Today’s birthday girl is going to take us all the way to Washington state. It is another one of those Perry County natives who would only spend a short time here before living most of her life in another state. The big puzzle in this story is whether she is really today’s birthday girl. According … More Fred and Emma Giles – Kennewick, WA Fruit Farmers
Rev. August Henry Gassner was the pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim from 1897-1911. You will be reading his story today. You will discover that Pastor Gassner spent his entire career in the state of Missouri, but in four different locations. August Henry Gassner was born on August 31, 1866, the son of John … More New Orleans to Stringtown, Jackson, Friedheim, and Washington
The birthday girl for today’s post was a Lorenz. There were two clans of Lorenz’s who settled in Perry County. One is what I call the “Altenburg Lorenz’s”, who arrived on the original ships in 1839, and the other I call the “Farrar Lorenz’s” who arrived here a bit later. Today’s birthday girl was an … More Martin and Hattie – St. Louis Nolting’s
The gravestone shown below can be found in the Concordia Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri. I know when I first saw this gravestone, I concluded that it was for the married couple made up of Adolph and Marie Biltz. That is not the case. This is one of those tombstones that marks the graves of … More Two Stories from a St. Louis Gravestone
The main character in today’s post, as near as I can tell, may have never set foot in Perry County, possibly not even the state of Missouri. However, when you have the surname, Hopfer, the chances of having connections to Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown are pretty high. For some background information that leads up … More Minden, NE to Medford, OR
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you already know that several Perry County natives moved to the state of Kansas over the years. Today will be another one of those stories. It begins with the birth of Emanuel Alvin Hopfer, who was born on September 20, 1861. Emanuel was the son of … More E.A. Hopfer – All Over Kansas, Ends Up in Washington
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
Henry and Wilhelmine (Naeser) Schmidt (no relation to me) had a dozen children according to our German Family Tree, and two of them became Lutheran ministers. The two pastors spent most of their careers in the state of Missouri. Those two preachers will be the subjects of today’s saga. This may take a while. I’m … More A Pair of Preacher Schmidts
Yesterday, I wrote about a native from East Perry County who went off to school to learn a profession only to return back to his home to serve that community. I have a similar story today. This time it is not a doctor, but a preacher. This story has its differences. One big one is … More Hometown Preacher
The life story I will tell today highlights a Hopfer. Martin Hopfer was born on June 30, 1866. He was the son of Gottfried and Catherine (Schaefer) Hopfer. Yesterday’s character, Adolph Schaefer, would have called Martin’s mother, Aunt Catherine. So Martin and Adolph would have been cousins. Although I could find no direct connection in … More Martin Hopfer D.D.S.
