Today’s post has it’s beginnings with a phone call I received several weeks ago. The gentleman told me that his sister was downsizing and had 4 oval-framed portraits that she was looking to donate. The people in them had been members of Salem, Farrar. The family also had connections with the out-migration to Alva, OK that we have an exhibit about. Well, that naturally piqued by curiosity, and I readily said that we would be interested in them.
What I didn’t know until his sister called the next day was that those portraits were currently in Birmingham, Alabama. Not exactly convenient for her to simply drop them off, or for someone here to make a quick trip to pick them up! Fortunately, she was willing to ship them to us.
Here are the pictures that arrived safe and sound last week.
Henry Cordes
Margretta Meier Cordes
Anna Cordes Fritsche
Edna Barbara Kirmse
After doing some investigating, I found that Warren had done a story on this family several years ago.
After doing a little investigating, I discovered that Warren had written about this family several years ago. As it turns out, Henry is buried in Salem’s cemetery. Warren mentioned that there wasn’t a photo of his gravestone on Findagrave.com. Considering how close I live to Salem’s cemetery, I took that as a personal challenge!
After a bit of difficulty—thanks to both the lichen covering the stone and the fact that I can’t read German—I finally found the right marker. Here it is (after a little cleaning):
Between my husband, who can read some German, and Google Translate, we were able to piece together the inscription on the lower portion of the stone. It comes from 2 Timothy 4:18:
“But the Lord shall deliver me from every evil, and bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom; to Him be glory for ever and ever.”
In 1900, their daughter Anna married Richard Fritsche. Then, in 1904, another daughter, Martha, married Wilhelm Kirmse. Soon after, Margretta and the Kirmses moved to Alva, Oklahoma. Here is our display that commemorates that out-migration:
Well, I was planning to end today’s blog right there. Something, however, prompted me to do a quick blog search for Anna and Richard Fritsche. That search uncovered this blog:
In it, Warren mentions that Anna is also buried in Salem’s cemetery, but once again, there is no picture of her gravestone on Findagrave. Looks like I have a little more investigating to do!
Until next week! Denise Hellwege, Director