12/02/2023 WPS.   Some pictures of Grandad at different times. Born 12.2.1917. 106 today!

With his parents and sisters.

With his father on the farm.

With his sisters.

With school friends in front of his school in Bratislava.

Walking with his mother in Prague while at University there.

04/03/2023 WPS.   On this day 86 years ago, on 4.3.1937, Simon Schwitzer, grandad's grandfather, the benevolent patriarch of a big family, died aged 86, a good age for the times - especially for an asthmatic. Grandad (age 20, studying in Prague) was at the funeral in Tepličky ("my first rather upsetting attendance at a funeral" - memoirs, page 38).

"Here lies in God's grace Simon Schwitzer big landowner"

Simon came from relatively humble beginnings, born in Kovarce, north of Nitra, one of 6 children, brought up in a village inn. Later he would own or farm a large area around Nitra. To give an idea of the size of his lands, today his land covers Nitra Airport to the south and the new Jaguar Landrover mega factory to the north west of the town, plus lands at Madunice, and at Teplicky. While grandad grew up Simon lived in a flat in Nitra, later he lived a comfortable retirement in the hills at Teplicky, where he is the only person buried in the mausoleum presumably built to contain his whole family. But then two years after Simon died, WW2 kicked off. Simon enjoyed holidays in spa towns like Bad Ischl in Austria and on the Croatian coast at Opatija. How from humble beginnings did he get to live such a comfortable life?

The next picture is supposed to be Simon Schwitzer as a young man. He appears to be officiating at some sort of harvest festival. It was provided by Mirko, the former mayor of Tepličky, but as we have no other pictures of him in his younger days, it's difficult to be certain. The large ears and general head shape do seem to be him.

At 16 he ran away from home to work as a drinks waiter at Gambrinus, an upmarket restaurant in the heart of Budapest (until recently there was a restaurant of that name at Váci utca 20, now pedestrianised, the location of the Hotel Mercure, though where Gambrinus was in the 1860s is hard to tell). Presumably things went well for him in the big city, but at some point his father, who had found out where he was, came to collect him. His father gave or rented for him the farm at Madunice (which he later passed to Grandad’s father), and by the age of about 26 he had married 19 year old Amalia Schlesinger, one of at least 5 Schwitzer-Schlesinger marriages. Schlesinger is today a common surname, particularly in America. It’s origin is a toponym, identifying people from Silesia (German: Schlesier), the historical region of Poland centred on Wroclaw and the Oder river, adjacent to the Czech Republic.

Unfortunately Amalia died aged 20 in childbirth with Josef, the Bielik grandfather, an all too common occurrence in the days before antibiotics. A few years later Simon married her older cousin, Johanna Kuffler, who was exactly his age, the daughter of wealthy industrialists (it is her parents, David and Therese Kuffler, under the imposing granite tombs at Beckov).

Johanna had already had a son, called Wilhelm Kuffler, when she was about 21, as evidenced by his death notice, see below. Grandad states (memoirs, page 33) that his grandmother had been married before and that her son had predeceased her, but he gives the name Aloyz. Wilhelm’s death notice says he died in 1912 aged 39 after a long illness - 5 years before Grandad was born. Johanna herself died aged only 68 when Grandad was 2.

Here is my translation of Wilhelm's death notice.

Simon went on to have four children with Johanna, two girls Berta and Leona who were both married by 1912, then my/our grandfather Stefan Schwitzer in 1885, and finally Ilona’s grandmother Frida in 1889. All five siblings, including Josef, are listed as Wilhelm’s siblings on his death notice.

Curiously, Wilhelm carries his mother’s surname on this notice, his mother is not named as a widow, and Simon is listed as father (which presumably would have been intended to cover step-father). An unmarried mother would have been highly unusual in those days, so did Wilhelm take up his mother’s surname for some other reason? Perhaps the most likely explanation is that Johanna had married a Kuffler cousin; why else might a son use his mother’s name? Had the father died before, or soon after, he was born? Note also that neither the actual father nor any true siblings (nor any other paternal relatives) of Wilhelm are listed on the death notice, in short the death notice has no evidence of any other father other than Simon. What do you think?

Simon became catholic in 1919, and to mark his conversion he gave a large bell for the Piarist Church in Nitra. It was carried through the streets of Nitra by several pairs of oxen with great ceremony. The inscription carries his name.

This is what the bell sounds like! [Video opens in new window]

To close, pictures of Simon's marble relief at Tepličky, which is supposed to be a good likeness.

11/03/2023 WPS.   A picture of Great Grandpa Harry Pettet for his 131st, as I remember him. July 1974, age 82, with Eunice his wife and Olive his sister-in-law, in front of Wrights. Henry Charles Pettet, pharmacist, born 11.3.1892, died 9.4.1983.

27/03/2023 WPS.   On her 127th Birthday... we remember Eunice Winifred Moss, born 27.3.1896 to Mark & Laura Moss, the second child of 10 children, married Henry Charles Pettet in Cressing Church on 17.6.1924 aged 28, died at Wright's Farm on 30.4.1994 aged 98, buried in the same Cressing Church. Happy Birthday, Grannie!

21/06/2023 WPS.   On this day... on 21-6-1947 Grannie and Grandad were married in St Bartholomew’s Church, Haslemere.

22/06/2023 LAS.   That Midsummer day was our parents' wedding anniversary was etched on my memory from a very young age. It was as important a day as family birthdays. Mum and dad never failed to celebrate and always exchanged cards, dad's addressed to 'my beloved Joanna'. I feel very fortunate to have known with absolute certainty from a very young age, and because of the way they were together, that our parents loved each other very much. When I look at their familiar wedding photo I see dad, happy and proud, and with the only remaining member of his family, his sister Jean, by his side. I see mum, not yet 22, happy, and perhaps a little shy with all the excitement and newness of the day, (and I know how her new beautiful heavy silk crepe dress felt because years later we used to dress up in it!) I smile to myself as I remember that packed in Mum's suitcase, to be taken to the station for the long journey to their honeymoon in just an hour or so after the photo was taken, was the complete works of Proust! Who was she trying to impress! And I reflect on the enormity of the horrors and changes to our father's life over the previous few years and the potential for them to impact on our parents' future happiness. And I remember that years and years later, around the time that mum died, dad told me: 'your mum made me'. What greater tribute could he give to our wonderful mother! Xx

01/07/2023 WPS.   Remembering Grannie on today that would have been her 98th birthday. The strawberries from the garden were always ready for her birthday and usually adorned her birthday cake! Here she is with John! Joan Patricia Schwitzer née Pettet, 1.7.1925 - 19.9.2009.

02/07/2023 LAS.   Yes, always strawberries. The pleasure of picking and eating soft fruit dominated early summer. Even at the golden wedding guests were invited to pick gooseberries.

02/07/2023 LAS.   Love that photo. She was always happiest outside in nature and loved being with all her grandchildren.