Dear Rebecca,
Do you know where your grandmother is from? I am in the process of researching my family as well. The surname is of Austrian/German descent and my relatives immigrated from Austria-Hungary/Galicia around the turn of the 20th century. There seem to be at least three groups of Schmerers and I have not be able to connect them. One group (mine) comes from a small town (Horodenka) in what used to be Galicia. A second group comes from a nearby town called Czernowitz and they are mostly on the west coast of the US now. The third group are German Schmerers living in Germany and I don't know what there connection could be. If you have any other info, I would be interested. I hope this is helpful.
Sincerely,
Matthew