The birthday boy for today is Julius Henry Kipping, who was born on April 7, 1891. That means he would be celebrating his 135th birthday today. Julius was the son of Louis and Wilhelmina (Feuerhahn) Kipping. I was able to locate these photos of Julius’s parents. According to information found on Ancestry.com and Family Search, … More Kipping Couple in Cape
Emil Paul Ochs was born on March 11, 1900, thus making today his 125th birthday. Emil was the son of John and Anna (Stuebinger) Ochs. A previous post about Emil’s parents, The Ochs/Stuebinger Couplings, gives some background information about the origins of Emil’s Ochs family in Perry County. In that previous post, you discover that … More Emil and Martha – An Ochs/Popp Perryville Pair
George Martin Groh was born on February 5, 1900, so he qualifies to be today’s birthday boy. In fact, today would be his special 125th birthday. George never lived in Perry County, but his father was born in Altenburg, and the first Groh to be found in Perry County, Charles Groh, is well-known for being … More Diamonds, Autos, and Beers
For quite a while now, I have operated my choice of subjects for this blog based upon a principle that I would focus my efforts on telling the story of people who were born in the 1800’s. Now that we have reached 2025, I struggled a bit with the fact that people born in 1900 … More Harry Sandler – Perryville Mechanic
The bride in today’s couple is the only one who has a baptism record that we find in a local congregation’s books and is included in our German Family Tree. I am going to begin with her in this post despite the fact that she was born about 9 years after her future husband. Esther … More Shanghai Sailor
Martin Wilhelm Landgraf was born 130 years ago on this date, May 26, 1894. William was the son of Bernhard and Mary (Litzelfelner) Landgraf. He was the 3rd of 4 children in his family. William was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells, but I am not able to display his baptism record today … More The Landgraf’s – Sylvan Grove to Downers Grove
I started the research for today’s story by looking at a lonely church record in our German Family Tree. When I find such a record, in this case a baptism record, I immediately think that one of two things may have happened. First, the person may have died early. The second option is that the … More J.T. Mueller – Machinist and Mechanic
The birthday of a girl in St. Louis is the starting point for today’s tale. Emilie Christiane Happel was born on July 30, 1858, the 8th child of William and Christiane (Kuehn) Happel. Her parents were both original members of the Gesellschaft in 1839. The marriage of Emilie’s parents took place on the day when … More Theodore and His Two St. Louis Wives
I guess it makes sense. A blacksmith was a person who worked with metal. He often worked on pieces of equipment that were involved in transportation, such as wagons. He worked with his hands. So, when there was a transformation from horse and buggy days to automobiles and the internal combustion engines, workers were needed … More Blacksmith to Mechanic
John Wichern is our birthday boy today. He was born on February 13, 1893, so he would have been 127 years old today. John was the son of Henry and Louise (Leible) Wichern, the 4th of 9 children born into that family. Only 3 of the 9 were boys. I have written several stories that … More John Wichern – Machinist and Mechanic
