A baby girl was born on today’s date in Wittenberg, Missouri 150 years ago, and her story will be told in this post. The birthday girl is Bertha Rosina Josephine Lehner. She was the daughter of Peter and Hanna (Birner) Lehner. Bertha was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can take a look … More Fred and Bertha – Pocahontas Gerler’s
I have an amazing story to tell today. Before I tell it, let me describe how I found this story. I happened to be working as a docent at our museum yesterday, and it was one of those days that we had only 2 visitors all day long. So, I had plenty of time to … More Teacher Nennert – Mr. Wittenberg
A baby girl was born on March 26, 1887 in the Shawnee Township. It is her story and the story of her husband that will be shared with you today. Louise Emma Lehner was the daughter of Peter and Christina (Wachter) Lehner. Louise’s father was first married to Hannah Birner, and that couple had two … More Louise and the Pocahontas Butter Man
Several days ago, my head was spinning over the Lehner family from Alkoven, Austria. I now have access to an updated version of our German Family Tree which includes several additions which have been made on the Lehner surname. I think I now have a better handle on this situation. It turns out that there … More Lehner-Birner-Wachter
Our German Family Tree says that Johann Birner was born on this day back in 1815. There are problems in definitively stating that today would have been his birthday. First of all, John was born in the Bavarian region of Germany, so we do not have a baptism record for him that would have given … More Birner Beginnings
October 30th was one of the wedding anniversaries for the main character of today’s story. It was the first of three wedding anniversaries for him. His name was Emmanuel David Fischer. Not only did he get married three times, but there were also three different pastors who performed his marriage ceremonies. Emmanuel was born on … More One of the Altenburg Fischers
In the process of researching a birthday boy today, I managed to solve a previous mystery that has been bugging me. The birthday boy was Friedrich Ludwig Gerler who was born on April 14, 1873. Since this is a Gerler, I must give a shout-out to Diane Anderson, one of the research rock stars from … More The Birner-Lehner-Landgraf-Gerler Web
A pastor was born on this day in 1889. It may have taken some time before he discovered that calling, but he had his start in Wittenberg, Missouri. After his birth on October 8th, he was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. The Trinity books say that he was baptized by Rev. Zschoche, who … More The Travels of Adolph and Amanda
Today’s account will be a difficult one for me to share. That is because there was an event early in my life that is brought back to my mind that I would just as soon forget. It involves a type of death that still haunts me. Before I get to that part of the story, … More Birner’s Remains Return Home
It was July 12th. The year was 1904. It took place in Wittenberg, Missouri, along the banks of the Mississippi River. It was probably very hot and steamy. It usually is at this time of the year. There was no air conditioning. There was no electricity, so even electric fans were out of the question. … More Mayhew, the Wittenberg Barkeep
