I am going to tell the story of two women ... one descends from the other but are separated by several centuries.
The first one is Anna Stenger wife of Peter Walter who lived in eastern France during the 30 years war. My 4 x great grandfather, her great great grandson wrote a chronicle about his family and the glass makers of Eastern France in the 1700s. To see an English Translation of part of this work go to
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Translation_of_Jean_Georges_dit_Chambre_Walter_Chronicle
Here is Anna's story https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Stenger-199
"These are my recollections of the earliest accounts that my ancestors recounted, concerning the glassworks of Munzthal founded by the direction of Pierre WALTER, our ancestor: This Pierre WALTER made glass at Munzthal at the time of the Swedish War, a war which lasted 30 years from 1618 to 1648. Also, he worked at Munzthal toward the end of the Swedish War. He had five (5) children of which the youngest, Adam Walter, had not yet been weaned. The mother Anna STENGER lived with her infants at Soucht. At that time in history, there was a famine in the region and the villages were all uninhabited. All the inhabitants had fled France during the terrible Thirty Year War against Sweden with the exception of a few who were hidden in the forest. There was neither bread nor livestock in all the region (the potato did not exist yet on our continent), and also, we totally lacked food. The people lived from hunting and fishing, because the wild game and the fishes were in abundance in the wooded regions. That was the reason the infants could not eat this type of food as the adults could, therefore, the majority of the children and infants died from lack of bread and milk. Our elders have told me that the wife of Pierre WALTER(Anna STENGER), our great-grandmother, went to Strasbourg to buy bread. She took with her, her youngest infant, Adam WALTER, who had not yet been weaned, leaving the four others at Soucht. When she returned with the bread, her servant had left for Munzthal with the four children to see their father, who was making glass there. The mother went on ahead to Munzthal to take the bread to her children. When she arrived on the lower side of the forest that separated Soucht from Munzthal, she saw her servant arrive with her children.. The mother asked: "Where is little Anne?" The servant was crying and told her that the infant was dead, lying below a tree on the high side. One can imagine how hard the pain was for that mother in learning that news. After that first infant died, the three others died also. Only the youngest survived, Adam WALTER, from whom all the Walters of the region descend."
Later in the same work, he makes this note about the death of Adam Walter her son "The 2nd of February, 1688 was buried Adam WALTER, master glassmaker. He expired piously the 1st of February about 3 o'clock, and was buried near the "grand cross on the side of the entrance of the church." He lived in marriage for 21 years, he had 6 children: Etienne, Nicolas, Pierre, Martin (who was my grandfather), Ursule and Marguerite. At his death, his children were all still very young. The great-grandmother (Anna STENGER) continued to direct the glassworks with her children until 1700. Then the glassworks disappeared and the new glass manufactory was constructed in Meisenthal in 1702. Often I have seen that date carved on the ancient glassworks.
So this woman braved a war torn land, travelling over 80 miles to try to get food for her children. All of the children who had not been weaned died of starvation due to the 30 years war. She outlived both her husband and the son who she had taken with her on her travel because he had not been weaned yet. So she took over the running of the glass works until the grandsons opened a new one.
Formidable woman in the 1600s now moving forward in history to my grandmother, a direct descendant of hers. Dorothy (Walter) Pennie https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Walter-3003 raised 3 small children to wonderful adults by herself after her husband left to go bowling and never returned. No idea what happened to him.
She worked for years for Famous-Barr which was later acquired by Macy's. That is pretty much a minimum wage job and she kept her family fed and clothed. She was an optimist and always saw the best in people. She had a big heart and loved her children, grandchildren, and many great grandchildren.
So both women experienced great emotional pain through loss in their lives but fought through it to raise their families and provide for their families.
They are an inspiration to me.
