I found the story of a man who would be celebrating his bicentennial birthday today, and I love to tell such stories. Christian Gustavus Guenther was born on January 5, 1826, so today would be his 200th birthday. A later marriage record will state that Gustave was from Hohenkirchen, Germany, and if I have identified … More St. Louis Cooper’s Bicentennial Birthday
In a previous post, Meister Klempners, the story was told of some Meister’s who had migrated to Ft. Smith, Arkansas. A few of these Meister’s established a plumbing business there. Today, you will read another story of a Meister and his bride migrating to that same city. What makes this story a bit challenging is … More Another Meister in Ft. Smith, AR
I am going to write a different kind of post today than I normally do. It comes from a lonely entry we have in our German Family Tree. That entry is one that caused me to think to myself, “There’s a story here, but I don’t know what it is.” In fact, once I’m done … More A Story Here – But I Don’t Know It
People who have become familiar with the story of the German Lutheran immigration to America in 1838-1839, which was led by Rev. Martin Stephan, are probably familiar with the name of Louise Guenther. Rev. Stephan was exiled from the Perry County colony in May of 1839, partly as a result of sexual impropriety. The main … More The Miscreant Maid Marries
Today’s birthday girl, Elizabeth Engert, led me on an interesting research trail today despite the fact that she only lived 44 years. Her story leads to several interesting questions. One has to do with her birth date. Another has to do with the time of service of some pastors. Another has to do with marriage … More Engert #21
Today’s article is the result of starting out looking for information on one story and ending up telling a different story. It all started with the birthday of Friedrich Ferdinand Grosse on May 27, 1811. Ferdinand was one of the original immigrants whose family decided to stay in St. Louis and not move to Perry … More A Census Hall of Fame
***Thanks to Fred Eggers for his contribution of this article today. Fred, in addition to being our local expert on the Farrar area, has developed a great interest in finding information in the old Der Lutheraner publications that we have at our museum. This post is a result of that interest. Just two days ago … More The Other Altenburg Debate
Before I discuss the arrival of the Olbers in New Orleans on January 20, 1839, I want to tell a little tale of an artist who for a while lived in St. Louis. His name was Henry Lewis. After being born in England in 1819, his family came to America. Eventually, Henry became a carpenter … More Olbers in New Orleans
Dresden, Germany was the home of Johann Samuel and Friederika Guenther. On December 4, 1831, a baby was born to this couple by the name of Martin. Before Martin was born, there were three other siblings…..Louise, born in 1808, Gotthold, born in 1811, and Immanuel, born in 1830. The fact that Immanuel was born 19 … More December 4th – A Seminary Holiday?
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
