Frederike Wilhelmine Marie Schmidt (née Kneese) born on 22nd September 1875 in the small German village of Wöbbel, which is now part of Schieder-Schwalenberg town in North Rhine-Westphalia. Only very small details were passed down about her childhood, her parents. My grandmother used to say that her mother Marie had lived a life full of work, modesty and with the gift to make everyone welcome. Marie's parents passed away when she was still a teenager so that she and her sister were split and grew up with relatives. Marie living at a family with the name Rüterhenke and her sister apparently went to England. As a young girl Marie went to Elgersburg in Thuringia where she attended a professional training in cooking. Probably around that time she met her future husband Gustav Paul Schmidt who was born in Altenburg on 9th December 1877. Marie and Gustav fell in love and had eager plans to have a family and to run a hotel business together. Both moved to the town of Schleiz in Thuringia where they married on 30th December 1909 and opened the Bahnhofshotel which was close to the local train station.
The Bahnhofshotel was a busy location with 4 guest rooms, a restaurant and a bar, all run and managed by her, Gustav and their elder daughter Margot and her younger sibling Mechthild, who was my grandmother.
The Bahnhofshotel was a busy location with 4 guest rooms, a restaurant and a bar, all run and managed by her, Gustav and their elder daughter Margot and her younger sibling Mechthild, who was my grandmother.