George Meyer recalled that his Grandfather Schopf was a mean old man. When he came around, the children would get out of his way. He would even curse the chickens. When we look at the records on Johann Leonhardt Schopf we can reconstruct his life. He was married in 1851 at the age of 30. This is the normal age that most of our Bavarians were married because they had to have a certain amount of assets before they could get permission to marry. The bride's father also had to come up with $500 dowry. Our great grandmother Anna Margarete Muller was 5 years older than he. This too was normal. After 4 children, they were divorced on 8 August 1863 and she took the children and moved home to her parents in Berolzheim. The children were 11, 10, 8 and 7. Four years later she died of cancer. A year after that her mother died. It is at this time, I think, that the children moved back to Ottenhofen to be with the father. His mother, Ursula Barbara Hassold was still living. The children were big enough to help on the farm and in the Gasthaus. My father told me that his grandfather Johann Leonhardt was the only child of a rich man. Johann Leonhardt did have a sister who died as a baby. My father said that Johann Leonhardt was well educated for that time. He would buy land and improve it and then sell it and buy more. We can speculate that he probably over extended himself and the bankers got the land. In looking at the old books that belonged to Johann Leonhardt, we get some insight to the man. There are many personal notations. One book written in his own handwriting was a book of "Cures for Man and Animals". In those days it was important to know how to treat these illnesses yourself. Another book was on how to cure illnesses with herbs. Was he into Alchemy, the chemistry of the Middle Ages? It is possible that his father wrote it. Another book is on magic. Did he perform magic for the children of the village? A sheet torn out of one book shows exotic birds. Was he a naturalist? Today he may have been an environmentalist and into Holistic medicine. He had to leave his holdings in Germany to his oldest son. Since Johann Eberhardt was not married at that time, our great grandfather probably sold out what he had to come to America. He was probably not happy about coming. He and our grandfather did not see eye-to-eye on methods of farming. With all that had happened to him, I think he just became a bitter old man. The tragedy of the suicide of his second son may have also affected him deeply.