I found one of those bicentennial birthdays today. Christian Gottfried Moeckel was born on September 23, 1820 in Germany. In the Jacob Family Book, it states that Gottfried was born in Kreis Ziegenrueck Regierungsbezirk Erfurt. A location known as Ziegenruck can be found on this map of present-day Germany. It is only about 20 miles … More Gottfried’s 200th Birthday
Our story for today has its beginnings outside of East Perry County and never does get to East Perry County, but the tale certainly has connections here. It involves a couple that would be celebrating their 126th wedding anniversary if they were still alive today. If you want some background on this story, especially for … More First Baptism in New Church
Martin and Dora Brunkhorst would be celebrating their 105th wedding anniversary today if they were still alive. I will be attempting to tell their story today. In the case of Dora, I have already attempted to tell part of her story in a previous post, Seelitz to Jacob. However, I may not have gotten her … More Martin and Dora
I found a story today that I am going to enjoy telling. It’s not one of my typical tales. The story only has one small connection to this area, but what I find interesting is what takes place before that connection and what takes place after. I found the story of Elise Eberhardt led me … More Bendel-Eberhardt-Langewisch
I found a special anniversary for today’s post. It tells of a marriage that took place on this day 150 years ago. However, I will confess right away that I was quite unsuccessful at finding a lot of documentation for the lives of the two individuals who were married that day. We will begin with … More Ehlers – Christ’s Charter Members
Not long ago, the post titled, Meister Bauer, was published. In that story, it was pointed out that there was only one boy from the Meister family who lived to adulthood. That boy will be the highlighted character in today’s post. Rudolph Theodor Meister is today’s birthday boy. Rudi was born on August 29, 1893, … More Meister Bauer’s Boy
Today’s birthday girl will marry a man who was shown as Alwin Koenig on several documents, but was buried as Alvin Koenig. I think the change was likely due to how Germans pronounce the name Alwin. The “w” in German is mostly pronounced like Americans pronounce a “v”. So, if someone asked Alwin for his … More Alwin (Or Is It Alvin) Koenig
August 2, 1908 was the wedding day for the couple I will discuss in today’s post. That marriage is included in our German Family Tree because it took place at Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob, Illinois. The bride was part of an Arbeiter family that has shown up on this blog before. The groom has … More Carolina and the Teacher’s Son
Maria Magdalena Schuessler is today’s birthday girl. If she was alive today, she would be celebrating a very special birthday. There would have been 150 candles on her cake. I am once again not in Altenburg, so I will not be able to display any church records for this story. I am out of town … More Mary and Simon
Heinrich Albert Pilz was born on July 10, 1864, so he is today’s birthday boy. Although I will call him Henry today, I really ought to call him Henry A. because there were two boys named Henry Pilz that were born around the same time and were both members of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. … More Pilz or Piltz; Henry A. or Henry C.
