Genealogy is not the sum total of sepia-toned, dusty, photographs. It’s not just the few notes scribbled on the back page of a Bible. It’s a portal through which we witness the journey of our grandparents, through which we better understand the forces that shaped, and continue to shape, our lives. Millions of Americans have similar stories, but the one told on these pages is our story – a firsthand account written by people who were there.
Our great-great-grandfather Johann Dollhopf died at the age of 28 in the year 1858. Shortly after he died an inventory was taken of everything he owned, providing us with a doorway through which we can step back in time.
A “Schränzlein” was a flat basket to carry away dung. Most probable meaning!
In other places: a basket with an opening (with a “Schränze”, a kind of scissure, fissure, crack) for catching birds.
(found in Grimm`s Wörterbuch 1854, THE encyclopaedic dictionary of the German of those times)
The word “Schränze” is no longer in use in modern German