Although my parents were diligent and economical, the soil was very poor. Moreover on the 20th of September 1854 in Harscheid 9 houses burned down and 9

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families lost all their goods. Among the 9

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houses was the house of my parents. All the family members tried to rescue the furniture, the cattle and so on, but my father was so confused that he threw all the china, glasses and other fragile parts out of the window and destroyed more of them than he saved. It was a very bad time for my parents with their 7 children.
 
Some of the relatives gave the advice to sell the ground and to have a new start in the nearby city as a workman. But my father descended from a farm and he refused to leave the rural countryside. He had no money, but he had courage and hands to work with them. And he worked day and night. From my mother I heard that in one of those days once she missed her husband and at last she found him under a staircase, standing upright, leaning against the wall and sleeping.. He had not slept for several nights. And he had success.

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©   Kurt Müller 2022
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Simon - Dax
 

Kaspar Heinrich Simon

born 13. May 1818 in Hoff
died  11. February 1884 in Harscheid

Elisabeth Dax

born 28. October 1814 in Harscheid
died  17. February 1885 in Harscheid

⚭

Simon

Dax

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* Wilhelm was the son of Kaspar Heinrich Simon and Elisabeth Dax
 and the brother of
Amalie Simon
.
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In Harscheid, many generations of villagers lived in franconian farmhouses where all rooms for  people and stock were united under one roof. The half- timbered houses were thatched with rye straw, and over the course of the 19th century, a

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pretty front composed of white-washed areas and black timbers became customary.


 
On the 20th of September 1854 a blaze burned 7 half-timbered houses and their barns to ashes. Harscheid endured one of its blackest days. Playing children had lighted a little fire, and probably a small gust had been enough­to twirl some sparks up into a straw roof which was ablaze within a few moments. Then with lightning speed the fire spread to the neighbouring houses.
 
Luckily, given the circumstances, before the onset of winter the displaced families could move in with relatives and neighbours or in fast erected emergency shelters.
 
According to an assessment of the municipality of Marienberghausen made in 1861, 1119 of the 1251 buildings in the  parish were still thatched with straw; probably the school was the only building in Harscheid with a tiled roof.

From: Karl Schmitz, Chronik von Harscheid (Chronicle of Harscheid), Harscheid 1999

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Below: Harscheid amidst the hilly countryside of "Oberbergisches Land"

(Photograph from Wikipedia)

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Above: Traditional thatched farmhouse of the Oberberg region which Harscheid as well as Waldbröl / Hoff are parts of.

(Photograph from Wikipedia)

written by Wilhelm Simon in 1927

Chronicle of the Simon family (4)