The first members of the Schmelzer family of Burgoberbach, Bavaria immigrated to the United States in 1841. Soon after Jacob Blazius and Maria Walaburg Schmelzer and their family of 6 boys settled in Rushcreek Township in Fairfield County, Ohio and immediately began to farm and raise the new generations that populate this area and beyond to this day. In 1855 Jacob Blazius and Maria Walaburg built Sacred Heart Catholic Church near Bremen, Ohio and donated it to the community in thanksgiving for their new life and prosperity. That original couple and many others are laid to rest in the adjacent Sacred Heart Cemetery that has borne witness to 160+ years of descendants and neighbors.

Today’s generation of Schmelzers is asking for donations to help repair and upgrade the burial markers of Jacob Blazius (d. 1872) and Maria Walaburg Schmelzer (d. 1881) to insure that the memory of the people directly responsible for so many American success stories are honored and cherished for many years to come.

We are specifically asking descendants of their six sons, John Nepomucene (d. 1893), Jordan (d. 1855), Josephus Antonius (Anthony) (d. 1872), Anselm (d. 1899), Leopold (d. 1885), and John Otto (d. 1917) to donate to this project to memorialize our shared heritage. Our plan is to restore and coat the existing iron crosses with a protective coating and to add a granite base and head stone inscribed with biographical information.

We estimate that this project will cost $5,000. All proceeds go directly to the St. Mary Bremen Cemetery Fund (Lancaster, Ohio). Any excess funds will be used for other cemetery improvements.

This fundraiser is organized by Tim Schmelzer.