A surname entered East Perry County back in the 1840’s that had its origins in Pennsylvania. That surname was Hartung. In a previous post about a character in this Hartung family, it documented the fact that this family had been in the United States as early as the 1700’s. That post was titled, From Muddy … More Hartung (Or Is it Harting?) and Hester
You will be reading the story of a pair of sisters who were born and raised in Altenburg and would go on to live pretty much the rest of their lives together. Unlike other stories that I have written about siblings that lived together all during their lives, this story does include a marriage. I … More Sarah and Dora – Altenburg Winter Sisters
I will attempt to tell the story of a man who spent his early life in this region, but eventually made his way to Detroit. Then, surprisingly, he died in the state of Georgia. I will admit ahead of time that this story has a few holes in it. Rudolph Gottfried Brandes was born on … More Rudolph Brandes – Detroit Auto Worker
I am going to begin today’s post by displaying the information we have in our German Family Tree for today’s birthday boy, Gotthilf Ferdinand Fischer. There are only 2 church records for Gotthilf, both from the books of Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. There is also something missing. There is no evidence of an early … More The Braddock, Pennsylvania Fischer’s
My approach to this post will be the opposite of what I usually do. Normally, I start with some special event in someone’s life and proceed forward to describe what happened later in their life. Not so today. I will begin with a Perry County personality and work my way backwards in time to find … More Thomas Jefferson’s Ancestors
A baby born on this day in 1874 was given the name Reinhold Ernst Dietrich Lueders. It is his story I tell today, but it apparently wasn’t long after he was born that he took on the name Richard Lueders. His parents were William and Theresia (Lehner) Lueders, and I have previously written several blog … More Another Lueders Leaves Wittenberg
Herman Stemmermann and Anna Maria Heidt were married on this day in 1878. Today would have been their 142nd wedding anniversary. Before we discuss this marriage, let’s take a look at the early history of these two characters. Herman Stemmermann was born on December 7, 1854 in Germany. According to a future census, Herman came … More Herman and His Ladies
One hundred seventy-eight years ago, Peter Herman Stueve was born in Lamstedt, Germany. Peter was born on June 5, 1841. His parents were Carsten and Adelheid (Mangels) Stueve. The parish located in Lamstedt is one of those churches whose records can be found on Ancestry.com. We have Peter’s baptism record. It is reported that Peter … More Peter Blessed by a Crum
Mary and Joseph had a baby around Christmas time. But it’s not the one you may think. This one was a daughter, and her name was Martha. Her parents were Joseph and Mary (Bretscher) Weinhold of Wittenberg. Mary and Joseph not only had this daughter, but all eight of their children were girls. I have … More Mary and Joseph’s Daughter
I was attracted to this story because of the name Gothard Pfennighausen. As near as I can tell, this name means something like “penny house” in German. He married Emma Hooss on June 9th at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville in 1890. Gotthard’s trail led to many different places…..and several changes in names. Plus, there … More Name Changing
