According to a German family tradition, Hans Flohri and his wife, Apollonia, came to the town in the laste 1640's or early 1650's. Birkenau had been devastated by both disease and the effects of the Thirty Years' War. Accordingly, the mayor sent out for skilled workmen, and Hans came as a carpenter.

Despite his skills, Hans is listed as a farmer in town records. That he possessed carpentry skills, though, is indicated by the fact that his descendants became the town's wagon makers. When his great grandsons Johannes and Adolph migrated to America in 1754, they both founded a long line of carpenters and farmers. Was a carpenter called in by town because of lack of carpeneters

It is not known how many other children Hans had, but he was the father of at least one other son. In the town of Hohensachsen, which lies about four miles south of Birkenau, the local kirchenbuch lists a marriage there on January 1, 1664 between a Hans George Flori and an Anna Sibilla Westhofen. the couple had at least four children, Hans (Dec. 7, 1665), Hans Jacob (Jan., 12, 1668), Philip (Sept. 7, 1669), and Caspar (July 30, 1671). That this Hans George was the son of Hans of Birkenau is indicated by the church records, which list one other contemporaneous Flori, Marcus, who may also have been Hans' son. At some point, both Hans George and Marcus left Hohensachsen for parts unknown, as their deaths are not recorded in church records.

In 1655, Birkenau records indicate that Hans was worth about 200 gulden, about average for the town, but only a little above poverty level. The relative income situation for his descendants changed very little, and this may have been the primary reason for his great grandchildren, George, Johannes, and Adolph emigrating to America.

Town records record one other Flori in Birkenau, a Lorenz Flori, who was prosecuted in 1561 for stealing meat from a neighbor's wife. there is no other reference to this Lorenz, and the next municipal record to any Flori in the town is to the 1655 appearance of Hans Flori at a town meeting. It is within the realm of possibility that this Lorenz was related to Hans--perhaps he was his grandfather. Still, all of this is within the realm of speculation.