Nicole was researching the Mallo lineage when she ran into the
first Lintz to marry into it. On
Thursday she took us to the towns where these ancestors of Connie and Ron’s
(remember Ron? This is all being
done for him!) lived. And
died.
We picked up the scent of Lintzes in the picturesque town of
Vissembourg but it may have been mixed with the smell of meat. Andre Lintz (Lintz #1) was a respected
member of the Butcher’s Guild.
Nicole believes he may also have been the executioner, the man who
worked the guillotine. Butchers of
the time knew where to make the proper cut.
Lintzes also may have lived in Eberbach but we couldn’t find a
trace of them in the cemetery.
After a grave has been neglected for years it seems it can be “recycled”
and, no, we didn’t ask what happens to the old remains.
John Jacob, the Lintz who married Ms. Mallo then immigrated to
the US, came from Griesbach – the one in Alsace. Nicole has photocopies of the marriage document but
Griesbach is a small town and town hall is open for only two hours a week. To paraphrase WC Fields “I went to
Griesbach once but it was closed!”
If you can’t find a Lintz, look for Mallo. So on our way from Strasbourg to Nicole
and Thaddeas’s home in Savoie we stopped near Riquewihr in the heart of Alsace
wine country to do just that at Mallo and Fils Winery. Dominique, one of the ‘fils’ took time
from his busy schedule to tell us about the vineyards and the family. He owns seven hectares with several
varieties of grapes. Not enough,
he says, to make a living but too much for one person to work.
