Klemens Schnell was born in Germany around 1818. He and his wife Petrina migrated to the United States about 1855. They were Protestants living in the predominantly Catholic southern part of the country (Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria), and Grandmother Rose gave the religious persecution they suffered as the reason for their emigration. The Schnells settled in Paterson, New Jersey.
Other friends from Germany also came to the US, for example the Dorstans who went to Milwaukee with many others Germans.
On February 1, 1859, their daughter Rose was born in Paterson, where she lived and went to school. The family apparently was at least modestly comfortable financially, although Rose spoke of the fear of the "[financial] panic of 1879."
Rose's daughter Leonida mentioned in a diary entry dated 1906 that Rose had an older sister.
Klemens Schnell died in Paterson around 1884. His wife survived him.
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Sources: Family records in Germany; US immigration and naturalization records; Paterson city and church records; US Census, 1860, 1870 and 1880; 1885 Passaic County census
Additional research by Paul Ford, Klemens's great-great grandson.
Fudakowski-Krajewski family home