Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / The German Count - TPR's In Focus - August 25, 2026

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The German Count - TPR's In Focus - August 25, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from Troy University's Trojan Cafe, offering handcrafted
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  Starbucks beverages and a wide assortment of meal and snack options,
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  located on Troy University's Montgomery campus across from the
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  Rosa Parks Library and Museum.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is In
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  Focus, and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson.
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  Genealogist Lynn Schlick brings us the story of a German
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  count, his castle, and the dollar in your pocket as
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  part of our Genealogy in Your Genes, spelled G-E-N-E-S,
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  series. Lynn is past president of
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  the Alabama Genealogical Society, and she joins us from Tuscaloosa.
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  Lynn Schlick, welcome back to the program. Thank you.
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  It's very nice to be here today, and I am excited
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  to find out what you have discovered. Well, I have
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  discovered something that every genealogist has
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  trouble with, and that is the brick wall.
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  And I'm going to tell you the story of my brick
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  wall, a 5-century brick wall,
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  and the coin that broke it. And it all
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  started when my husband, Don Schlick,
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  gave a keynote address at an international mining conference
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  in Germany. They gave him a most unusual
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  gift. It was a picture of Count
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  Stephan Schlick, same last name as Don's,
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  who was born in 1487 and died in 1526.
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  And in the bottom half of this picture was
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  a replica of a silver coin that had
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  the picture of Count Stephan Schlick.
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  And when he received that gift,
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  I was bound and determined to find out how he was
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  related to the Count. And that started my
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  research. Were you trying to find out where and when
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  this story started? Trying to find out who the common ancestor
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  was. Was he a grandfather?
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  Was he a great-grandfather? Several generations.
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  But how was he related to him? They both came
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  from the same country with the same last name, and they were
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  both mining engineers. That's a lot of similarities.
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  And the intriguing part is the story came with a coin.
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  I searched everywhere trying to find a link.
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  And of course, you start at the beginning, which was Don,
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  and I went to his father and his grandfather, and I went
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  back probably 4 or 5 generations.
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  Of German ancestors who lived
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  in Germany, but then I couldn't find
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  another connection. So then I started with
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  Count Stefan Schlick and worked backwards. Well,
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  that didn't work either. So I did this over
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  and over again. I'd go to FamilySearch, and every couple of
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  months I'd try to find it, and I couldn't find it. But then a miracle
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  occurred. My friend, Livona,
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  came in from out of town, and while she was visiting,
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  she said, by the way, did you ever find out how
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  Don was related to the Count Steffenschlick?
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  And I said, no, that is a 5-century brick wall I
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  just can't break down. And she so kindly
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  said, let me take it home and let me try to find
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  it for you. Well, she called me back a week or so later
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  and she said, I found the relationship.
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  I was so excited. Don was just
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  beside himself. And she found that Don
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  and Count Stefan Schlick shared the same
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  grandfather. The Schlicks in Germany owned
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  silver mines. They minted the
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  silver coin. And because of the
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  new way they had of minting these coins, the coins
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  were a higher quality, they were thicker, and consequently
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  their coins were used throughout Europe.
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  It was in the city of Jakobsthal— I
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  hope I'm pronouncing that correctly— but This coin
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  became known as Joachimsthalers
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  because of the city that they were minted in. Well, the name
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  got shortened to thalers,
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  and then these coins traveled across the borders
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  in Europe, finally the oceans,
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  and over time the coin name of
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  thaler evolved into the name dollar,
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  and from there it is now called the
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  dollar. So the dollar that we use today—
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  this German coin evolved into the dollar
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  that we use today, is that it? Yes,
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  it's the name of dollar that we use today.
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  What does the coin look like? Do you have it? I have it in the
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  picture, and it is about the size of
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  a silver dollar, and it has the Count's picture
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  in it. But it was called a dollar,
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  and that was just the term that they used for
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  money. They would call it the dollar. What does his picture
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  look like on the coin? The count? It is a profile.
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  He has a large hat on, and the hat
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  is sort of oval-shaped and flat.
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  He has robes on, very regal looking.
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  He looks like a count. It is just his head.
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  That is on the coin. And of course, it has the name of the coin
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  around it. When you started this research and your
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  friend picked up on it, did you have any idea
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  that not only were you researching a family member, the connection
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  to a European count, but connection to
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  currency? I had no idea.
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  And what was so interesting is not only did
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  she find the relationship But she found
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  the location of the castle where the
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  Schlicks lived. That castle, which is now used as
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  a government administrative building,
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  and in that building there is the Schlick Museum.
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  They have the original coin there, and they have the
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  picture and all of the information about the Schlicks
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  and the dollar. As we call it today.
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  What does the castle look like? It doesn't look like your
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  typical castle, but it's a long brick
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  building with several stories and a few towers
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  on each end. It dates back to the 1500s.
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  Now, there have been some additions to the castle,
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  but the original castle is there in the center.
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  Of this building, and that's where the Schlick Museum
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  is. You have told us some amazing stories before,
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  but I believe this one tops most of them. Well,
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  Don and I struggled with finding this for years
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  and years, and we found the information.
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  I was able to tell him all of these astounding facts,
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  and we did this just a month before he passed away.
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  So what a great gift that was to him. Lynn,
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  to think that he and his ancestor were both involved
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  in silver mining. This is an amazing connection within the
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  family itself. Yes. And I
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  shared it with the children. And this gives you a sense
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  of identity. You know, genealogy is not just
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  names and dates and places, but it's the stories
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  behind the people, and how did they live, and what
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  can you learn from their life that you can apply in your life,
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  and the problems that they went through. This gives you a
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  feeling of belonging, of connection. There's a
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  lot of interesting stories out there through
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  genealogy and research. We can take genealogy
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  and turn it into family history stories.
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  Well, you shared a great story with us today, and I look forward to
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  more. Thank you. It's nice being here, and I look forward to
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  next time. That was Tuscaloosa genealogist Lynn
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  Schlick, past president of the Alabama Genealogical Society.
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  And more information about that organization can be found at
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  the website algensoc.org.
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  Thanks for joining us for In Focus, which is a podcast wherever
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  you get your podcasts, and feel free to get in touch at infocus@troy.edu.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson, and this is listener-supported Troy
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  Public Radio.