You have come to expect a Friday blog post written by our museum director, Denise Hellwege, called Museum Musings. Today, she is not able to make her normal Friday contribution to our blog because her father-in-law has died, and she is attending to family business. So, I am filling in for her today. In the … More Museum Musings: Magnified Mueller Millers
Oscar Emanuel Rauh is today’s birthday boy, being born on September 28, 1895. If Oscar was alive today, he would have to blow out 130 birthday candles. Oscar was the son of Charles and Louisa (Bergmann) Rauh. He was baptized at Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg, so we are not able to view his baptism … More Oscar Rauh – Pocahontas Miller
A baby girl was born on today’s date in Wittenberg, Missouri 150 years ago, and her story will be told in this post. The birthday girl is Bertha Rosina Josephine Lehner. She was the daughter of Peter and Hanna (Birner) Lehner. Bertha was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can take a look … More Fred and Bertha – Pocahontas Gerler’s
Today’s tale has what I would consider a rather unusual inspiration. If you are a regular reader, you know that I look in our German Family Tree to locate a person who might be celebrating a birthday or anniversary. I did indeed find a man who was born on December 23rd for this story, but … More John Monroe Cotner and His Two Brides
After writing two consecutive posts about Perry County personalities migrating to the West Coast (Oregon), I ran across a story that takes us the other direction. The one you are about to read is one that takes us to the East Coast (New York), with a stop in Michigan along the way. We begin with … More Braack, the Almond Gristmiller
Many folks around here, especially in Perryville, might think of a beer distributing company when they hear the name, Thilenius. Several years ago, our museum was gifted with a 1930’s vintage truck that was once used by the Thilenius Distributing Company in Perryville. We normally bring that truck out to become part of our Christmas … More Edward Thilenius – Perryville Miller
As it turns out, I am going to wish Fritz and Susie Pensel a belated “Happy Anniversary” today. Our German Family Tree, which gets its information from the binder of records we have from St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pocahontas, says these two were married on June 7, 1894, but I discovered that other official … More Susie’s Pensel
The story I will relate today will demonstrate several documents that are much different than you usually see in the posts I write. That is because the main characters in this story spent much of their lives living outside the United States. I have written several stories on this blog about men who served their … More Gustav and Gertrude in Guatrache, Argentina
There were four children born into the John and Johanna (Walther) Weinhold’s family. I think once I finish today’s post, I will have written stories about all four of them. Here are photos of the parents and children in this Weinhold family. Today, I tell the story of the baby in the family. Gotthilf Weinhold … More Flour Maker and His Baker’s Dozen
A Christmas song asks the question, Mary, Did You Know? I have to ask the following similar questions of Mary Bretscher. Mary, did you know whether you were born on December 31st or January 1st? Mary, did you know whether you were born in 1844 or 1845? I have to ask these questions because we … More Mary, Did You Know….Your Birthday?
