Our story today centers around the birth of Frederick Hoffmann in 1842. He was born in St. Louis, and his baptism took place at Old Trinity Lutheran Church in that city. His family’s story, however, takes a path through New York City and Perry County (and likely northern Cape Girardeau County) before they finally settled … More Frederick the Stone Cutter
Heinrich and Catharina (Roth) Motz came to America prior to 1839 and were living in New York. When they heard about the Stephanite immigration to Missouri which was taking place in 1838-1839, they joined quite a few other New Yorkers to move to Missouri to join this group of German Lutherans. As we have mentioned … More Lots of Motz Carts
Normally when I see that a child was born to an original immigrant in December of 1838, I think that the baby must have been born aboard one of the ships coming across the Atlantic Ocean. Today’s birthday girl is an exception. She was born in New York City and her parents were already in … More A Lot of Grass Died
Hartmann Grebing arrived in Perry County in 1839. Because he did, there are still several Grebings that live here to this day, and on occasion, other Grebings often come here to visit. Right now is one of those special occasions when a rather large gathering of Grebings is taking place. Over one hundred descendants of … More A Gathering of Grebings
On June 2, 1864, Johann Jacob Seibel married Matilda McCauley. Our German Family Tree says that this marriage is in the Perry County Marriage Records, but it’s a record I could not find on Ancestry.com. I am not in Altenburg today, so I cannot research this further, but this is a story I really want … More Captain J.J. Seibel
May 17, 1839 was the day that about 100 immigrants from New York arrived at what would later be called Wittenberg, Missouri. Today we will discuss the route that these German Lutherans traveled to get here and what they found when they arrived. The group of immigrants that were part of the Stephanite immigration in … More The Arrival of the New Yorkers
When Holy Cross Lutheran Church began in 1848, there were five families who were involved in its organization. Two of those five families had connections to Perry County. Those two were the Fischer and Grass families. Before I was done rounding up information about those two, I managed to find a few other Perry County … More From New York to Perry County to Collinsville
Once in a while, I discover that two familiar events happened on the same day. I have to tell the story of two of those today. One event was the landing of a boat; the other a landing of a ship. One event took place fairly close by in St. Louis; the other took place … More Dual Landings
I think I upset some people this morning. I mentioned the fact that Christian Roth was born in New York City while I was having breakfast at the Old Bank Coffee Shop. This breakfast eatery is operated by Lindy Roth, whose husband is the great great grandson of Christian Roth. Ruth Roth was also sitting … More An Upsetting Revelation
An interesting event took place on Sunday, August 25th in 1839. Five people were confirmed on that day at the camp church which at that time was located in the area of Perry County known as Dresden. Two of the five were also baptized. All five of these people had come to Perry County as … More Camp Church Confirmations
