When our cousin Logan Brooks had a fourth-grade assignment last month to do a report on a medieval castle, he decided he wanted to pick a castle that he had a personal connection with. After doing some excellent research, Logan used LEGO to build a model replica of Tannenburg Castle, a stronghold near the town of Nentershausen, in the Hessian region of Germany. Why Tannenburg? Logan’s direct ancestor, Hans Schmidt (1594-1680) made his living as a shepherd in the shadow of this very fortress. Hans would have gone to Tannenburg at least once a year to perform his obligatory labor for his lords, the aristocratic Baumbach family. During dangerous times, like the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), Hans may have taken refuge behind the walls of Tannenburg.
In order to make his model as accurate as possible, Logan studied numerous images of the castle, a building which still stands today. The model accurately represents the castle’s tree garden, blacksmith shop, animal stable, archery range, walls, and towers, as they would have existed during its Renaissance heyday.
For those interested in learning more about the castle, it has its own website at: http://tannenburg.de/. Further information can be found at: http://www.baumbach.com/Castle/Default.htm
Logan is a son of Tiffany Brooks, grandson of Jerry Schmidt, great grandson of Jack Schmidt, 2xgreat grandson of Henry Samuel “Sam” Schmidt, 3xgreat grandson of Heinrich “Henry” Schmidt, 4xgreat grandson of Konrad Schmidt, 5xgreat grandson of Andreas Schmidt, 6xgreat grandson of Johann Friedrich Schmidt, 7xgreat grandson of Johannes Schmidt, 8xgreat grandson of Johann Hermann Schmidt, 9xgreat grandson of Martin Schmidt, and 10xgreat grandson of Hans Schmidt.