Schwendau (Pronunciation:''shven-dau'') is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
and a village in the
Schwaz district
The Bezirk Schwaz is an administrative district (''Bezirk'') in Tyrol, Austria. It borders Bavaria (Germany) in the north, the districts of Kufstein, Kitzbühel and Pinzgau (Salzburg) in the east, South Tyrol (Italy) in the south, and the Innsbr ...
in the
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
n
state of Tyrol
Tyrol ( ; ; ) is an Austrian federal state. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical Princely County of Tyrol. It is a constituent part of the present-day Euroregion Tyrol–South Tyrol–Trentino (together with South Tyrol and Tre ...
. It was first mentioned in 1200 as “''Swentowe''” (clearing of a pasture). The original meaning of this name is also illustrated on the emblem of the village in the form of an
axe
An axe (; sometimes spelled ax in American English; American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for thousands of years to shape, split, a ...
.
Geography
The municipal area comprises numerous component localities, including parts of
Hippach, and extends from the River
Ziller up to the 2,590 m high Hoarbergjoch pass. Schwendau is closely connected to the neighbouring village of Hippach and they also share several facilities.
Family surname
The Schwendau family name traces its roots directly back to Schwendau. Family legend holds, the family name was originally Baron von Schwendau (Barons of Swanland) and they were the lowest form of royalty dubbed by Archduke Albert V the Magnanimous. The family responsibility would have been that of tax collectors and local sheriff. The Schwendau family believes their crest to be that of a defense weapon and not a tool.
There are less than 75 Schwendau family members living in North America.. Because so many girls have been born to the Schwendau family, it is believed the family will cease to exist in the next 100 years.
The family can trace its family tree back to Prussia in the 1700s and to Canada and America around 1850. The family crest dates back to the 1400s.
References
{{Tyrol-geo-stub