The story of today’s birthday boy is really a short story. However, even though it is a short story, it presented me with some real challenges. It also ended up taking us to a variety of locations in a very short period of time. It also is a short story with plenty of tragedy. Ernst … More An Undertaker’s Nightmare
Today’s post was written by our great friend, Fred Eggers. I know he has been working on this research for a long time, and I’m excited to see his results. ================================ Joseph Immanuel Gruber, the youngest of Pastor Carl Friedrich Theodore Gruber’s eight children, was born on November 19, 1838, but until I started searching … More In Search of the Lost Gruber
Our story for today has its beginnings outside of East Perry County and never does get to East Perry County, but the tale certainly has connections here. It involves a couple that would be celebrating their 126th wedding anniversary if they were still alive today. If you want some background on this story, especially for … More First Baptism in New Church
My career was spent as a Lutheran educator. I spent my days in several states, picked up a wife and family along the way, and served as both a classroom teacher and a principal. The main character in today’s story followed pretty much that same pattern. He also is today’s birthday boy. Paul Theodor Valentin … More Teacher Noennig
Cornelia Bundenthal was born on October 10, 1909 in Atchison, Kansas. You might immediately wonder how she would be connected to East Perry County. Cornelia was the daughter of Rev. Theodore and Concordia (Weinhold) Bundenthal. Concordia was one of the eight daughters of Joseph and Mary Weinhold of Wittenberg. The story of the Weinhold’s daughters … More The Travels and Travails of Cornelia
The name Oetting has shown up in my own life on several occasions. When I attended St. Jacobi Lutheran School in St. Louis, there was a Mr. Oetting that was a teacher there. When I got to Concordia Teachers College in Seward, Nebraska, a few more Oettings were professors and coaches on that staff. Not … More The Emmas from Emma
Today’s birthday girl happens to be the missing person in a photograph that I have used on this blog before. It is a picture of the 5 Harnagel brothers. In addition to these brothers, there was also one sister by the name Concordia (or Cordie) in this family. She was the second born child of … More Concordia’s Cigar Maker
One of our museum’s most faithful out-of-town visitors is affectionately called “Junior” by his friends and family. His given name is Walter Doering, and since his father also carried the same name, that makes him “Junior”. Note: Around here this name is pronounced “Daring”. Today’s story is about Junior’s grandpa, whose name was Wilhelm Gustave … More Junior’s Grandpa
I have another sad story to tell today. It is one that illustrates the very difficult times that were so often experienced in the early days of the settlements in Perry County. The year was 1842. Dr. Ernst Eduard Buenger was about the only person living in the German Lutheran communities in East Perry County … More Urgent Trip with Deadly Consequences
We start with a wedding today, but as is often the case, that leads to other places. On May 8, 1904, Otto Immanuel Mueller married Marie Magdalena Poppitz. Otto was a member at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna, and Mary was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Around here, we jokingly refer to … More A Plethora of Poppitzes
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