I have been looking for an occasion to use the church records we now have in our research library from Zion Lutheran Church in Alva, Oklahoma. Thanks to Dale Kirmse, a good friend of our museum who has also been a guest blogger, we have these records now. Zion, Alva is one of those places … More Henry and His Little Angel
When I was a boy growing up in St. Louis, I drank quite a bit of Pevely milk. If my memory serves me, the milk we drank out of the small milk cartons at school were from Pevely Dairy. I was unable to find a photo of one of the Pevely milk cartons from my … More Pevely Dairyman’s Six E’s
Martin Peter Bachmann was born on October 15, 1870. A year from today, he will be celebrating his 150th birthday, but I don’t feel like waiting till next year to write his story. You get it today. According to a family book we have that was put together by Wayne Schuessler, it indicates that Martin … More Martin and Martha
Ernst Gottfried Weber would be celebrating his 150th birthday today because he was born on October 11, 1869. As it turns out, Gottfried had quite the trip through life, spending time in several locations and experiencing some difficulties in the process. Gottfried (sometimes called Fred) was the son of Herman and Pauline (Braeutigam-Schroeder) Weber. Gottfried’s … More Gottfried’s Travels and Trials
John Arthur Vogel was born on August 18, 1883 in Pocahontas, Missouri. That would make today his 136th birthday. He was the son of Theodore and Emilie (Happel) Vogel. He was sometimes called John on records, sometimes Arthur, and sometimes J.A. I will use Arthur. He was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells, … More Give Me Livery or Give Me Life (Insurance)
I start today by reminding you of a previous post that was written about the Feig family. I looked up Feig on Google Translate, and it said this word means “cowardly” in English (although another German dictionary indicated you had to have an “e” at the end to mean “cowardly”). I am already getting off … More Cowardly Clara Becomes Käsekopf
Christine Hemmann is today’s birthday girl. She was born on August 10, 1886, making today her 133rd birthday. It did not take me long once I started researching Christine that I had to ask the question, “Did Christine marry Barny Bohnert or did she marry Benjamin Bohnert?” By the time I’m done with this post, … More Barney or Benjamin Bohnert?
I discovered in our German Family Tree a person with a birthday today who had the surname Unterreiner. I must admit that the first thing that came to my mind was that this surname was a “Catholic name”. The cemetery for our nearest Catholic church, St. Joseph Cemetery, has 44 entries on Findagrave.com that include … More Lutherans and Catholics
“Let me take you down ‘Cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields” The next line of this Beatles song goes, “Nothing is real”. But today I’m going to take you to Strawberry Fields for real. “Strawberry Fields forever” Our story starts out in Altenburg, Missouri, but eventually takes us to the fields of Strawberry. I do … More Strawberry Fields Forever
Today’s couple reminds me of my aunt and uncle. I had an Aunt Dorothy and an Uncle Rudy Schmidt. As the title suggests, the couple I write about today were a Rudy and Dora, only their surname was Gerhardt. Both Rudy and Dora had Perry County roots, but they managed to marry each other in … More Rudy and Dora
