Maria Hopfer was born on this day, and I will attempt to tell her story. She was born on March 4, 1841, so today would have been her 178th birthday. She was the daughter of Michael and Justine (Quaas) Hopfer and baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown (although neither the church nor the town … More Maria’s Soldier and Merchant from Old Appleton
Some folks live in one place all their lives, and others do not. One of today’s characters is one of the latter. In every census and even some other documents, I found him living in a different location. Today’s story starts with his wedding which took place on August 14, 1902. The bride was Magdalena … More Never Wun(derlich) to Settle in One Place
Yesterday’s story about the Jolley Boys Band was a pretty uplifting type of post. Today’s is not. However, there is something similar about yesterday’s blog and today’s. In both cases, the story started with a photograph. Yesterday, a photograph showing a bunch of young men in a band clowning around just had to be used. … More Not Such a Jolly Band
I was attracted to today’s story because there was a wedding that took place on April 30. I enjoy telling the stories of the original immigrants, and this is one of them. And I have a photo of this original immigrant. That makes this story almost irresistible to me. Since this immigrant also served in … More Christoph in the Cavalry
For old Math teachers like me, March 14 (3.14) is Pi Day or π Day. So I was hoping to find some sort of evidence of Pi in the German Family Tree. I think I have found the ingredients for baking up the almost perfect Pi, except for the fact that I had to cross … More Baking Up a Good German Lutheran Pi
Yesterday’s article included a man whose first name was Jacob and a town in Illinois called Jacob. Today’s story is about a family with the surname of Jacob. On Sunday, March 10th in 1901, Rev. Paul Roesener had the privilege of welcoming three young children into God’s family through Holy Baptism. They were not triplets. … More Triple Trinity Baptisms
I have found that when I am researching for these posts, I will often be tempted to go down several rabbit holes. I cannot go as far down these holes as I might want to because I simply do not have the time. So I just start down some paths just to find out minimal … More Reformation Vows
In the 1850’s, three Austrian brothers came to America. One of them, Carl Mirly, settled in the New Wells area just south of the Apple Creek in Cape Girardeau County. The other two brothers, Matthias and Joseph, went elsewhere first, but by the 1860’s, they joined their brother in New Wells. Joseph Mirly and his … More Another Irresistible Name…..Schimmelpfennig
