Kindelberger Family History

The Kindelberger family history began in Europe in the area of Alsace Lorraine, an agricultural area. Friedrich Kindelberger, was raised by his grandparents, as a young adult he married Margretha Newhart. In the 1840’s they were a family of four with a daughter, Elisabeth, and a son, Frederick. At that particular time many residents of their area were preparing to emigrate to the United States of America. War was common to their area as its natural resources were desired by other countries. Families were leaving to escape the continual fighting and also for the desire to find new and large farms which America promised.

The story here in Switzerland Township, Monroe County, Ohio begins in September of 1846. At that time, Friedrich and Margretha Kindelberger purchased the original eighty acres of their farm from John Lapp. We have little knowledge about any belongings that the Kindelbergers brought along to their new country. We are only aware of their attributes of hard work and making use of the natural resources at hand.

On April 11, 1860, young Frederick took as his wife, Magdalena Stegner from nearby Belmont County. Shortly after their marriage, the young couple joined the elder Kindelbergers in the farming operation. After the birth of their fourth child, came the idea of building their new home, an Alsatian winemakers house designed and built from native sandstone. As the house sits atop a long slope, the cellar is half buried. Nearly ten years after building the comfortable home, Frederick began to dream of building a barn. Not an ordinary barn like the ones the neighboring farmers were building but a barn also built from sandstone quarried from that original eighty acres. These building were to last for a dozen generations. Beginning with his son, William, who as a teenager, and two elder daughters and other area stone masons the construction of this outstanding barn became a reality.

In order for the farmland to remain productive and provide for these future generations, strict conservation measures were put in place among those were stone walls in draws to retain soil carried by water runoff. These walls were built around the time the buildings were built and remain pretty much intact yet today.

Let us fast forward three generations, from William to his daughter, Mary Kindelberger Caldwell, who also spent her entire lifetime on this farm, to her daughter Dorothy Caldwell Schnegg, who was born and grew to a young lady before marrying and moving to a neighboring farm, where she and husband, Earl raised their three children, Marjorie Schnegg Baumberger, the Schneggs’ eldest child, moved along with her husband, Gary and three young children, to the farm in 1976. From that time until the present they have taken charge of the farm activities.

Soon after the turn of the century with the advent of the shale gas era, changes began to appear in Monroe County and also Switzerland Township. Farmers began to realize welcome income from oil and gas speculators for the right to explore and drill for gas and oil. Along with the income, came much intrusion into the lives of those still farming in the area.

Vowing to stay with the farm, Marjorie made a decision to use some of the gas proceeds to build a beautiful tourist cabin in a secluded area of the farm. The cabin was completed in the fall of 2017. Marjorie has named the cabin the “Kindelberger Cabin” in honor of her ancestors.