"Shared Treasures": Mrs. Anna Hohmann née Korb from Schlaggenwald

Franziska reached out to me with this old photo, which she had purchased at a flea market in southern Germany. She was curious about what could be discovered about the woman in the photo. Luckily, the reverse revealed some valuable clues:

Mrs. Hohmann

Mrs. Agnes Pröll (wife of Senior Administrator [Centralverwalter] Pröll)

Grandmother of Mrs. Mathilde Werner (wife of Manager Werner)

Great-grandmother of Mr. Karl Werner, Manager

Great-great-grandmother of Dr. Anna Schnopp

The photo was printed at the studio of Anton Baldreich, located at 21 V. Kleine Neugasse in Vienna, Austria.

I first looked into the photo studio to determine when the picture might have been taken. Mr. Baldreich appeared in the Vienna City Directory at that address between 1875 and 1907. Interestingly, however, he wasn’t listed as a photographer, but as a Futteralmacher—a craftsman who lined cases and bags with leather, silk, or paper.

I initially went down the rabbit hole of researching any "Hohmann" living in Vienna during that period. That didn’t lead to any useful results — because I had gone down the wrong rabbit hole! There was clearly a connection to Vienna, but not the one we were looking for.

Franziska then found information about Agnes Pröll, the woman’s daughter, and her husband Friedrich Pröll, in the Austrian newspaper archives. She discovered that Agnes was born as Agnes Hohmann on April 7, 1824, in Schlaggenwald, Bohemia (Horní Slavkov in today’s Czech Republic). That was the domino that set everything in motion, revealing two key clues: our sitter’s married surname and the birthplace of her daughter. We had finally found the right rabbit hole — and what a rewarding one it turned out to be!

But let me keep you in suspense a bit longer. What was life like in Schlaggenwald at the time?

The town of Schlaggenwald (Horní Slavkov in the Czech Republic) is located in western Bohemia, about 15 km southwest of Karlovy Vary, near the German border. At the end of the 18th century, it belonged to the Prince of Kaunitz. In 1785, the town had 456 households, which rose to 543 by 1830, with 3,554 residents. By 1847, it had grown to 546 houses and 4,011 inhabitants. The people were primarily Bohemian German heritage and Catholic, with a few Protestant exceptions. In 1792, a porcelain manufactory was founded there, making the area well known for its porcelain and mineral springs, later followed by a button factory and a wool weaving mill.

Photos of Schlaggenwald as found on the internet

Now, back to the Hohmanns!

The digitized Czech Archives helped me reconstruct the following stories:

Johann Hohmann and Anna Korb married on January 31, 1815, in Schlaggenwald. The woman in the photo was born on April 29, 1795 — nearly 230 years ago! How incredible is that?

Anna’s husband, Johann Hohmann, was a Zeugmachermeister (master cloth maker), born on July 6, 1792.

Johann and Anna had at least 10 children, as the Sclaggenwald birth register reveals:

• Georg Hohmann, born on October 7, 1815 (married Aloisia Blaschke in Vienna, 1843)

• Johann Hohmann, born on March 15, 1818 (married Maria Schlechter in Vienna, 1854; died April 1907)

• Anna Hohmann, born on February 25, 1820

• Joseph Hohmann, born on August 9, 1822

• Agnes Hohmann, born on April 7, 1824 (married Friedrich Pröll in 1850)

• Amalia Anna Hohmann, born on October 19, 1826 (a haberdasher who married Karl Franz Winter, a Pfaidler [shirt maker], in 1861; possibly later remarried as Amalia Anna Petrides; died June 1907 in Vienna)

• Joseph Anton Hohmann, born on November 9, 1828

• Margaretha Franziska Hohmann, born on July 13, 1831

• Albina Hohmann, born on October 20, 1833

• Wilhelm Hohmann, born on March 24, 1837 (married Maria Portschy in Vienna, 1863)

  
  

Anna was almost 42 when her youngest child was born — and that in the 1830s! I also reviewed the online death registers of Schlaggenwald from 1822–1839, and none of the Hohmann children appeared to have died young.

Anna’s parents, Alois Korb and Anna Maria Wenzl, were married in 1789. Alois, a master miller, was born around 1769. Anna Maria was born on September 24, 1766. Her parents were Johann Franz Wenzl (a surgeon!) and Susanna Maria, née Kraft. Anna’s in-laws were Christoph Hohmann and Anna Knif—all from Schlaggenwald.

Since both the Korb and Hohmann families have deep roots in Schlaggenwald, it would theoretically be possible to reconstruct their entire family tree, including siblings and descendants. But that’s a project for another day 😊.

Now a few notes on Agnes Pröll, née Hohmann.

Franziska found that she married Friedrich Pröll on February 3, 1850. Friedrich was the Centralverwalter (senior administrator) of the Königsberg a.d. Eger (Kynšperk nad Ohří) and Mostau estates (Mostiv, both in today's Czech Republic). He likely managed large estates and seems to have had a good local standing. Friedrich died on May 13, 1908, and Agnes passed away on June 10, 1911, in Königsberg.

Their children were recorded in the Steinhof’s birth registers:

• Friedrich Pröll Jr., born on December 20, 1850

• Johann Philipp Pröll, born on June 28, 1852

• Emma Pröll, born on December 24, 1853

• Agatha Anna Pröll, born on January 21, 1856

  
  

The only name I didn't come across in the borth register was Mathilde Werner, née Pröll, — the name listed on the back of our photo. The online birth register ends in 1857, so she may have been born after that, recorded in registers not yet digitized.

This is where the trail goes cold. I’ve yet to find any solid trace of Mathilde Werner née Pröll, her son Karl Werner, or Dr. Anna Schnopp née Werner. Without a location to narrow things down, names like Karl Werner are hard to trace. If Mathilde was born between 1858–1866, her son may have been born around 1878–1898, and Anna possibly in the early 20th century.

As for whether the woman in the photo ever actually lived in Vienna — by the time Mr. Baldreich was operating his photo studio at Kleine Neugasse in 1875, she would have been 80 years old. How old would you estimate she looks in the photo? It's possible that one of her children or grandchildren living in Vienna had a duplicate made by Mr. Baldreich. Or maybe the photo was taken during one of her visits to her children and grandchildren in Vienna?

What supports the theory that she didn't stay in Schlaggenwald: I searched Schlaggenwald’s death registers from 1850–1890 and found no record of Anna or Johann Hohmann. They likely died elsewhere — but I haven’t found their death records in Vienna either.

What an extraordinary journey this has been—researching the life of a woman born in the 1790s, who gave birth to and raised 10 children over two decades, and may have made her way from a small Bohemian village to the buzzing city of Vienna for this photo.

Yet, not finding her descendants — Mathilde Werner née Pröll, Karl Werner, and Anna Schnopp née Werner — still nags at my genealogist heart...

So, dear community: if you have any clues, insights, or records, I’d love to hear from you!

This beautiful large cabinet card is now in the Archives of Photos Without Families. Thank you for this donation, Franziska!