by
Robert J. Paulson

Friedrichshof

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Friedrichshof is a pretty little hamlet at the edge of the forest with 18 houses and 152 residents. It is 350 meters from Muttersdorf, 7 kilometers from Muttersdorf and 3 kilometers from the Bavarian frontier. The residents are mostly small-cottagers with 2-4 cows. The fields and meadows which were originally platted for Rindl but whose edges reach as far as Friedrichshof were purchased or leased over time. There was an inn with a small grocery shop and a mill. Besides farming the main line of business was lace-making. During the summer season many girls and young men would go to Marienbad, Franzensbad, and Karlsbad to work in the spas.

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The origins of Friedrichshof go back to the year 1705. The first entry in the church records appears on January 31, 1706. It is the baptism of Sebastian Lang and Frl [Fraulein] Dorothea Lukansky from Renec and the knight [Ritter] Johann Friedrich von Wiedersperg of Muttersdorf are listed as godparents. 

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In 1714 there was a cattle barn and a house for the herdsman that was still called "Viehhaus" [cattle house]. Cattle-raising expanded and the site was later referred to as "stockyard" until, in 1770 it is finally called Freidrichshof (after that name occurred once in 1734) which was based on the name of the founder, Friedrich Franz. He was born in 1644 in the forest near Neid, he took over the Freidrichshof property in 1683 and died in 1734.In dialect the place was called "Veichhuaf."

In 1780 Friedrichshof had 9 houses and 50 residents; in 1839, 13 houses and 117 residents; in 1890, 18 houses and 165 residents; in 1910, 162 people; and in 1921 there were 17 house numbers and 152 residents. Ever since it was founded, Friedrichshof belonged to the Dominion [noble land-holding] of Muttersdorf and to the community of Neid. It was likewise tied to the parish at Muttersdorf until 1786 when the parish church was built in Waier. Schooling was organized the same way.

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In 1789 there was a station of border guards in Friedrichshof. It was shut down in 1824. From 1849 to 1852, house number 2 belonging to Josef Vogel was rented by the k.k. [imperial and royal] customs guards for "40 Filler" [100 Filler = 1 Forint.] Ferdinand Portner is mentioned as miller between 1806-1809. In 1850 the mill was purchased by a new owner named Landkammer whose descendants operated it until the expulsion. He also built the chapel opposite and the sawmill in 1896. Until the 17th century In the meadow beneath and behind the mill as far as the animal preserve [Tiergarten] there was a pond and dam over which the present road leads. Below the meadow close to house number 2 there once was a fishpond and a fisherman's house. On November 20, 1913, while excavating a ditch not far from a forest and in the meadow east of the village, the cottagers Simon and Kästner discovered a treasure of 17 silver coins and many glass pearls. The coins had probably been contained in a pursed trimmed with the glass pearls -- which was once a popular fashion. The coins were of different sizes with some being more than four centimeters in diameter. They were from the years 1568-1625 and had been issued by Georg, Duke of Saxony, by the Holy Roman Emperor, and by the King of Spain. One coin had the inscription: "Dominus mihi adjutor." The coins may have been buried here during the Thirty Years War to prevent them from falling into enemy hands but the owners did not live to recover them. If anyone of these coins still exist it would be known by Josef Simon in house number 6 who was thought to have three of them.

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The post office for Friedrichshof was at Ronsperg and then, in 1904, it became Schwarzach. From 1939-1946 the post office was in Waier. There was a steam-driven sawmill in the forest between Friedrichshof and Schnaggenmühle. It was built by Baron Beck from Muttersdorf and was in operation between 1858-1870. When the sawmill was removed a residence located there became the gamekeeper's house until it, too, was removed in 1910. The forest-clearing marking the site is still called "Die alte Maschine" [the old - former - machine]. Another house was built there during the 1920s.

The names of the fields around Friedrichshof were: Kühtriffl, Jägerhut [hunter's hat], Euloh, Weiherwiese [pond meadow], Buchschachtel [book box], Steinerner Tisch [stone table] und Fuhrmandl.

Based on extracts from the history by Johann Micko and recorded by Margaret Burkhardt. Accordingly, three men from Friedrichshof gave their lives in the war of 1914-1918: Michael Rewitzer of house number 4, Josef Spörl of house number 11 and karl Holm from house number.