Page 09

1858 - 1886, and the year everything went wrong

Theodor Karl and Veronika (1858-1886)

The 1858 deed, Theodor Karl's marriage and early death, Max's emigration

Page 09 of the 1986 Distel butchery anniversary booklet

Click the page to see it at full size

Translated from Ludwig Distel's German.

9 August 1858 The heirs of Josefa Kornhaas, nee Egle - namely the widower Nepomuk Kornhaas and 5 children - sell the house in the Niedere Strasse, on one side Valentin Gaisser, on the other Jakob Neidinger, for 2,600 gulden to Johann Distel. Four years later, in 1862, the firm's founder Johann and his wife Theresia retired. They handed the house and the business over to their son Theodor Karl. His last years, however, had little to do with a peaceful old age. At first everything took its normal course: on 16 October 1862 Theodor Karl married Veronika Strobel, who came from Beckhofen, a part of Klengen. When the wedding took place at Kirchdorf she was 22 years old. Veronika became the mother of six children, the eldest being two boys, Hermann and Robert; two died in childhood. After the early death of her brother-in-law Wilhelm at the age of 32 - his wife died almost at the same time - their son Max also grew up in the family of his uncle Theodor Karl. Max Distel later emigrated to America; his grandchildren and great-grandchildren live today in almost every part of the USA. He was not to remain the only emigrant. But back to the Niedere Strasse: 1876 - a fateful year! On 13 September 1876 the master butcher Theodor Karl Distel died at forty. His wife Veronika became, once and for all, the family's mainstay. She had four children to look after, the youngest just a year old, and her aged parents-in-law as well. The firm's founder Johann outlived his two sons by 17 and 11 years respectively. But this woman now had to carry the burden of the business too. Veronika Distel mastered this blow of fate and held the family and the business together. In 1878 she married the master butcher Karl Metzger. In this period the Distel butchery was able, in spite of everything, to consolidate its standing and to supply a body of customers reaching far beyond Villingen. Old business ledgers from the eighties of the last century prove it: not only deliveries to the surrounding area, especially in Brigachtal, but regular deliveries to customers in Schaffhausen, Winterthur, indeed as far as Zurich are recorded here. In 1886, despite all the blows of fate so far, the 50th Pedigree 2 Mathias Distel m. Maria Anna Kornhaas b. 14 Feb 1780 Rietheim Johann Distel m. 18 Jan 1836 Theresia Neugart b. Apr 1805 Rietheim Villingen b. 1810 Neuhausen d. 30 Dec 1887 Villingen d. 14 Apr 1879 Villingen Children: Theodor Karl Distel Wilhelm Distel b. 28 Oct 1836 and b. 31 May 1838 d. 13 Sep 1876 d. 24 Aug 1870 Pedigree 3 Theodor Karl Distel m. 16 Oct 1862 Veronika Strobel b. 28 Oct 1836 Villingen Kirchdorf b. 4 Feb 1840 Beckhofen d. 13 Sep 1876 Villingen d. 5 Dec 1905 Villingen Children: Hermann Distel Robert Distel b. 13 Nov 1863 Villingen and b. 27 Mar 1867 Villingen d. 25 Mar 1888 Villingen d. 13 Feb 1946 Villingen [shop sign:] DISTEL

Interesting facts

People: Johann Distel (1805-1887), Theodor Karl Distel (1836-1876), Veronika Strobel (1840-1905), Wilhelm Distel (1838-1870), Max Distel, Hermann Distel (1863-1888), Robert Distel (1867-1946), Karl Metzger

Places: Villingen, Niedere Strasse, Beckhofen, Kirchdorf, Brigachtal, Schaffhausen, Winterthur, Zurich, USA