Hang on tight! You’re going on a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean and then spend some time on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers back in the days of steamboats. Along the way, a couple of brothers spend part of their lives in East Perry County. The next generation moves up the river to St. Louis … More Schieferdecker Single Sisters
This will not be a post that follows the same blueprint that is used in most of the stories that I write. Instead of just taking you from cradle to grave of a featured character or couple, I will be leading you to a scenario that took place in a graveyard in Wittenberg in 1904. … More 3 Infants, 3 Graves, 10 Days
I’m taking liberties with pronunciation today. The name Doering is pronounced “daring” around here, but I know that this surname is often pronounced as “door-ing”. As a beginning teacher, my first principal, Orlyn Schlie, had a wife named Dorothy. Those two were affectionately called “Or and Dor”. As I started looking at today’s marriage between … More Lor and Dor
In my upcoming book, Wittenberg ’04, two weddings that occurred in July of 1904 will be highlighted. Another 1904 marriage will be the centerpiece of today’s blog post. That wedding took place in August. In fact, it took place on this day in August making today this couple’s 116th anniversary. Today’s groom was a member … More Clara and Paul
I enjoyed working this fine Sunday afternoon at the Lutheran Heritage Center. Upon arriving I walked around, and after 16 years as the director here, I am still amazed at the new things I notice—even in exhibits I’ve created myself. As a historian in material culture, I am naturally fascinated by objects, documents, art, and … More Symbols of Our Stories
Emma Concordia Estel was born on July 22, 1895, so today would have been her 125th birthday. Emma was the daughter of Martin and Emilie (Weinhold) Estel and her baptism record can be found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. However, she is yet another one of those children who likely would … More From Flour to Flowers
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
Today would have been my Grandma Schmidt’s 142nd birthday. On June 7th three years ago, I wrote a post about my grandmother titled, The Loebs-Schmidt Connection. I will try to avoid repeating a lot of the information that was found in that story, but I have located a few more photos and documents relating to … More Happy Birthday, Grandma Schmidt
In my own personal family tree, you will find a set of my great-grandparents who were made up of a Mueller man and a Theiss woman. One of their daughters, Bertha Mueller, went on to marry a Schmidt, and the rest is my history. In that same generation, there was yet another combination of one … More One of Those Theiss-Mueller Pairs
