In a recent post, Mary and Joseph of the Oehlert Clan, we learned that Mary Gruenwald married Joseph Oehlert. One of today’s characters will be Mary’s sister, Mathilda Gruenwald. We tell her story today because she married today’s birthday boy, Henry Degenhardt. Mary (Gruenwald) Oehlert was married in 1894. It would be 11 years later … More Henry and Mary’s Sister, Tillie
It is hard to imagine a story that really did not last long could involve so many surnames. The story today will include the names Jacob, Roediger, Hinkelmann, Kramer, and Burroughs. Parts of today’s saga were already told in a few previous posts, but I will focus on parts that have yet to be told. … More A Story with So Many Names
If my cousin, Myrtle Kuehnert, could see the title of this post, it would certainly pique her interest. However, she is not likely to have anything to do with a computer or the internet, so the likelihood of her seeing it is rather slim. I know that Cousin Myrtle is moving past her 9th decade … More Kuehnert & Schmidt
A baby was born on this day in the Seelitz community in 1860. This baby’s birth will enable me to tell the tale of several very interesting couples that managed to find each other during the early days of East Perry County history. First of all, some of the details of this story have already … More Seelitz Sweethearts
Walter “Junior” Doering is one of our museum’s faithful supporters. He lives in Kentucky, but he and his wife often stop by the museum when they are in the neighborhood. Once a year, he shows up in town for the annual Boehme reunion. Today’s post will give the reason that he comes for that event. … More Junior’s Mom and Dad
Today would have been the 85th anniversary of Oscar and Lorna (Schmidt) Schlimpert. I called them Uncle Ossie and Aunt Lorna. Here is the marriage license for this couple. Several posts have been written about people in this Schlimpert family. Oscar was the son of Jacob and Caroline (Boeger) Schlimpert. In fact, Oscar was the … More Uncle Ossie – Aunt Lorna
Today would have been the 133rd birthday of Paul Theodore Mueller. His story drew my attention for a variety of reasons. One of the facts about his life was that he and his wife had six children…all girls. I helped raise three girls myself. There were times when they drove me nuts. Poor Theodore had … More Six Pack of Mueller
The story today begins aboard the Copernicus on its voyage to America and ends in a popcorn stand in Collinsville, Illinois. It involves several people and places in between. We find three Lorenz siblings listed on a passenger list of the ship, Copernicus. There was an older brother, Johann Gottlieb, and his two younger sisters, Johanne … More Gottfried’s Popcorn Stand
In the German language, the word kühn means “bold” or “daring”. There were two surnames in the Gesellschaft that contained kühn, Kühn and Kühnert. As time went by, many German names containing an umlaut had that umlaut eliminated and replaced by putting an “e” after the vowel with the umlaut. So these two surnames became … More The Bold Immigrants
I do not usually look for stories that are associated with a death, but I was attracted to today’s situation anyway. A girl who was originally named Hannah Bollefer happened to die on this day in 1974. The tale of that girl entering the Perry County community is the starting point to tell several other … More It Started with an Apple
