A Smörgåsbord of Stories
Catharina Müller was baptized in the city of her ancestors: Temmels (German Empire). In 1921 she married Albert Blees in Mankato, Minnesota (U.S.A.). What do we know about her years between Germany and her marriage? Coming to America Catharina may have felt the push … read more
One of the first rules of family history research is to start with what you know and work back in time. What do I know about Katherine Miller who married Albert Blees? When I looked in my genealogy database yesterday, I was shocked to discover … read more
Exactly one year ago, I wrote a blog post about the marriage of Albert Blees and Katherine Müller. After discussing why I chose the topic, I related my theory of how the couple met (through Katherine’s family). Then I looked at my two pieces of … read more
Fabulous memories are made when we experience something out of the ordinary. Car Camping, 1964. Here’s a story written by my brother-in-law, Tom: By the time Dave was born (Jim was almost eight then), the rest of us were getting old … read more
The title of this blog post conjures images of collaboration. Is it the name of a law firm? A trucking company? A comedic “bit” from the Department of Redundancy Department? No, this was a marriage partnership. Joseph Fleischhacker Joseph Fleischhacker (1891-1946) was the only … read more
It’s my day, so I’m writing about myself. Buckle up as we go back to 2014 for one of my favorite, genealogy-trip stories. Adair County, Kentucky My family has lived in Adair County, Kentucky since the early 1800s. Naturally, I wanted to visit their … read more
The idea for today’s blog post comes from a second great granddaughter of this couple. She is doing a family tree for a school project and asked her grandmother, who then asked me, for this photo. Her timing was absolutely, very, astoundingly perfect! … read more
This year, I’m participating a writing challenge orchestrated by genealogist and author, Amy Johnson Crow. The program is called 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. This week’s writing prompt is: Tell the story of a favorite photo This is a … read more
Family naming patterns give us a deep-rooted sense of tradition and family bonding. Victoria Prosser (daughter of Joseph Prosser and Brigitta Winkler) was born in 1856. Yes, the baptism record (shown below) spells her name as Viktoria and the German pronunciation would be fick-TOR-iah. See this … read more
The only photo I have of Victoria Blees shows a strong, confident, mother of five posing in a St. Paul, Minnesota studio, circa 1900. But who were her parents? Where was she born? When I wrote about the Blees lineage in 2007, Victoria’s early … read more