Foreword

The Schömbs / Schembs in Deutschland

Foreword to the Fourth Edition, 2011:

"Es wird einmal keine Erinnerungen mehr geben" was the title of a recent article in the local press which dealt with the "SMS fever" of our young people. " In the future there will be no reminders/memories of today. Messaging on mobile phones, free of grammar and spelling rules, and regardless of time and place, just leaves no trace. Anyone who has opened the old shoe box in the basement, containing all the letters, notes and cards with ornate script knows how family history is passed down. "There will be no memories" of today's fast paced world. Discovering, recording and preserving are therefore the most important concerns of family research.

In 1986 I completed my "Chronik der Familie Schembs", the first Edition of my family history. This first Edition dealt with my direct line of ancestors and, therefore, with the Laubenheimer Schembs. This work was updated in 1998 with the addition of much information about the Schembs family members who had emigrated to America. It incorporated the work that James Douglas "Jim" Schembs (Phoenix, Arizona) had compiled.

In collaboration with Jim Schembs, who had studied the history of Schembs in Amerika and in his "Study of all the Schembs Immigrants to America" we in 2000 were able to produce the third edition. It included the other branches of the family in Germany and abroad, with spelling variations of "Schömbs", "Schoembs", "Schembs", "Schemes", "Schambs", "Schombs", and others, all common descendants of Zacharias Schömbs. And of course there are the descendants of the Schömbs women whose names changed through marriage.

While the majority of our family resides in Germany and the United States, others presently live in The Netherlands, Canada, Taiwan, France, Russia and Brazil. The development of information regarding the family is an ongoing process. The 4th Edition includes what is known as of 2011. But updates are made regularly.

With these volumes we trace the history of the Schömbs family in Germany, Amerika and all other countries around the globe, covering a period of more than 300 years in a comprehensive work. I hope it kindles the interest of the reader and contributes to the preservation of information about our forefathers and parents. To all who have contributed information, images and other assistance to the success of this project you have my heartfelt thanks.

For the fruitful and friendly cooperation of Jim Schembs I am especially grateful. Without his dedication and effort this 4th Edition would only have been available at a much later date.

Mainz, Oktober 2011
Reinhold Schembs

Jim Schembs and Reinhold Schembs in Ginsheim
Oktober 1999

"Wo wir einmal hingehen, wissen wir. Wo wir herkommen, sagt uns die Familienforschung". "Where we go once we know. Where we come from family research tells us."