The Ancestral Coffee Mill This grinder was brought from Germany to Chicago in 1858 by the Herbold family. Some years later, the Great Fire swept through the city. The Herbold household was one of the first to go, being neighbors of the O'Leary's and their miscreant (or bum-rapped) cow. "Katie," said Grandpa, "We must leave now!" (He probably said it in German. If in English, it would have been with a thick brogue, the family having learned the language from their Irish immigrant neighbors.) Grandma Herbold looked about frantically, and saved the most important thing she could think of - the Ancestral Coffee Mill.