Person:Wilhelm Altenhof (3)

Wilhelm is probably a descendant of Anton Altenhof from Bingen / Rheim via Vienna 31 May 1765.

During the mid 1700s the Austrian Church and Crown began to recruit individuals from various German states. They did their recruiting from areas where their success would be high. The reason they were recruiting Germans was to resettle the recruits and their families along the Danube river in the Balkans to provide a first line of defence against the Turks (Ottoman Empire).

The type of people who could be recruited were those with no jobs, very poor and possibly being persecuted by the Catholic church because they were part of the reformation. One of the areas where people meeting this description lived was Baden-Wurttemberg. Our forefathers lived there and were recruited. They were likely serfs and probably either had no jobs or were indentured to the land owners. Because the Austrian church and Crown were supporting the recruitment, the land owners were inclined to allow the peasants to leave.

Those who signed up were given their freedom and were promised a sum of money and a parcel of land. They were instructed to make their way to Ulm on the Danube river in what is now Germany. From Ulm they were instructed to float down the Danube to predesignated areas. To this day the people are known as DonauSchwaben or Danube Schwabs. The people apparently had to make their own large rafts on which they floated down the river. There was a short period of time when these people left Ulm. There is a monument to the people who left and their departure date.

Our forefathers floated down the Danube to their designated location and started a town. The Austrian authorities did provide the DonauSchwabs with a sum of money when they left and a parcel of land when they arrived ın their towns. The Austrians had actually laid out all these towns and the designated spots were clearly identified.

Requirements to be recruited were: 1. Christian 2. Able to get to Ulm 3. Germanic speaking 4. Able-bodied