Greenwald 1851

Andreas Gruenewald was born in 1831 near Oberfell in the Rhineland, and Susanna Preib in 1838 in the neighboring village of Mittelstrimmig, both in western Germany. Raised in small rural communities shaped by agriculture, Catholic tradition, and limited opportunity, they belonged to a generation for whom emigration became an increasingly common path forward.

Andreas faced difficult economic conditions and the pressures of military conscription in the German states, so he emigrated in 1851. Susanna emigrated in 1855 with her family, joining the growing German Catholic population in Chicago. There they met, married, and established their household. In America, the family name gradually shifted from Gruenewald to Greenwald, reflecting adaptation to English usage.

After Andreas’s early death in 1872, Susanna sustained their large family through family collaboration, hard work, and perseverance. In doing so, she anchored the next generation firmly within Chicago’s immigrant community.