#71
Karl's son, Frank Hoerth: http://www.uwplatt.edu/~rukashar/gen/hrtg07.htm#680
The following links are to the census records that are related to my speculations:
1880
1880 Census Brothertown Calumet Wisconsin District 26
Lines 33-35 Charles Hoerth family.
1900
1900 Census Brothertown Calumet Wisconsin District 3
Lines 74-88 - Charles Hoerth family. (Wow! 13 kids; must've been Catholics)
1910
1910 Census Short Mtn Logan Arkansas District 58 pg1
Gabriel & Charles Schmalz amilies.
1910 Census Short Mtn Logan Arkansas District 58 pg2
Frank Hoerth living next door to the Gack family and several doors down from Gabriel. I mention the Gack family because Anton Gack married Gabriel's Daughter, Frances Schmalz and coincidentally, Frank Hoerth married Appolonia Gack. Also, Gabriel's brother, Adolph, had a son named Charles that married Anton's sister, Matilda. Whew, talk about trying to keep all the relationships straight is mind boggling. "Boggling", that is a word isn't it? Incidentally the general consensus of those I've talked to say that the name Gack is pronounced "Jake", although I've also heard it pronounced "Jack"
1920
1920 Census Short Mtn Logan Arkansas District 59 pg1
Charlie & Frank Schmalz and the Frank Benz family. The Benz family is another family related by marriage. Gabriel's brother, Caspar was married to Emily Binz in Germany and another brother of Gabriel, Adolph was married to Katharina Binz in Paris, Arkansas. They were all born in Baden, Baden, Germany. Hmmm... Could Emily and Katharina have been related. I'll have to check that out. I haven't done any searching on the Binz's....
1920 Census Short Mtn Logan Arkansas District 59 pg2
Lines 8-20 Leo, Gabriel and Ed (Adolph Edward) Schmalz families.
1920 Census Short Mtn Logan Arkansas District 59 pg3
Frank Hoerth living next door to the Benz family and two doors from the Gack family.
1930
1930 Census Bagley Oconto Wisconsin District 3
Frank Hoerth is back in Wisconsin.
Ok, one last item here... Go and take a look at the 1900 Short Mountain census.
1900 Census Short Mtn Logan Arkansas District 61
The following Schmaltz family are members are listed on this page (lines 58-66):
Gabriel Smaltz, Head, Born May 1835, Age 65
Louise E., Wife, Born Feb 1852, Age 48
Caroline, Daughter, Born May 1877, Age 23
Felix A., Son, Born Oct 1878, Age 21
Frank M., Son, Born Jan 1882, Age 18
Mary E., Daughter, Born Dec 1886, Age 13
Adolp, Son, Born Nov 1884, Age 15
Leo, Son, Born May 1888, Age 12
Frances M., Daughter, Born Oct 1992, Age 8
This is the most messed up census I found. Even with all the errors in the census data and the transcription of the data, I am convinced this IS the Gabriel Schmalz family. The errors are: It looks like when the census taker came around somebody just made their best guess at birth month and year for each person in the family but were off by a year or so for most and off by about 9 years for Gabriel. The names also have errors indicating that whoever was giving the information to the census taker didn't even have a good knowledge of the family members names. Or, maybe the census taker just misreported a lot of the information.
Gobrie Smatty: I can't make out the first name but the last name looks like "Smaltz" with the "L" and the "T' crossed thus the name was catalogued as Smatty.
"Caroline, Daughter" should be "Conrad, Son".
Felix A. should be Felix C.
Adolp should be Adolph
Mary E. should be Mary S.
It's also interesting that Mary also shows up in the 1900 Fort Smith census indicating she was not even living at Gabriel's house in 1900. I also suspect Conrad "may" had already spread his wings and flew the coop by 1900 which would explain why someone who didn't know the family might have been confused about "Caroline/Conrad". Remember the "couple of incidental items" I mentioned earlier? Well, in the 1900 census it indicates that Gabriel's children, Frank & Mary were both born in Wisconsin. How's that for another serious coincidence! The 1910, 1920 and 1930 census though, all say they were born in Arkansas. So, here we have here another conundrum. Maybe someday it will all come together.
Now Look at the bottom of the page. The "Jack" family including Tillie (age 8), whom I believe to be the Tillie that married Charles Schmalz. Also in the "Jack" family is "Laney" as they have catalogued the name. Laney is also listed as a son. Well, they said Conrad was a daughter... I believe that Laney could really be daughter, Loney, or yes, you may have guessed Appolonia Gack (age 16) the future wife of Frank C. Hoerth. I can also make a similar case for Anton Gack that married Frances Schmalz but not in this census. You can go to the 1910 and 1920 census' and see that these families all stayed in about the same locations over the years.
So, there you have it. As circumstantial as all this stuff is, I believe that it makes for a pretty good argument that the Schmalz's of Arkansas are related to the Hoerth's of Wisconsin. In any case I'd be willing to bet that Gabriel and Louise at least knew Frank.
Interesting stuff though, huh?