The original Kaempfe family arrived aboard the Johann Georg as part of the Gesellschaft in 1839.  I wrote a post about the early years in Perry County for the Kaempfe’s that was titled, Prof. Godfather.  These Kaempfe’s eventually had a farm in Millstadt, Illinois, and one of their sons, Traugott, moved back to Perry County, and the folks around here that carry the surname, Kaempfe, probably came from his branch of the family. Today, I am going to discuss in further detail what happened to those first Kaempfe’s.  However, before I move on, let me discuss some inconclusive issues.  Let’s start ..read more

Yesterday’s story about a bride and groom from each side of the river, along with today’s story about a family that spent part of their lives on the Missouri side and part of their lives on the Illinois side, have gotten me wondering.  I look back in the history of this area and see so much evidence of movement back and forth across the river from several townships in Perry County, Missouri and the Fountain Bluff Township of Jackson County, Illinois during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  That movement was in large part made possible by ferries that crossed back and forth across the river du ..read more

I have written several stories now which include a marriage that takes place involving a bride and groom in which one participant grew up on this side of the Mississippi River, and the other was born and raised on the other side of the river in Illinois.  Today will be another example of one of those marriages. It all starts with today’s birthday boy, Rudolph Kuntze, who was born on January 21, 1891.  Rudolph was the son of William and Susanna (Grosse) Kuntze and baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg, Missouri.  Below is his baptism record. Rudolph Kuntze baptism record – Trinity, A ..read more

Paulus Leimbach arrived in America aboard the ship, Ernestine, in 1854.  Paulus was the son of Justin and Anna Katharina (Schneider) Leimbach of Hilgershaugen, Hesse, Germany.  Paulus traveled to America alone.  His parents remained in Germany.  Paulus can be found on the passenger list for the Ernestine shown below.  He was recorded as being 18 years old. Paulus Leimbach – Ernestine passenger list – 1854Paulus is another person for which we do not find an official record of his birth until he dies.  It is in the death record for Paulus in the books of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg tha ..read more

John Hooss and Mary Magdalena Kiesler were married in Perryville 150 years ago.  I will attempt to tell the tale of a prominent family in Perryville history.  I will begin with documenting the early years of John Hooss. John Hooss was born on February 1, 1848, the son of Henry and Barbara (Fath) Hooss.  His death certificate would say that he was born in Perryville, Missouri, but I am not sure where he was baptized.  He had an older brother and sister who were both baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown, but John’s baptism is not found there.  Perhaps he was baptized at Peace Lutheran ..read more

If you want to be qualified to celebrate your 150th birthday in 2020, you must have been born in 1870.  We are going to look today at two people who formed a couple in which both the bride and the groom were born in 1870.  One of them, the bride, was born on this day, January 17th, back in that year. Katharina Schumacher is today’s birthday girl.  I was really having a hard time finding out much about her family until I looked at her death certificate, which I will display later.  On that form, it said her father’s name was Oswald and that Katharina was born in Grand Tower, Illinois.  Once I h ..read more

A gentleman by the name of Henry Brinkmann showed up in East Perry County for only a short time, but he managed to find a bride here before returning to his home state of Wisconsin.  Henry is today’s birthday boy, but he was not born here.  His birthday was January 16, 1859, and his birthplace was Hamburg, Wisconsin.  Hamburg is located not far from LaCrosse, Wisconsin.  With the exception of his short stint in East Perry County, Henry spent his lifetime in the vicinity of LaCrosse.  Here is a present-day map of that area. LaCrosse and Hamburg, Wisconsin mapWe find Henry Brinkmann in the 1860 ..read more

I will give you a heads up on today’s tale.  Not much time will be spent in Perry County.  I will begin the story by looking at a couple that was part of the New York Group that arrived in Perry County in the spring of 1839.  Many of the members of the New York Group did not remain in this area very long.  In fact, many of them moved to St. Louis, and many of those became members of Old Trinity Lutheran Church in that city.  Such is the case with Georg Gottlob Heid and his wife, Anna Maria. Let me go back a little farther to discuss how Georg and Maria ended up in New York City.  Georg Heid is ..read more

Today’s post is intended to be mostly a display of old photographs.  I have already written several posts that are connected to the Robert and Lillian Fiehler family, so I do not want to repeat what has already been on this blog.  However, when I discovered that today was the anniversary of Joseph and Ida (Meyr) Fiehler, I began looking in our German Family Tree.  It didn’t take me long to realize that their son, Robert Fiehler, was also born on the same day as their anniversary.  Believe it or not, Gerard Fiehler, Robert’s son, was not aware that his father was born on his grandma and grandpa ..read more

As a Schmidt myself, I have often become confused by the different Schmidt clans that have populated East Perry County over the years.  There were several Schmidt clans who were part of the Gesellschaft in 1839.  My Schmidt clan is one of those.  There were also other Schmidt’s who arrived on the scene rather early who became part of the mix.  I noticed a Schmidt in our German Family Tree today that happens to have a birthday on this date.  In fact, I started looking at this Schmidt because today would have been his bicentennial birthday.  After researching this story, I now think I have at le ..read more