Mother of Anton (Tonschl) Schimatowitsch, grandmother of Anton (Tonerl) Schimatowitsch and Karl (Karli) Schimatowitsch. Apparently Wilhelm Schenker became attached to her, thereby becoming, in effect, Tonschl’s “adoptive father” and the two boys’ “adoptive grandfather.” The boys’ mother (name unknown) died in January 1921 (diary, January 10, 1921). In the Vienna street directories there is a possible candidate for her husband (the sole person with precisely this surname), and perhaps father of her children, in “Anton Schimatowitsch, butcher, of Vienna V, Gartengasse 22” (and other addresses) between 1878 and 1907.

The primary evidence for Wilhelm’s involvement with the Schimatowitsch family lies in Heinrich Schenker’s summary of, and comment on, a letter from Wilhelm, dated December 19, 1924: Von Wilhelm (Br.): […] lebt nur für die Pflichten gegenüber den Kindern, denen er Großvater u. Großmutter, Vater u. Mutter zu ersetzen hat. […] Sein Schicksal ist überaus hart, in letzter Linie Auswirkung ererbter Not. Zuerst verfiel er dem Onkel, dann der Frau Sch., u. damit kam er um eigene Nachkommenschaft.

From Wilhelm: […] lives only for his duties toward the children, for whom he has to substitute as grandfather, grandmother, father, and mother. [...] His fate is exceedingly hard, ultimately the consequence of inherited necessity. First he fell prey to his uncle, then to Mrs. Sch., and with that he lost out on having progeny of his own.

The only other mention of Frau Schimatowitsch is in a letter to Wilhelm of c.1897, in which Heinrich concludes with “Cordial greetings to dear Mrs. Schimatov[ich] (OJ 5/38, [0b]).

Tonschl was married and had two children, Tonerl, born 1907 and Karli, born 1911, by her. He left his wife (name unknown) and children, apparently in 1919 (diary January 11, 1920), and since that time Wilhelm seems to have felt that, though unrelated to the children, he bore chief responsibility for their upbringing and oversight.

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