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
August Wilhelm Poppitz came to the United States with the 1838-1839 immigrants. He was eighteen years old when he arrived. By the time that 1858 rolled around, August had married three times, fathered numerous children, and died. The Ernst Poppitz I wrote about recently was from August’s first wife, Justina Schmidt. The Martin Poppitz I … More A Poppitz from the Middle Wife
Martin Mangels and Emily Vogel were united in marriage on April 13, 1902 in Frohna, Missouri. This couple would have six children, one of which died in infancy. But the early lives of these children was not without its drama. Let me attempt to explain the Mangels saga. But first, here is their wedding photo. … More Montana Martin Mangels
I am going to backtrack to a post I wrote at the end of March titled, One of the Ridge Gerlers. In that post, I said I would have to tell the story of the Gerler family immigrating to America in another post. Today, I will tell that story. The family of Christian Frederich Gerler … More The Genesis of the Gerler Genealogy
