May 30th and May 31st are infamous days in the history of the German immigration to Perry County which took place in 1838-1839. These are the days when the leader of the Gesellschaft, Rev. Martin Stephan, was found guilty of several charges and then sent into exile in Illinois. It is a story that is … More Exiled to the Devil’s Bake Oven
The surnames Armbruster, Litsch, Behrle, and Killian show up in our German Family Tree in a very limited way. When they do show up, they are always included in marriage records, but you never find any of them being baptized in one of the Lutheran churches around here. That is because these surnames are what … More Catholic Wedding – Lutheran Pastor
Memorial Day is a day for remembering and honoring those men and women who gave their lives to preserve the liberties that we enjoy in this country. Today’s post will be a tribute to a family from Perry County who lost two young men as a result of World War II. I would like to…
If you took the letters, A,K,L,M, and R, would you be able to make up a surname that would be easily identifiable? Maybe you saw it today’s title, but I doubt that you could have predicted a spelling like Kraml. I did a search on Ancestry.com and found that the surname could only be found … More A Beautiful Kraml
When Ferdinand Hellwege was married in 1886, the marriage record from Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna said that he was the oldest son of Heinrich and Fredericke Hellwege. He was not the oldest son of Heinrich Hellwege, and he was not the oldest child of Heinrich and Fredericke, but he was the oldest son of … More Fourth Hellwege Wife – Oldest Son
As the Civil War was winding down, two of my great grandparents were married at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg, Missouri. The two who were married were Gottwerth Schmidt and Wilhelmine Seibel. The pastor of Trinity at the time was Rev. J.F. Koestering, and the marriage must have taken place in the 1845 church which … More My Greats’ Anniversary
I confess. I wrote the title of this post as click bait. However, there is method to my madness. There indeed were six Finger grandchildren, and there is a reason I state that they are “for free”. It all starts with a wedding in Germany. The marriage took place on April 20, 1881 in Lettin, … More Six Finger Grandchildren for Free
This week, as a result of a donation from a recent family reunion, our museum has a new exhibit. This exhibit displays some artifacts we now have that demonstrate how a prominent Frohna family celebrated wedding anniversaries. The case shown below displays these items. This all started with the marriage between August and Maria (Roth) … More Celebrating an Anniversary in Style
Today’s story starts 130 years ago, and we find its origins in a Perry County birth register. It shows two baby girls being born on May 18, 1888 in Altenburg, Missouri. I will have to show you this form in two separate images. Here is the first. The two girls were named Lydia Maria Jacob … More A Whole Lottes Dentists
If he was alive today, we would be celebrating the 127th birthday of Walther Theodosius Weinhold. Walther is shown on many documents as being named Walter, and my guess is that most people called him Walter during his lifetime. However, his given name was Walther. One may wonder if he was named after the famous … More Named After His Grandmother?
lutheranmuseum.com 