This blog entry is from the first week of our trip, after our computer failed.

Thirty one years ago we visited the village of Schlotfeld, and again on this trip. The village does seem to have changed considerably: new homes on the southern edge; more vegetation along the "schlot" or small stream that runs through the "feld" or field; and no more 900 year old Linden tree because of a storm a few years ago. And the Burgermeister whom we met on the earlier trip has died.

We were fortunate to visit my fourth cousin, Marga. She and her husband live in the remodeled barn-portion of house-barn in which she was born. The farm has been in her family for generations.

This barn is on the farm where my great, great grandfather was born; and where four or five generations before him lived and died. There is a gravestone near the barn that bears the names of my great, great, great grandparents.

There are family inscriptions in the wood beams above the doorway. They have been painted over so they are somewhat difficult to read but we can see the name "Schlotfeldt".

Here, as on many old farms, the house and barn have been built as a single structure. This is the house that is attached to the barn shown above.

Marga's father was delighted to meet some new Schlotfeldts. He and Marga's mother live in the "house" portion of their combined house-barn.