A Teacher’s Kid

June 29th was the day that Rudolph Johannes Meyr married Hedwig “Hattie” Josephine Schmidt at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. The marriage took place in 1920. By 1921, Rudolph and Hattie were living in Detroit, Michigan where Rudolph was teaching at Concordia Lutheran School. While in Detroit, this couple had their only child, Vernon Meyr.  … More A Teacher’s Kid

Chicken Coop Joy

This blog is the next in the series highlighting the people who make our site possible.  Eleven years ago, at our initial planning retreat, I was conducting an exercise on “brainstorming” museum development.  I said, “If Carolyn Schmidt says that our site will be a better place if we have chicken coops in the parking … More Chicken Coop Joy

Dakota Hemmanns

Dena Dobberphul was born on June 25, 1887.  That is not a Perry County name, and you might wonder what connection Dena has to this place.  Well, in 1908, Dena married Martin Hemmann, and that certainly is a Perry County name.  Martin was a great grandson of J.G. Hemmann who we wrote about a few … More Dakota Hemmanns

A Prolific Father

On this day, June 23, in 1864, as the Civil War was getting close to its end, Johann Gottfried Hemmann died.  He was one of the most productive fathers in the history of Perry County, Missouri. Right before the immigration to America in 1838, Gottfried’s first wife, Maria (Bachmann) died.  This couple had had eight … More A Prolific Father

A Handful of Johanns

In 1839, Johann Gottlob and Justine Ernestine (Bock) Fiehler arrived in America with their three year old daughter, Ernestine.  They had sailed on the Copernicus. Not long after arriving in Perry County, on June 22, Ernestine gave birth to a son, and they named the boy Johann Gotthilf Fiehler.  I am no expert on these … More A Handful of Johanns

The Saxon New World

Some years back, we had a visit from an incredible young man, H. Paul Moon.  He reminded me on the phone today, that I showed some reluctance regarding him wishing to film me that day.  What resulted was The Saxon New World documentary film.  It is a beautiful piece of film literature when you experience … More The Saxon New World