I could call today’s main character Kaspar or Kasper or Casper or Caspar. A variety of spellings show up for this man’s first name. I am going to use the one that is carved on his tombstone…Kasper. He is today’s main character because he is also today’s birthday boy. Kasper Ruppel was born on December … More Kasper and Margaretha – The Original Ruppel’s
First of all, I have a confession to make. I made a mistake. I was not careful enough in confirming a marriage date. Our German Family Tree says a marriage took place on January 27th, but after investing a lot of my time in gathering information about the couple that got married, I found that the marriage actually … More Lohmann Marries Schumer – A Catholic Couple
The way I have it figured, there were 2 Wunderlich clans that arrived in Perry County in 1839 as part of a major German Lutheran immigration. One set of Wunderlich’s were on one of the ships carrying passengers under the leadership of Rev. Martin Stephan that arrived in Perry County at the end of May. … More One of the Pioneer Wunderlich’s
Because my wife and I were both Lutheran educators, we made several moves to serve different schools during our careers. Our 3 daughters were all born in Memphis, Tennessee, but now these 3 are scattered across the country. One still resides in the Memphis area and another lives in Minnesota not far from a school … More Athens Bank Teller
I found a story today that I am going to enjoy telling. It’s not one of my typical tales. The story only has one small connection to this area, but what I find interesting is what takes place before that connection and what takes place after. I found the story of Elise Eberhardt led me … More Bendel-Eberhardt-Langewisch
Especially since today’s main character was such an important contributor to the early years of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, it is surprising to me that his story is so full of documentary holes. By the time we get to the end of this story, we will still be faced with several unanswered questions. Martin Christian … More Martin Barthel – A CPH Original
The fact that Catharina Christina Becker died on June 24th in 1849 attracted my attention to the Becker family. This girl died of cholera in St. Louis during the Cholera Epidemic. As is so often the case, this simple fact led to several other side stories. First of all, we find that Johann and Eva … More Not Quite as Planned
