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
Oliver Otto Schirmer was born on August 13, 1900 in Altenburg, Missouri, and later in November of that year, he was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church. He was the son of Carl and Julie (Burns) Schirmer. These Schirmers disappear from any church or census records from Perry County after 1900, so I suspect they moved … More Oliver Follows Oregon Trail to Find Russians
Henry and Martha (Fischer) Palisch were blessed with a new son on October 12, 1891. They named this new boy Rudolph Martin Palisch. Because he never married, he has no descendants, but his story is a fascinating one. Rudolph’s father operated the Palisch General Store in Frohna, and by 1910, according to that year’s census, … More From Frohna to France – A WWI Wagoner
The Hillbilly Tour made a stop at our museum this morning. The tour consisted of numerous Model T Ford vehicles along with their owners. We were honored to have them visit us. We have done a few recent blogs which have highlighted automobiles. One of them told the story of one of the first garages … More Hillbilly Tour
Not long after the beginning of the 20th century, major changes were being made in transportation. Model A’s and Model T’s were rolling off the assembly lines in automobile factories in Michigan. Eventually such vehicles arrived in East Perry County. And like with other machines, there came the time when they would need someone to … More Altenburg Needs a Mechanic
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