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
You might think that I would write the first post for 2020 about some sort of new beginning. To a certain extent, that is the case, because we will be looking at a man who was born on the first day of 1890, making him today’s birthday boy. However, when you look at his life, … More An Electrifying End
We will be celebrating a 168th wedding anniversary today. I think the couple getting married on this day 168 years ago is a pretty unusual duo. First of all, both the bride and the groom were each the firstborn child in their respective families. Add to that the fact that the groom was the first … More 1st of Many Marries 1st of Even More
Yesterday’s story was about a butcher, so when I found a birthday boy who was a butcher today, I figured it was a story I had to tell. As it turns out, this story led me all over the place. Before you get to the end of this story, you will see Lutheran church records … More Butcher to Billiards
lutheranmuseum.com 