MORE FROM HEATON PARK BUS RALLY

a week Friday at 6.45 am, on Southern Counties Radio breakfast show discussing my book, don't suppose anyone gets this show? Well the Indian trucks 1998 is now ready on DVD and I'm doing the rest of the trip at the same time, Calcutta trams, Mumbai buses. I expect Mandy will be dragging me off to the Three Greyhounds shortly, dentest check up tomorrow, joy of joys. Saturday weather looks good, either Bournemouth , Poole and Weymouth or South West Wales, any special requests on that one. Lots of family tree material added, all on Gencircles. The Grosholz family wewre married to Lings thence to Mandy's HARDY clan, a history of the gents family who came to Manchester from Germany. Its translated via the internet!

The roots of the stirps of GROSSHOLZ were found in the swiss village Aldiswil at the lake of Zürich. There a man named Kunrat GROSSHOLZ was documented to be the local deathsman ( executioner)in 1473. From there the family moved to Zürich and settled there until about 1600 working as deathsmen. They split up and moved to Strassburg and Mühlhausen afterwards still working as deathsman until about 1730. The family of GROSSHOLZ is one of the biggest clans of deathsmen beside the VOLLMARs.The unvaried career choice is a result of the special position of deathsman these times. Deathsmen either belonged to a lower profession or were completely banned from social life but on the other side they were appreciated as magician (selling bits of hanged murderers) and healer. However they were not allowed to marry other people than those of the same profession, they mustn´t change the profession and the job was bequested from father to son.From the age of enlightment on it was possible for members of a deathsmans clan to change to other low professions like forester or soldier.
Some descendants of Johannes Grossholz (1666-1731), deathsman in Strassburg, changed their religion from reformed to catholic and removed one 's' in their name (Grosholz from now on).The family emblem as seen above on the left originates in this age.The execution sword of the Clan Grosholz still exists at the descendants of Karl Grosholz near Stuttgart. The blade of marked with the sentence:Wann ich Das Schwert Tue Aufheben / wuensche ich dem Suender das Ewige Leben. (When I raise the sword / I wish the sinner the eternal life)andIhr Herren Steuren dem Unheil / Ich, Exequire ihr Urteil. (The masters lead us away from harm / I carry out their judgement).
One of the sons of Johannes Grossholz was Franz Adolf Grosholz (*1709 - ?, forester in Martinstein since 1736). He had 5 children of whom one had another 17 children. The family expanded very fast and some remarkable biographies shall be mentioned in the following.
Johann Wilhelm Grosholz(1802-1867) became a famous forester in Kurpfalz and is supposed to be the origin of the legend of the "Jäger aus Kurpfalz". A lot of tales and songs were written about this legendary ranger.
Friedrich Carl Michael Grosholz(1810-1888), became geometer and settled in Vilbel. He started a company for selling mineral water from a fountain on his ground. The company still exists. (Hassia) He was the father of Adolf Georg Jakob Grosholz(1845-19018), who was the director of the oriental rail company. He was given credit for his work from many countries like Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Russia, Germany and even the Vatican and was rewarded with many decorations and gifts. Adolf Georg Jakob was the father of Osman Grosholz. Some sources state that Osman was wearing the german banner on the opening ceremony of the olympic games 1932 in Los Angeles. I could neither verify nor disprove that.
Especially about Friedrich Carl Michael Grosholz and his descendants Erich Seipp has written a book called "Grosholz-Familienforschung 1473-1988". All content on this side is taken from this book, You can order it here.
Another remarkable and famous treeleave of the Grosholz wood is Madame Ann Marie Tussaud born Grosholz (1760-1850). She is the daugther of officer Johann Joseph Grosholz de Francfort, granddaugther of Johann Jakob Grosholz, deathsman of Waselone and great - granddaugther of Johannes Grosholz, mentioned above.
An extensive but probably not complete list of ancestors of the family grosholz can be found here. It is a part from the Malzacher list, a genealogy of some families around the region Baden-Baden in Germany. There you can see that the variety of professions also increased.
The list also mentions some family members who emigrated to USA about 1800 like GROSHOLZ Franz Anton (1820 - 1887), GROSHOLZ Konstantin (1819 - ?), GROSHOLZ Hermann (1824 - ?) which might be the roots for all the Grosholz appearances when you google the net for Grosholz. Nearly one half is dedicated to Emily Grosholz followed by Ted Grosholz, Edwin D. Grosholz and Alan Grosholz.