Anton Kliebhan, born in 1863, was in his early twenties, when he left his Bohemian hometown Haberspirk to start a new life in the New World.  He  arrived in New York around 1885, probably with empty pockets and a lot of energy and full of dreams – like thousands of other emigrants from Europe.   For  German emigrants  Wisconsin was a good place to go.  In Milwaukee he married in 1890 Emma Zehnter, daughter of a German immigrant. They had 9 children and became the ancestors of many American citizens.

The story of Anton`s descendants is well documented. Here is the story of his roots.

Haberspirk (nowadays „Habartov„) is a small town in the coal district of north Bohemia. Most of the old „Haberspirk“ has nowadays disapeared.  House No. 18, the home of the Kliebhan family for 4 generations, was also torn down in order  to give way to open-cast mining.

Mining had a long tradition in Haberspirk. But the big change started in 1840, when the entrepreneur Johann Anton Edler von Starck bought the existing little coal mine to start a new production site. Within some years he built up an industrial complex with a chemical plant and several open pits. Working conditions were certainly difficult.  Even women and children had to work hard.  Salaries were low.  Early capitalism at its best.  We don´t know what caused Anton to leave his home town. But it´s obvious that life was difficult at that time.

House No. 18 was a little bit out of town on the road leading south towards Maria Kulm, a well known place of pilgrimage.

Here is where Anton was born in 1863.  His father, Wenzel Kliebhan, was a peasant and owned a small farm.

Anton´s grandfather had the same first name as his father: „Wenzel“.  Grandfather Wenzel was a peasant and a shoemaker, in house no. 18. where he was born and where probably his father Johann was born at around 1780.

Anton had two sisters, Anna and Teresia and a younger brother Josef, who stayed in Haberspirk in house No. 18 and died there in 1933.

There was another Kliebhan family in Haberspirk:  in house No. 97 lived Kaspar Kliebhan who had two daughters, Eva and Margaretha.  Kaspar was a weaver who came from Klinghart, probably because the introduction of industrial textile production in Bohemia had put him out of job. He died in 1879 obviously as a poor man.

After the Second World War most of the German population of Haberspirk was expulsed. One of them was Rudolf Hampl, who found a new home in Butzbach (near Münzenberg!). He published a book about Haberspirk and it´s history in 1992. It´s now out of print. But I am sure that I will find a copy  somewhere …

BREAKING NEWS:
I found the book „650 Jahre Haberspirk“ and fell upon a fascinating story!  Have a look and follow the link:

„Kliebhan“ in Haberspirk –

Anton Kliebhan´s roots in Bohemia