Naturalizing Schoser

According to the Durango Naturalization Records, Ludwig Schoser was seeking citizenship in the United States between 1904 and 1906. These records typically include information on the precise date of naturalization, the nation of origin and the number of years the person had resided in the United States. Unfortunately, this information is not available online so that one would have to consult the paper archives at the Fort Lewis College Foundation, Center of Southwest Studies in Durango to know what Ludwig's country of origin was and when he emigrated to the U.S..

What we do know about Ludwig from other sources is that he was married to Dora (Schirmer) and had four sons (John, Otto 'Barney', Leo and Frank Joseph) and two daughters (Mary and Emma). In fact, he is the progenitor of a substantial number of Schosers in the U.S. some of whom still live in the area of Durango, Colorado.

Screaming about change, emotion and problems of the world

Joe Schoser of Las Vegas, Nevada was second guitarist in the 'legendary' hardcore punk band Faded Grey which from 1998 to 2002 'woke up a sleepy Vegas underground'. The Las Vegas Weekly describes the band as 'five ebullient guys in their mid-20s, screaming about change, emotion and the problems of the world'. 
Joe joined the original foursome in 2000. In 2001, the band released its only full-length album, the 11-song A Quiet Time of Desperation, on influential hardcore label Indecision Records, then embarked on a 60-day tour across America. Footage from Faded Grey’s second-to-last show is available at youtube.
In April 2009, the Las Vegas Weekly reported what had become of the band members, Joe studying law in Portland, Oregon and planning to enter the field of human-rights law. Even though Faded Grey dissolved in 2002 and had only one reunion show in 2005, the memory of them lives on: http://www.myspace.com/armyofkids.

Schosership

Trouble financing your studies? The Schoser scholarship is for you then - more particularly the 'Otto and Virgina Schoser Scholarship'. It requires you however to study at the Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, USA.

The scholarship is named after Virigina Schoser, alumni in the class of 1928 of this college, and her husband Otto 'Barney' Schoser. As it happens, two Schosers seem to be studying Business Admininstration at this college: Chase Thomas Schoser and Chance Joseph Schoser. It is however not reported whether they are receiving this scholarship. In any event, Chance graduated in May 2010 with the Bachelor of Arts degree.

The Member of Parliament

Having been reelected to the City Council of Cologne in August 2009, Martin stood for yet another election on 9 May 2010. At stake was a seat in the regional Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia for which he needed to obtain a relative majority of votes in the Cologne II constituency. Martin succeeded by obtaining 38% of the personal votes (corresponding to 27 745 votes), 6.3 percentage points more than the second placed candidate.

Martin managed to gather more personal votes than there were votes for his party in the same constituency (23 831 votes corresponding to 32.6%). Martin will now be one of the 181 members of the North Rhine-Westphalia Parliament for the next five years.

The Royal House of Schoser – an almost true story

Marianna Schoser is related to Charlemagne/ Carolus Magnus/ Karl der Große (742 –814), King of the Franks, crowned Emperor in the year 800 by Pope Leo III, who expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. Marianna's relationship to Charlemagne is of the 68th degree, in other words, 68 relationships are required to connect her to Charlemagne. Marianna lived in Burbach, Germany and was married to Franz Firmery (1860 – 1929). Since her husband is related to Charlemagne to the 67th degree, Marianna herself did in fact not have royal blood but was related to Charlemagne by marriage only.

The photographer

Steven Michael Schoser likes photography and has become a master in flower photography. He lives in Denver, Colorado just a few hours from the Colorado Mountains. On his webpage, he writes:

"I have a thing for flower photography. This seems to be my niche, I love grabbing my camera and heading out to the local botanic gardens, or going for a drive up to the mountains and snapping a few shots of the lovely flora!"

Many of his photos are accessible on Flickr or on Imagekind where they can be purchased for about $ 16. Yet, it seems Steven is still to take a photo of a paphiopedilum schoseri.

The medicine man

Searching the Internet for Schosers' whereabouts and achievements, one is sooner or later bound to come across Benedikt G.H. Schoser. Arguably, Benedikt produces by far the most hits when searching the world-wide web for the name 'Schoser'. Hence, you would expect him to be a movie star, football player, astronaut or at least politician. Far from that, Benedikt is professor of medicine at the Baur Institute of the University of Munich. Being an academic, he seems to have firmly adopted the credo of the academic world which is 'publish or perish' explaining his wide Internet presence.

The Biomedexperts website provides for a profile of Benedikt's specialisations and publications. To give a taste, the most recent of his 81 publications recorded at this site is entitled 'The p.G154S mutation of the alpha-B crystallin gene (CRYAB) causes late-onset distal myopathy'. In layman's terms, Benedikt is specialised in neurology, more particularly myotonic dystrophy which is a genetic, neuromuscular disorder which is characterized by the slow relaxation of the muscles after voluntary contraction, usually becoming apparent in early adulthood. Due to its genetic origin, research on this disease involves the analysis of mutations in the DNA.

Based on the cities where an author or any of his co-authors have publications, the Biomedexperts website pictures a personal network. In Benedikt's case, it stretches over four continents - another indication of his world-wide web...

Tough job in tough times

While the world was at war, Bill Schoser worked as coal miner in the 'Rocky Mountain Fuel Company' operating coal mines e.g. in Superior, Lafayette and Louisville, all Colorado. The latter also being Bill’s home town where he married Louise Schoser in 1947. The company was severely impacted by the Great Depression, declining productivity of local coal deposits and the increased popularity of natural gas and went bankrupt in 1944.

The photo is archived in the Lafayette Public Library and shows in total 37 miners posed in working clothes beside mine building in Superior on 17 August 1942. Unfortunately, it is not reported who of them was Bill Schoser.

Stöckles-Cup

Once a year in October, Trochtelfingen hosts the 'Stöckles-Cup', a Nordic Walking competition. 'Stöckles' refers to the sticks used in Nordic Walking.
During the latest edition in 2009, Schosers gained prominence not only through their individual participation, they also organised the largest participating team: the team 'Schoser-Miteinander-Füreinander' ('Schoser-with and for each other') gathering 104 out of the total of 530 participants. According to the rules of 'Stöckles-Cup', this made team Schoser win this competition and, moreover, constituted a new record team size.
On an individual level, Valentina Schoser covered the middle distance of 12 km while Ellen, Bernhard and Vincent walked the maximum distance of 16 km. Next chance to take part is on 17 October 2010.

Rhythm in their blood

Playing music seems to be a passion of the Schosers of Burladingen. No less than five Schosers are members of the local music ensemble. Katrin and Melanie play the bassoon, Heike the flute and Frank and Elmar blow the horn. Elmar has also taken responsibilities as the official ‘minute taker’ in the board of the ensemble.

In total, the ensemble consists of 124 active musicians (on 1 January 2008) who thus help to keep up the long-standing tradition of the ensemble which goes back to the mid 19th century. Next on the agenda is their concert at the St. Fidelis parish festival in Burladingen on 20 September 2009.