I get to write another story today in recognition of a person’s bicentennial birthday. This particular birthday boy became a prominent figure in the early history of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. To add to that, his wife was the daughter of another notable personality in the early history of Perry County Lutheranism. Carl Heinrich Rudolph … More Happy 200th Birthday, Professor Lange
Rev. Georg Schieferdecker was one of the early pastors to serve in Altenburg, Missouri. He was the 2nd pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. He was part of the Gesellschaft in 1839, but soon after getting here, he was involved in forming a few new congregations in St. Clair County in Illinois. He returned … More Schieferdecker Gose to Grant Park, Illinois
The main character in today’s post, as near as I can tell, may have never set foot in Perry County, possibly not even the state of Missouri. However, when you have the surname, Hopfer, the chances of having connections to Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown are pretty high. For some background information that leads up … More Minden, NE to Medford, OR
Let me set the scene for today’s post. Fifteen years ago, when my wife and I were about to celebrate our 20th anniversary, we arranged to get together with our friends, the Chases from Minnesota, who had recently celebrated their 40th anniversary. This year, we decided to repeat that event for our 35th and 55th … More Amana and Altenburg
Today’s birthday girl was a granddaughter of one of the first German Lutheran pastors to settle in East Perry County, Rev. Carl Gruber. The Gruber Group that has been mentioned on this blog often was named after this Rev. Gruber. He was the first pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. He was not the … More Grub with Grits? – Or Gruber with Grots
I was researching another story for today, but I decided to write a different tale instead. Let me explain. I had my weekly men’s Bible class this morning. It’s a group of men who are members of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg who have been gathering weekly for almost ten years. During this month of … More Perry County’s Stille Nacht
The story today begins with a birthday in Switzerland that took place 200 years ago. Barbara Adler was born on December 1, 1820, the daughter of Johann and Elizabeth (Peters) Adler. The Adler family made the voyage to America aboard the ship, Salem, that arrived in New Orleans in December of 1840. We see this … More Bicentennial Barbara Bergmann Birthday
Today’s post was written by our great friend, Fred Eggers. I know he has been working on this research for a long time, and I’m excited to see his results. ================================ Joseph Immanuel Gruber, the youngest of Pastor Carl Friedrich Theodore Gruber’s eight children, was born on November 19, 1838, but until I started searching … More In Search of the Lost Gruber
I found another story that sent me into the binder we have in our research library that describes the history of a Lutheran church that once existed in Arnsberg. Today’s story begins with a girl being born 170 years ago. Maria Richter was born on September 28, 1850. She was the daughter of Henry and … More The Richter/Dambach’s from Arnsberg
In the past, I have told the story of a marriage between a Schaefer and a Hopfer. That tale was recounted in the post, Maria’s Soldier and Merchant from Old Appleton. In that episode, Heinrich Schaefer married Maria Hopfer. We see these two below. Today, I will attempt to tell the story of Maria’s cousin, … More Another Schaefer-Hopfer Couple
