General Notes

Michel TO CARD-INDEX died on February 13, 1832 with Scheighouse on Moder at 71 years, keeps carpenter (!!) resident with Schw…. husband of Anne Marie BARDOL wire legitimates of Frederic FISCHER remaining Schw…. and of (unknown name) Witness Jacques KEFER 70 years close shoe-maker BARDOL Ignace Schw… close

Michel is listed as being 71 years old at the time of his death, name of his father was Frederic Fischer, mother's name was unknown, father dead at the death of his son Michel. Frederic was born in Schoenenbourg and died in Schoenenbourg. Witness was Jacques Kefer, sixty years old, shoemaker, a neighbor and Ignace Bardol, twenty-nine, a mason, a neighbor.

Schoenenbourg is a farming village nestling a loessial hill. It is very probable that the hillock close-by was a former castle mound and that a wooden fort existed here in the Middle Ages. The locality was first mentioned in 1277. It was part of the domain of the Abbey of Wissembourg.

Later it was attached to the Bishopric of Spire and partially became the property of the Holzapfels of Herxheim. In 1714 the other half of the village was given up to a Nobleman of Lorraine, Jean de Nemery (his son’s tombstone is visible on the wall of the church). In 1775 the village was given up to Antoine Le Bel, owner of Pechelbronn, but the Revolution confiscated this national property.

In 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War, the village was evacuated to Haute-Vienne. The former church dating from the 18 th Century was destroyed by bombs in 1945 and only the base of the steeple remains.

The village is characterised by traditional-style houses. The rue du Tilleul is lined with beautiful cross-timbered houses dating from the 17 th and 18 th Centuries.

Only 531 people living in Schoenenbourg, 99% catholic