Two surnames found in the area known as The Ridge north of Altenburg were Jungclaus and Weber. Today, you will read about a married couple that was made up of a Jungclaus and a Weber. I choose to begin the tale back in Lamstedt, Germany (mainly because I found some original baptism records there). First, … More Albert and Emma on The Ridge
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
We begin today with a birth that took place in Paitzdorf, Germany. Maria Hemmann, a member of what I call the Hemmann Herd, was born on July 26, 1829. She was the daughter of J.G. Hemmann and his first wife, Maria Bachmann, so I suppose she may have been named after her mother. We have … More Solving Mysteries with Death Records
August Arensburg is today’s birthday boy. He was born on March 26, 1843 in Kassel, Germany. His father’s name was Frederick, but his mother’s name is not in any records that we have. August had an older brother named Christoph, and his first two children died in 1857, and their death records can be found … More Barkeep’s Boy
Emma Rosa Lungwitz was born on September 12, 1893. Her parents were Herman and Mathilda (Meyr) Lungwitz of Altenburg, and Emma was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church. I’ll skip right ahead to her marriage in 1912. She married Robert Oehlert who had been born in Kansas. We see this fact on this 1900 census for … More A-Lert in Kansas
One does not have to spend too much time studying the family histories of people on The Ridge before realizing that the folks living there were not shy about loving their neighbors. Over and over you find stories about Ridge residents finding their spouses at farm places not far away from their own homes. I … More Love Thy Neighbor
Today would have been the 145th anniversary of Ehregott and Clara Poppitz from Altenburg. The two were married on May 16, 1872 at Trinity Lutheran Church. The ceremony was conducted by Rev. Koestering. Here is their marriage certificate. Rev. Koestering got most of the English correct on this form, but he used the German spelling … More Another Sire from Seelitz
Yesterday’s blog post pointed out that Gerhardt Thurm had two wives….Johanna Kutscher and Anna Jungclaus. Well, Johanna had a sister named Emma, and Anna had a brother named Johann, and those two were married on May 14th in 1894. They were married at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Here is an image of their marriage … More The Jungclauses – They Died Young
I never know what I am going to encounter when I travel to The Ridge to do a story. Today’s account is no exception to that. I find myself just shaking my head in disbelief. In fact, today’s post will probably be just the first installment on what I discovered this time around. It is … More That Thurm Throng
Not long ago, we did a few blog posts concerning J.G. Hemman who fathered so many children. J.G. came to America with the Gruber group in December of 1839. There was another fertile father in the Gruber group. His name was August Friedrich Wilhelm Engert. I ran across his name today because his first wife, … More Another Fertile Father
