Today’s story begins in Frohna. The birthday girl marries a Lutheran teacher. Agnes Fiehler was born on February 28, 1876 and baptized at the relatively new Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. Her parents were Benjamin and Bertha (Doberenz) Fiehler. Benjamin was a farmer, and Agnes was the third of eleven children born into this family. … More Lehrer Lueders
Gertrude Emma Mathilde Bellmann was born on January 13, 1903, making her today’s birthday girl. Her parents were Martin and Martha (Lohmann) Bellmann of Altenburg. I do not have a photo of Martha, but I do have one of Martin. In fact, another post told Martin’s story. It was titled, Pound the Hammer, Ring the … More Gertie and Audie
December 11, 1836 was the birthday of Carl Gemeinhardt. As near as I can tell, he was the first of the Gemeinhardts to show up in the church books of East Perry County, Missouri. A buddy of mine from Memphis, Tennessee is Charlie Gemeinhardt, and he would call Carl his great grandfather. There is some … More Those Gemeinhardt-Fiehler Connections
Today’s birthday boy did not even have to wait for his baptism to be called a Christian. That’s because his name was Christian Kassel. He was born on September 29, 1861. Christian was the son of Philip and Fredericka (Bueltman) Kassel. Although I cannot find any documentation, I believe that Christian was born in Egypt … More Kids from a Kassel
We have an unusual artifact in our museum that really ought to be somewhere else. It is a tombstone. I choose to mention this tombstone today because it includes the death date of June 23, 1864. It is the tombstone of a person whom I have described as one of the prolific fathers of Perry … More A Misplaced Tombstone
Today I will once again spend most of my time on the road. This time it is the road home. I had the time yesterday to put together this little tribute to my great grandma and grandpa who were married on April 22, 1875. The bride and groom at this wedding were Amalia Caroline Theiss … More Happy Anniversary, Great Grandma and Grandpa **Updated
The Ides of March (March 15th) in 1938 was a wild day up and down the Mississippi River Valley in Missouri and Illinois. There were several tornado outbreaks, some of them deadly. Altenburg did not escape without damage. A tornado also roared through Altenburg on that crazy day and caused some devastation, but no loss … More Ides of March Tornado Outbreak
We have had a busy day here at our museum, with not much time to devote to a blog. So here is a quick story which brings a smile to my face. Gerard Fiehler was looking through some old files a few days ago and found this item: It shows the program for a play, … More That Crazy Smith Family
I know this is a great stretch, but I cannot resist a possible connection between historical people. In the Roman Catholic Church, there is a feast celebrated in some places called the Feast of Gertrude the Great which takes place on November 16th. Gertrude was a German nun who became notable for her spiritual writings … More Lillian the Great
The story I tell today is almost too sad to tell, but sometimes I guess you just have to tell it like it is. The story comes out of the family of the Johann Martin Traugott Fiehler family that lived in Uniontown, Missouri. Traugott was part of the Fiehler family about which we wrote in … More 26 Days Together
