[SPOILER] 1828?

[Alardem]

First of all, hello, lurker has become newest forum member! Nice to meet you all!

Anyhoo, so I must preface this by saying no spoilers PLEASE, as I am only in the part of the game after the church, just entered the Holding Pens. This thread may be ever-so-slightly spoilery if you havent reached that point yet.

My question is, there are many signs littered throughout the game with Mandus's company logo on it stating something like, "Mandus Co. Factory - Anno 1828." This game takes place in 1899 or 1900 (I'm not even positive of this either) so surely the main character was not even born yet in 1828. This is one of the little things that has bugged me, call me odd. I'm sure there is some backstory explanation for it, obviously Mandus is a family name and the main character is not the first one. I'm more confused by the word "factory." Did a factory of some sort exist for generations and Oswald just took his own take on it or what? I recently read a note that alluded to an uncle, so no spoilers please but maybe this has been a family business for a while. Just being curious and wondering if there's any ingame explanation for this or if they just leave you, dutiful player, to fill in the blanks? Why the year 1828?

It's the year that Oswald's father or grandfather established their factory and became more than just 'local butchers'. We don't have any indication of how old Oswald is - I'd say he's in his thirties or forties.

It's unclear whether his great-uncle is Daniel of Mayfair, although if I recall Daniel's dad was a watchmaker.