Two brothers, both shoemakers, were part of the Gesellschaft that came to America in 1838-1839. They were the Richter brothers from Kolkau, Germany. They came to America aboard the Copernicus. Here we see these two brothers shown on the passenger list of that ship. You can find Kolkau on the map below. It is one of the … More A Capital Wedding
I am going to deviate from my normal routine today. I am not going to focus on a person or a family and look at their history. I instead have chosen to do a story about an artifact that we have at our museum. I think it helps tell a tale that explains a certain … More The Weasel’s Pop
When the research crew at our museum runs across the Mueller surname, one of the first questions we ask is, “Which Mueller family are we talking about?” We usually put a Mueller into one of four categories. In fact, Gerard Fiehler has put together a special binder on the Muellers which is an attempt to … More The Beginning of the Frohna Muellers
One of the reasons I decided to write today’s story is because I found a baptism record for today’s character from the church where this event took place in Germany. Here is an image of that record. I find this kind of record fascinating. The handwriting is beautiful, despite the fact that there is very … More Estel in a China Shop
In a recent article published in the Washington Post, the following quote was made: “By official estimates, upward of 2 million tourists will descend on Wittenberg this year — and that could pose a problem.” Residents of East Perry County should relax after reading this after they realize that the Wittenberg mentioned here is not … More Our Wittenberg
Every museum director should be blessed with a retired engineer on staff. Lynn Degenhardt has made development dream after development dream come true for our site. Today we completed the flag gallery exhibition in honor of our research library founder, Ken F. Craft. Ken purchased 24 beautiful silk exhibit quality flags in 2014 to represent … More Fun with Flags
On November 18, 1838, the last of the ships which were part of the Gesellschaft sailed from the German port of Bremerhaven. This made a total of five ships which were carrying a total of approximately 700 people who had decided to start new lives in America. The two ships leaving on that day were … More The Olbers and Amalia Depart
November 12th was the day of departure from Bremerhaven, Germany of the Republik, a ship full of German Lutherans who were looking for a new start in America. Here are a few photos of the passenger lists as they were recorded when the ship arrived in New Orleans on January 12, 1839. The Gotthold Loeber … More The Republik Sails to the Republic
For passengers aboard the Copernicus and the Johann Georg, November 3rd in 1838 must have been a day of apprehension and excitement. For many of these folks, the preparation for the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States had been going on for quite some time. It was finally the day for them … More The Voyage Begins
Today we are publishing our first article done by a guest blogger. His name is Clayton Erdmann. Clayton is the 5th grade teacher at Immanuel Lutheran School in Olivette, Missouri. He has several ancestral connections to Perry County and is also an avid genealogist. We are honored to have him contribute to this blog. ==================== … More Two Huge Families Unite
