Frederick William & Minnie Schmidt

Frederick William & Minnie Schmidt

Frederick W. and Minnie Schmidt lived near Warsaw, Poland. They had 3 daughters. One married and stayed in Poland, 2 daughters came with them.

F.W. Schmidt & Minnie originally came from the Alsace-Lorraine area in North East France. The French & Germans were at war. The French soldiers came in & ran swords through all the children except two. They had hid the baby and older child to care for it in the flu of the outdoor oven that they used then. After this they worked their way across Germany, Poland and on to Russia (Lenningrad area). This was where Amelia was born on Feb. 2, 1857. No one is sure if the Pelzer's were in this group but they think they were.

The night they left to come to America, they had to wade out about one mile to the ship. The Germans were shooting at them to try and keep them from leaving the country. Amelia was shot in the legs with a pellet gun. She had to carry the baby above her head to keep him from drowning.

They came by way of Denmark to Canada, was 2 Omega months crossing. They docked in the year 1885 (?).