Karl Gottlob Fritsche would have been 126 years old today. He was born on December 3, 1892, and baptized at Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob, Illinois. He was the son of Robert and Magdalene (Darnstaedt) Fritsche. This is his baptism record. It stretches out over two pages, so I had to make two images. Carl … More Ida and Charley
When I am doing research for this blog, I sometimes refer to what I do as “going down rabbit holes”. I spend way too much time going down these rabbit holes just to see where they lead. Today, I started with the birth of a set of Guetersloh twins born in Jacob, Illinois, but as … More The Guetersloh Twins’ Spouses
It is a week of getting interesting visitors here at our museum. Yesterday’s post referred to our friends, the Wittenberg Cousins. Today, we have two ladies in our midst who I refer to as rock stars of Perry County family research. Their names are Lori Adams and Diane Anderson. If any of you spend any … More Research Rock Stars
November 17th was the birthday of a set of twins. The parents of these twins was the couple that has been mentioned in several previous posts as the Schmidt-Schmidt couple. Jacob and Wilhelmina (Schmidt) Schmidt were married in 1864, and then began having a bunch of little Schmidts. Fourteen years after their marriage, with six … More Two of a Kind….Later a Full House
Today would have been the 109th anniversary of Paul Moeckel and Agnes Mueller of Altenburg. They were married on June 1, 1908 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville. It is a little bit confusing to me that these two would be married in Perryville. Indications are that Paul was a member of Trinity, Altenburg, and … More Tin Man
The main character of today’s story in Johann Georg Gotthold Darnsteadt. His second marriage took place on May 31st, so he made my radar today. Johann was one of the original immigrants, coming by himself to America when he was 24 years old. He made the voyage on the Copernicus. We have a trunk at … More Widows and Widowers Abounded
Today would have been the 152nd anniversary of Ludwig and Sarah (Hartung) Boehme. I have already written a little bit about this couple in a previous post titled, From Muddy Creek to Brazeau Creek. That post focused on Sarah’s family that came to Perry County from Pennsylvania. Today I will spend more time on Ludwig’s … More Corporal Boehme
One of the great sources that we have for the stories that we tell on this blog can be found on Ancestry.com. On that site, you can find a family history with the title, “Fritsche-Miesner Family Tree”. The author of that tree is Lori Adams. I have never met Lori, but I do know that … More A Fritsche-Miesner Connection
The story starts with Joseph Ferdinand Poppitz being born on February 15, 1893. His life story led me to another story with a broader reach. First, let’s take a look at a map of the Seelitz area in Perry County from about 1915. It shows who owned land in that area. Joseph Ferdinand Poppitz was … More Seelitz Soldiers
It is difficult to find historical events that took place on February 29th. So today, I am going to relate an event that took place on February 28 and go from there. Wilhelm Boehme had brought his family, including a wife and four children, to America in the immigration of 1838-1839. They traveled across the … More Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death
