Like his father, Leonhard was a sweepmaster. Born in Zirndorf in 1712, the same year as Friedrich
the Great and the Wild Margrave, Leonhard was active in Erlangen where he took over some of his
father's territories and added new ones. He married three times and sired a total of 18 children. He
lived long enough to hear of the American Revolution, and died in 1778 after an active life. His sons
would all become sweep masters in Erlangen, Neustadt-Aisch and Cadolzburg.
Tobias Gabriel, born in 1749, was Leonhard's first born son from his second marriage to Barbara
Schoors. Tobias Gabriel continued the family tradition as a master sweep, but spelled his name
Scheitberger. At age 36, he married 44 year old Luise Margarethe Kasparitz Reinlein in a civil
marriage in Erlangen. She was the widow of Erlangen Postmaster Johann Reinlein and by this
former marriage was the grandmother of Max Stirner, anarchist/writer/philosopher.
Tobias Gabriel Schaitberger wrote the book "Anweisung zur Verhütung der Feuersgefahren und
wirksamsten Löschmittel gegen Feuersbrünste. Zu Verbreitung gemeinnüziger Vorschläge und
Anstalten" ( "Instruction for preventing the Fire Dangers and most effective Fire Extinguishing
Agents against Conflagrations" ) in 1791.  In 1795, following a horrible fire which nearly destroyed
Copenhagen, the book was translated into Danish and reprinted several times.
"Have you ever seen a spirit?" Stirner asks in the first part of the The Ego and Its Own. "No, not I,"
replies the reader, "but my grandmother." Stirner responds, "Now, you see, it's just so with me too;
I myself haven't seen any, but my grandmother had them running between her feet all sorts of ways,
and out of confidence in our grandmothers' honesty we believe in the existence of spirits."
Johann Andreas Schaitberger was born to Tobias Gabriel and his aging wife in 1786 in the last years
of the old Margraveship of Ansbach under whose rule the family had lived and worked for so long.
They had relocated to the town of Cadolzburg around the time of the onslaught of Napoleon.
While some Schaitbergers were still residing at the
family  compound in Ansbach, Tobias Gabriel
Schaitberger was a sweep master in Cadolzburg until
his death in 1825. His widow died three years later.
Son Johann Andreas Tobias followed in his father's
footstep, becoming a sweep master and farm owner in
Cadolzburg. At 34 year old, he married 20 year old
local girl Margaretha Kirchner when they finally met
the strict financial marriage requirements of Bavaria.
They already had a two year old daughter together and
were expecting another child.
In 1792, the principality of Ansbach was sold to Prussia by debt-ridden Margrave Karl Alexander,
who was already unpopular for having sold the local soldiers to England to be used as mercenaries
in the war with America. On December 15, 1805, in the first Treaty of Schönbrunn, Prussia in turn
ceded Ansbach to France in exchange for the Electorate of Hanover. Since Bavaria had joined
Napoleon's Confederation of the Rhine in 1799, he rewarded Bavaria by elevating it to a Kingdom
when he dissolved the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, and Bavaria acquired Ansbach in exchange for
the Duchy of Berg. Ansbach was thereby incorporated into the Catholic Kingdom of Bavaria, much
to the enduring chagrin and resentment of Protestants in some parts of Frankonia. Likewise, after
the Prussian defeat at Jena on October 14, 1806, the Principality of Bayreuth was ceded to the
French in the Treaty of Tilsit, and then in turn also given to Bavaria in 1810.
Perhaps the most famous native son was musician Johann Georg Pisendel, born in 1687 in
Cadolzburg. He and Georg Phillip Telemann had a life long friendship. He was considered the best
violinist of his day. Another famous Cadolzburger was Georg Friedrich Puchta, known as the
founder of conceptual jurisprudence.
Cadolzburg is today in the District of Fuerth, Mittelfranken, Bavaria. It grew up in the shadow of
ancient Schloss Kadolzburg, which from 1157 was the retreat for the Counts of Nürnberg and seat
of the ruling Hohenzollerns. Friedrich 1, Elector of Brandenburg, died here in 1440. The old
Margrave's Church, rebuilt in 1792 by the famed Johann David Steingruber, son of Salzburg exiles,
bears a cartouche with the monogram CWF for Carl Wilhelm Friedrich, the "Wild Margrave" of
Ansbach, 1712-1757. Carvings in the church date from 1470, and a crucifix from 1500.
In the 18th century, fire fighting still lay exclusively in the hands of
the citizen fire-brigades, who at the most had two exercises a year.
Fire stations as we know them today were not present. It would be a
while before adequate pumps and flexible hoses were created. Since
masks had not been invented yet, firemen wore thick beards to
breathe through. Of course, chimney sweeps had an intimate
familiarity with fire and worked hand in hand with the fire brigades.
It was not uncommon for giant conflagrations to swallow whole
towns and even large cities.
The couple would have at least 10 more living children. Three of their sons would be sweeps and
at least one of their daughters would have a child with a sweep. Andreas lived until 1853, and his
young, adoring wife Margaretha survived until 1874.
In 1756, Leonhard Schaitberger would have been 44 years old when the long suffering inhabitants
of Germany were again overrun by war, this time in a struggle known as the Seven Years' War,
which affected all of the German lands and even had repercussions in the new world.
The Sweep Dynasty Continues