Today is a travel day for us, so I looked for an old story to repost, and I found this one that was published on this date 8 years ago. It tells the tale of a Perry and Cape Girardeau County couple who would eventually migrate across the Mississippi River into Illinois. I did manage … More A Gross Dreyer Pair
Edgar Dreyer has been a great contributor to the research library at our museum. He single-handedly translated the records of several local churches from German into English, and I know his efforts have been a great help to me in my research for these blog posts. Today, I will tell the story of Edgar’s grandparents. … More Edgar Dreyer’s Grandma and Grandpa
It looks like it going to be a typical winter day here in the Midwest. What better day than to write about some historical Winter’s in the Midwest. And where better to start than the birth of a Winter. Ernst Friederich Jacob Winter was born on January 14, 1861, so today would be his 162nd … More Winter’s Alone Yet Together in Oklahoma
Johannes Theodor Eggers was born on October 21, 1887, making today his 135th birthday. John was the son of Emmanuel and Emma (Hesse) Eggers. John was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can take a look at his baptism record from that congregation’s books. John is somewhat similar to the man in yesterday’s … More Another Eggers in Kansas
A young couple was married in Potter, Nebraska, but both the bride and the groom were born and raised in Jackson County, Illinois. These two would not remain in Nebraska, but shortly after their marriage, they would return to the place of their births and live there the rest of their lives. This story begins … More David and Ida – The Fritsche’s
There are four main characters in today’s tale. These four first made up two pairs, but when death came to their doorsteps, the two that remained became a pair. All four had their origins in the Hanover area of Germany. We have to travel across the Mississippi River to Jackson County, Illinois to find this … More Widowed in Winter – Joined during June in Jacob
There are several reasons today’s post will be different than most. First of all, the main character of this story does not live long. In fact, he still hadn’t made it past his teenage years when he died, and that also means that he never married. Therefore, I do not have many documents to share … More Lightning Struck Suddenly
I began looking at a February 24th birthday today, thinking it might be worth a post. For a while, I was not convinced I could find enough for a story. However, as time went by, I eventually decided it was not worth a story; it was worth two stories. So today you will get the … More Oregon’s Oetjen Cousins – Part 1
I have a fascinating tale to tell today. Most of the story does not take place around here. It takes place in Nebraska. In several previous posts, I have written about several local characters who moved to an area of northeast Nebraska that included the several adjacent counties shown in the map below. I began … More Doughboys Find Splittgerbers in Nebraska
A while back, a post was written titled, Stories from a Wedding Photo – Part 2. In that story, the wedding tradition involving men called hochzeitsladers (or wedding inviters) was described. The paragraph below was included in that post. I found a photo showing what a present-day hochzeitslader might look like. The wedding photo which … More One of the Hochzeitsladers
