Robert Bruno Constantine Nennert is today’s birthday boy. He was born on Groundhog Day, February 2, 1898, so that makes today his 125th birthday. By the way, the first Groundhog Day took place in 1887, before this birth. Early in his life, we see him called Bruno, but later, he took on the name, Robert. … More Bruno, the Baker and Milkman
I really want to tell this story, but I have to admit that it has me flummoxed. The tale will focus on the life of Rosa Amalia Nennert. I can document many events that took place in her early life, and I can document much about her later life, but the stuff in the middle … More Orphan Rose’s Friend
One and a half centuries ago, Carl Rudolph Landgraf was born. He ended up living almost a century. You will be reading his story today. If you already did your calculations, you know that Rudolph was born on September 2, 1872. He was the son of Herman and Mathilda (Naeser) Landgraf. Rudolph was one of … More Lumberman Landgraf Linked with Lina and Lena
I have the privilege today to write the real story of a couple of individuals that are main characters in my two books, Wittenberg ’03: Coming of a Church and Wittenberg ’04: Coming of a Railroad. These two are Laura Gemeinhardt and Teacher Richard Kalbfleisch. The story of this couple is one that inspired me … More Wittenberg Characters
This past Sunday, Gerard Fiehler and I made a road trip to Jacob, Illinois where we attended worship at Christ Lutheran Church and spoke at a Heins family reunion. Take a look at this map below. The red arrow points to the location of the church and the reunion. If you look at the scale … More Road Trip to Jacob, Illinois
The story I tell today comes from two entirely different directions. It begins in Jacob, Illinois, meanders through Perry County for a short time, and moves up to St. Louis. A spouse’s life begins in Tennesseee, makes its way to Vancouver, Washington, and that life, too, ends up in St. Louis where these two individuals … More Steamboat Mate’s Daughter to Submarine Chaser’s Wife
Maria Magdalena Schuessler is today’s birthday girl. If she was alive today, she would be celebrating a very special birthday. There would have been 150 candles on her cake. I am once again not in Altenburg, so I will not be able to display any church records for this story. I am out of town … More Mary and Simon
I ran across a marriage that took place on this day back in 1901 that involved two characters that show up occasionally in my Wittenberg ’03 book, so I decided to tell the story of that couple in today’s post. The marriage was between Theodore Militzer and Theodora Lueders. I am still away from Altenburg … More Theodore and Theodora
I am sure most people can point to some aspect of their own childhood that helped prepare them for their future livelihood. I think one of today’s main characters was such a person whose childhood prepared her for her future as a housekeeper. Here is why. Selma Nennert grew up in a hotel/boarding house. She … More Selma’s Own Boarding House
Yesterday’s post was about Henry Oetjen’s life story. As Paul Harvey often said, “This is the rest of the story.” Today, you get the story of Henry’s Oetjen cousins. I am going to start with Friedrich (Fred) Oetjen today. Friedrich Oetjen was born on April 7, 1887, one year after the birth of Henry. Fred … More Oregon’s Oetjen Cousins – Part 2
lutheranmuseum.com 