Today’s birthday girl, Clara Julie Estel, does not show up in our German Family Tree, but maybe someday, more records from Old Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Louis will be included. Five of her older siblings are found in the GFT, but several others who were born later, including Clara, are not. Since Clara’s father … More Prairie Pastor and His Pi Partner
This past Sunday, Gerard Fiehler and I made a road trip to Jacob, Illinois where we attended worship at Christ Lutheran Church and spoke at a Heins family reunion. Take a look at this map below. The red arrow points to the location of the church and the reunion. If you look at the scale … More Road Trip to Jacob, Illinois
Many of the stories I tell on this blog have described large families. That is not the case today. Today’s family consists of just a father, a mother, and a son. To add to that, the son was not a biological son. It makes for quite an tantalizing tale. I found this story because May … More Weber-Beckmann-Stuebner Hardware
We have a 150th wedding anniversary to celebrate today. Henry Schuessler married Katharine Baum on this day back in 1871. Before we look at that marriage, let’s take a look at the lives of the bride and groom before they were married. Also, if you want to read about the arrival of Michael and Rosine … More The Youngest Schuessler
Emma Concordia Estel was born on July 22, 1895, so today would have been her 125th birthday. Emma was the daughter of Martin and Emilie (Weinhold) Estel and her baptism record can be found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. However, she is yet another one of those children who likely would … More From Flour to Flowers
Concordia Pauline Neubeck was born on this day 150 years ago. She was the first child born into her family. Her father was George Neubeck, whose story was told in the post, Dealer and Healer in Downtown Altenburg. Her mother’s name is a little bit of a puzzle. In her St. Louis marriage record, her … More Merchant Marriage
You might call today’s post a continuation of yesterday’s. I will tell you the tale of Arthur Estel’s younger brother, Walter. I found this story quite easily. I started my search in the German Family Tree where I left off yesterday, looking for a life event that took place on April 12th. The search took … More Brother Walter – The Station Agent
The post, The Estels Go East, was published back in 2017. It told the tale of Paul and Mathilda (Schneier) Estel. Today, I will tell the story of their eldest son, Arthur Estel. In a photo taken when Paul and Mathilda celebrated their 50th anniversary, we see Arthur standing in the back row on the … More Arthur and Caroline from Jacob
I will look at a character today whose life is not very well documented. He disappears from the records after the 1870 census when he was just 11 years old. Yet despite that fact, he managed to become the main character of a book that has been written. There are so many questions raised when … More Where Did You Go, Joe?
Today would have been the 162nd anniversary of Paul Martin and Anna (Lange) Estel. They were married at Old Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Louis on June 7, 1857. We have this marriage record, although it is just an entry in an Excel worksheet. I chose to write this story for a variety of reasons. … More Estel & Lange
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