Q--What about Luxembourg?

A--Well, one thing is how it's spelled:  Luxem+bourg (not -burg or -berg or -bourgh).   The actual town Peter Sand came from, Schoenfels, is in the Mamer River Valley,  known for its' seven castles.  In fact, we found a few travel-blogs online that'll give you a feel for the area.  One is called "Bonjour Luxembourg" and another is "New Adventures in Belgium".

But wow, I thought Schoenfels was a city, certainly larger than Buckman or Pierz, but look what Wikipedia says:
"Schoenfels  is a village in the commune of Mersch, in central Luxembourg. As of 2005, the village has a population of 208".  
And this:
Luxembourg covers a territory of 999 square miles--approximately 52 miles North-South and 32 miles  East-West. The capital city (also called Luxembourg) has some 100,000 inhabitants, and is thus one of the smallest capitals in the world.


 Morrison Co is larger than the whole country of Luxembourg by 127 square miles; Todd Co is closest--it's only eight square miles larger.


(BTW the Luxembourg map is from 1856, and the Todd Co map is from 1906).


For Peter Sandt, the walk from Schoenfels to Mersch looks shorter than Staples to Motley...about the distance between Buckman and Pierz, huh?
They had Germany to the east and north, France to the south, and Belgium to the west.  Peter Sand was from Schoenfels, and Angelique Mohimont's family  was from Belgium...a distance that looks like the one between Little Falls and Long Prairie ☺.  When I googled "Mohimont, Belgium", I found a Dominique Mohimont who sells dressage horses there today.  
Isn't that COOL?


All this is just background~there's WAY more to learn, but I'm going to bed.  Feel free to carry on where I left off, ok? ☺