An sad, but interesting, death took place on this date in 1851 in Altenburg, Missouri. This event caused me to do quite a bit of thinking and searching, and the end result is that this post will take quite a few side trips. The death involved a very young boy by the name of Elias … More Elias Estel’s Early End
As the Civil War was winding down, two of my great grandparents were married at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg, Missouri. The two who were married were Gottwerth Schmidt and Wilhelmine Seibel. The pastor of Trinity at the time was Rev. J.F. Koestering, and the marriage must have taken place in the 1845 church which … More My Greats’ Anniversary
In the German language, the word kühn means “bold” or “daring”. There were two surnames in the Gesellschaft that contained kühn, Kühn and Kühnert. As time went by, many German names containing an umlaut had that umlaut eliminated and replaced by putting an “e” after the vowel with the umlaut. So these two surnames became … More The Bold Immigrants
Mary and Joseph had a baby around Christmas time. But it’s not the one you may think. This one was a daughter, and her name was Martha. Her parents were Joseph and Mary (Bretscher) Weinhold of Wittenberg. Mary and Joseph not only had this daughter, but all eight of their children were girls. I have … More Mary and Joseph’s Daughter
During the fall of 1839, not long after the original group of immigrants first arrived in Perry County, another group of German Lutherans were boarding a ship in Germany to join them. In fact, this new group was boarding one of the same ships that had brought a load of passengers to America in late … More Gruber Group Getaway
The first pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg was Rev. Gotthold Heinrich Löber. Like so many other German names that included the umlaut, the spelling of this name was changed by removing the umlaut and putting an “e” behind the letter that had the umlaut, thus making this name, Loeber. Most folks who live … More A Löber Day Story *** Updated
The Johann Gottfried Kramer family in Paitzdorf, Germany must have been going through preparations for a dramatic move from their homeland to America during that year of 1838. Johann Gottfried was a cartwright….a wagon maker…..and must have had to sell his business and many of his tools before their anticipated trip. They must have had … More Just One Kramer Left
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
It was Palm Sunday in East Perry County, Missouri in 1840. One tradition that came to America with the German Lutheran immigrants was that of conducting the rite of confirmation on Palm Sunday. The first few years after the new settlers arrived were mostly dedicated to survival. They were very difficult years, and much death … More Confirmation Classes of 1840
Lately, my story ideas begin with a search for an event that took place on a certain day, and morph into a different story. Today will be another of those. We have a birthday boy by the name of Friedrich Wilhelm Schuricht, who was one of the original immigrants arriving in St. Louis in early … More Mama Lochner
