I am re-posting a story that was published 5 years ago today. I discovered a connection between this Degenhardt story and the history of Father’s Day. Make sure you read to the end where I placed some information that was not included in the original post.
One hundred twenty-nine years ago today, Sarah Mathilda Poppitz, known as Tillie, was born. She was baptized eleven days later on Reformation Day in 1888. Tillie’s parents were Carl Ferdinand and Ernstine (Oehlert) Poppitz. She was the fourth child born into this family. Unfortunately, two of those children died at very young ages. Amazingly, one child died on Christmas Eve, and the other died on Christmas Day, in 1887. Christmas must have been a difficult holiday for this family for many years. Here is a photo of this Poppitz family.
Carl Ferdinand Poppitz family
Tillie is standing in the back row on the far right. Here is another photograph of today’s birthday girl.
Tillie Poppitz
In 1910, when Tillie was 22 years old, she married Gottfried August Degenhardt, Jr., also known as Gust. He was the son of Gottfried August and Bertha (Engert) Degenhardt. Tillie and Gust were neighbors because…
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