This summer, notable citizens continued to fall, not spring, from the Winter branch of my family tree.

Edward Henry Winter, my 2nd cousin, 3x removed, was the 32nd Lieutenant Governor of Missouri. Elected in 1928 after a successful stint as Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives, he would serve only one term before making a run for governor. That was not meant to be, however, as he lost in a landslide defeat to Democrat Guy B. Park of Platte City, Missouri in 1932.

Edward’s career in politics was a bit… accidental. At age 17 he survived the tornado that swept through the St. Louis area in 1896. But he sustained crippling injuries while helping to rebuild the house where he and his 13 siblings lived. Unable to contribute to the care of the family farm, he was sent off to college where he studied journalism. His work in newspapers got him noticed, so to speak, which led to his career in politics. I am being a bit selfish but that was the best worst tornado ever.

In 1905, Edward went to work for the fledgling Warrenton Banner newspaper. In 1910, after turning the newspaper around and buying out its rivals, he gained control of it. The newspaper would continue to be published until 1968 – 37 years after his death. I am very grateful to Cousin Edward as I am constantly turning to the Warrenton Banner for information about the throngs of relatives I have who lived in and around Warrenton, Missouri. I can’t image trying to research them without it.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: 2nd cousin, 3x removed
Common ancestors: Edwin’s great grandparents, Anton and Catharina (Bracht) Winter, are my 4th great grandparents

References:
Centennial History Of Missouri (The Center State); One Hundred Years In the Union; 1821-1921 (Volume 4). St. Louis-Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company. pp 301-302.
Edward H. Winter Dies in Rochester, Minn., Funeral to be Held Here Tuesday. (1941 June 30). Jefferson City Post-Tribune. p. 1.
Guy B. Park is Congratulated by Opponent. (1932, November 9). Jefferson City Post-Tribune. p. 1.

The name of my 4th great grandfather, Caspar Bruenstreip, was buried in the city cemetery records of Warrenton, Missouri alongside the name of his interred daughter, Mary Wessel. She died October 5, 1892 (coincidentally) and is buried next to her husband, William. Thankfully those cemetery records have now been digitized so the shovels I had taken with me to exhume information or bodies were not needed. But as thrilled as I was to uncover his identity, I accepted then and there that I might have to live with just knowing Caspar’s name.

For some reason, records of Mary and William’s lives before they came to America are missing from the various online databases which house such things. I can find no record, for example, of their marriage which took place in Germany; and, there are no baptismal or birth records for their two oldest children who were born in Germany. Either the records have been destroyed or they haven’t been digitized. As I expected, searches for Caspar proved unsuccessful as well. At least in Germany.

It turns out that Caspar came to America in 1847 aboard a sea-faring vessel named Ellerslie. In the passenger list, he was listed as 60 years old and a “farmer”. His daughter, Mary, and her family had arrived two years earlier through the same port in Baltimore. They had made Wheeling, West Virginia their “first” home and so did Caspar according to the 1850 census. But when Mary and her husband packed up the kids and the covered wagon and made their way to Warren County, Missouri, Caspar stayed behind.

At first I thought this was a bit odd. I’d always assumed Mary and William had gone to Wheeling because other Wessels lived there which is true. But I soon discovered that Mary’s kinfolk lived in Wheeling, too, with last names recorded as “Branstreep”, “Branstroop” and “Broenstrap” just to name a few. (Census takers wrote down whatever they heard in those days.) So Caspar wasn’t exactly living amongst strangers. The spelling of the last name that mattered the most to me was found – naturally – in the family tree of one of my DNA matches. His ancestor was born Johanna “Broenstrup”. She died in Lafayette County, Missouri but was living in Warren County, Missouri per the 1900 census. Bingo.

I have to give credit to West Virginia. They started keeping track of deaths in 1853. That’s a lot earlier than most states I’ve encountered. Caspar died from typhoid fever August 7, 1856 at the age of 69. No other information was provided. That’s okay, though, because it’s a lot more than I was expecting to find.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: 4th great grandfather
Common ancestors: Presumably, the Bruenstreips or Branstroops of Germany

Today marks the 96th anniversary of my paternal grandmother’s birth. Born Mildred Clara Pauline Dusenberg to parents Henry and Minnie (Biesemeyer) Dusenberg, she was the youngest of five children.

Some of my most cherished memories of my grandmother involve her family’s gatherings in New Franklin, Missouri. The Dusenberg Family Reunions, which had been held for generations, were big events. Three or four folding tables were needed to accommodate the covered dishes and baked goods that had traveled from all over Missouri and beyond. I remember how my grandmother would shuffle me and my siblings and cousins around the room proudly introducing us to her siblings and cousins. She beamed with joy. And, oh, how I wish now that I had paid better attention to all of those names! There was always a lot of laughter and storytelling and reminiscing around old family photo albums. Sorrow was often present as well as those who had passed were remembered. Prizes were handed out for various things – who traveled the farthest, the youngest, the oldest, who had been married the longest, etc. I never won any that I recall but my grandmother’s Aunt Emma always took home the award for the oldest member in attendance. After we’d eaten too much and played too hard, we’d say our goodbyes and pile back into our cars and head home. I received a bunch of hugs from wrinkly old women on the way out. One of them always came from my grandmother even though we’d likely see each other in a week or two.

The Duesenbergs of Iowa – distant cousins to my grandmother – also held reunions regularly. The two brothers who built the iconic Duesenberg car hail from this branch of the family tree. A few months ago I made contact with their nephew and my distant cousin who lives in Clear Lake, Iowa. He had in his possession the meeting minutes from the 1936 Duesenberg Family Reunion held in Mason City, Iowa which he graciously shared with me. This particular reunion was a special occasion as some of the Duesenbergs from Missouri were in attendance. Among them was my grandmother’s aunt, Pauline, after whom she was named.

The secretary of the reunion that year reported that a “bountiful” picnic was enjoyed by all. She also reported that the $7.85 collected was enough to cover the cost of the ice cream.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: Paternal grandmother
Common ancestors: Mildred’s parents, Henry and Minnie (Biesemeyer) Dusenberg (Duesenberg) are my 1st great grandparents

Engineers, physicists, inventors. scientists, professors, educators. If I had a nickel for every time that I came across one in my family tree, it would not pay for the storage fees for this blog. But I might have a roll of nickels.

Max Edwin Femmer, my 4th cousin, 1x removed, was a member of the engineering team at IBM that revolutionized data storage back in the 1950s. (He’s a really smart distant cousin.) Until that time, data storage was all about punched cards which had been IBM’s core business. Considered a risky venture, the company invested millions of dollars into the project which resulted in the development of the magnetic tapes that forever changed the way data would be stored electronically. We all know what happened after that: computers got faster and smaller as data storage systems continued to evolve.

Max was born in Kansas in 1919 and died in Denver, Colorado in 1986. He enlisted in the Army in 1943. His “wartime exposure to advances in cryptology” clearly played a role in his success and the success of the project. If you search for Max on the Internet, you’ll likely find the word “pioneer” associated with his name. You’ll also likely find a messy divorce case which made its way up to a Colorado Court of Appeals in 1977. From the disposition of marital assets, it’s clear IBM was good to Cousin Max. Cha-Ching!

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: 4th cousin, 1x removed
Common ancestors: Max’s 3nd great grandparents, Anton and Catharina (Bracht) Winter, are my 4th great grandparents

References:
Flamm, K. (1988). Creating the Computer: Government, Industry, and High Technology. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institute.
Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=p6S9WOniQN4C&pg=PA63&lpg=PA63&dq=max+femmer+ibm&source=bl&ots=RbY9R0_v61&sig=Ek4oB_U9dpN5IDSl08lEfu7ZtEw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAGoVChMIrZDHwPOfyAIVQnM-Ch0chwjC#v=onepage&q=max%20femmer%20ibm&f=false

IBM’s Archives

The untimely and tragic death of my paternal great grandmother, Lula Betty (Boren) Trantham, robbed six young children of their mother and a husband of his loving wife. After helping a neighboring and ailing family in need, Lula Betty contracted the illness herself and died on her 33rd birthday. Although Texas would become her final resting place, her heritage was firmly rooted in Mississippi, where she left behind a grieving brother and an extended family to mourn her death.

Lula Betty’s older brother, Luther Henry, had not ventured west when he came of age like siblings Hattie and Tom. Thus, it fell upon him to look after his younger siblings when their parents died between 1895 and 1900. Lula Betty’s niece and Luther’s youngest daughter, Catherine, who still lives in Tupelo, Mississippi, recalled that her father would often say that he had raised “three families”. Married twice with two sets of children of his own, Luther was 25 when he became responsible for raising three of his siblings, one of whom was Lula Betty. Their sister Hattie would later fetch Lula Betty and the baby of the family, Christine, back to Texas where she lived with her husband, James Hancock. It was while living with Hattie that Lula Betty first met my great grandfather, Lutiness Alonzo Trantham.

When I first contacted Catherine, she remembered her father referring to the person I described as “Lula Betty” as “Lurah”. Although Luther died when she was but 19 years old, she has no recollection of her father ever calling her “Lula Betty”. He had even gone as far as naming another daughter “Lurah Christine” after his two sisters who lived in Texas. This revelation came as quite a surprise and makes me think “Lula Betty” might possibly have been a nickname for “Lurah Elizabeth”.

Catherine also helped me uncover the true identify of “Lurah” and Luther’s mother, which had alluded my own mother and me until now. She recalled her father saying that her grandmother’s maiden name was something akin to “Gooch”. Her memory served her well, though, as intensive research on my part revealed that “Gooch” was in fact “Goodger” which probably sounds much the same.

Mary Emma (Goodger) Boren is my paternal 2nd great grandmother and Lula Betty’s mother. She was born about 1852 in Mississippi according to census records and she died about 1897 according to family lore. Mary Emma’s son Tom Boren was a wanderer. After he left Mississippi, he and his young family showed up in census records in both Colorado and New Mexico. His fate was also a bit of a mystery until I uncovered a death certificate filed in Yakima, Washington in 1942. Thomas Ernest Boren’s father was listed as “John Boren” and his mother “Emma Goodger”.

The Goodger family represents a new and unexplored branch of my family tree. Mary Emma, after all, came from somewhere. As I tend to do with all of my branches, I turned to my DNA matches for evidence of my Goodger roots and I was not disappointed. All of their Goodger ancestors passed through Mississippi at some point so I think I am on the right track.

I remember when my grandfather returned to Texas in the late 1990s to put a grave marker on Lula Betty’s unmarked grave. I am glad that he did that. I’ve come to realize that grave markers don’t just mark the spot where someone is buried. They also mark the spot where people gathered to share in their grief and remember the life of a loved one now departed.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: Paternal great grandmother
Common ancestors: The Borens and Goodgers of Mississippi

The Baskets of Monroe Johnson most likely never appeared on any bestseller list. This unassuming 33-page booklet, which I found in the gift shop of the Warren County Historical Society, probably would have been overlooked by a lesser being but not I. In terms of baskets, my knowledge is limited to the Easter and laundry varieties. But as husbands of distant cousins go, I am quite the expert.

Emmanuel Monroe Johnson was the husband of Caroline Koelling, my 1st cousin, 3x removed. According to the booklet’s author, Monroe’s mother immigrated from Sweden to the Unites States when he was but 3 months old. He had an evil stepfather who agreed to marry his mother as long as Monroe and his brother were placed in an orphanage. The two boys were later adopted by the Timmerberg family that lived near Lippstadt outside of Warrenton, Missouri. As young men, the two boys eventually made their way to St. Louis, Missouri, where they took jobs in a basket factory. It was here that Monroe learned the craft of basket weaving.

Despite my lack of knowledge of baskets, it is clear from the booklet’s photos and the author’s descriptions that Monroe was indeed a gifted basket weaver. While his sturdy baskets were made for everyday use, the artistry he wove into each one of them was unparalleled. The author suggests that Monroe might just have been the preeminent basket weaver in Missouri. It’s hard to disagree.

The next time I am in Warren County I am going to find his stepfather’s grave and stomp on his head.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: Monroe’s wife, Caroline Koelling, was 1st cousin to my paternal great grandfather, Henry Duesenberg
Common ancestors: None that I know of (yet)

Reference:
Beckmann, R. C. (1982). The Baskets of Monroe Johnson. n. p.

The stars in the night sky are shimmering a bit brighter these days now that my grand aunt Opal (Trantham) Shelton has taken her rightful place among them. Born August 8, 1933 to Lutiness Alonzo and Mattie (Buys) Trantham, Opal was one of eleven children and my paternal grandfather’s half sister. Opportunity and distance prevented me from ever meeting her. But, it is clear that the people that knew her, loved her dearly. She is truly missed.

Debra Dray, an employee at the Goldthwaite Senior Health Center where Opal lived for the last 20 years, described Opal as a warm, quiet person who was never boisterous. She loved to play bingo and was not much of a television person. She was genuinely concerned for the well-being of others and loved to be around people. In fact, when she traded in her walker for a wheelchair, there was no stopping her as she wheeled herself up and down the halls visiting each room along the way. Invited or not, Opal often turned up in Debra’s office just to be near her.

Opal, a mother of two boys, died peacefully September 11, 2015 at the age of 82.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: Opal (Trantham) Shelton is my paternal grand aunt
Common ancestors: Opal’s grandparents, Campbell Jackson and Isadora (Sims) Trantham, are my 2nd great grandparents

My week-long stay in Warren County, Missouri has ended. I traveled there hoping to find information about my 3rd great grandparents, the Düwels or Duewels, who appeared in the census of 1870 but not 1880. Their daughter, Friederieke, was the mother of my paternal great grandfather, Henry Duesenberg. Using church records, deeds and estate documents, I’ve been able to piece together the final chapters of their lives after 1870.

Anne Catrine Marie (Springmeyer) Düwel, my 3rd great grandmother, became a landowner for the first time in October of 1877. At the age of 63, she purchased 96 acres of land from Herman and Anna Hülsmann. According to the deed, she was a single woman. I believe this is the same land she and her husband, my 3rd great grandfather, Johann Friedrich Düwel, had farmed since they arrived in Warren County about 1845. August Nolting owned the land adjacent to the Hülsmann’s and is listed as a neighbor of the Düwels in the 1850 census.

Friedrich, or Fritz, Düwel appears to have died about 1876 or early 1877. His grandson, Charles Koelling, was baptized at Strack’s Church in late 1875 with Grandfather Friedrich listed as his only sponsor. Since there is no evidence that he ever purchased land in his own name, there was likely no need to file estate documents when he died. All of his personal belongings would have passed to his wife.

“Catherine Duvall”, as she appears on the deed in 1877, borrowed $266 from Julius Brandt to purchase the 96 acres. The promissory note filed the same day as the deed stipulated that she had two years to repay him. He charged her 8% interest annually. Although this was likely a risky undertaking for a single woman of her age, she must have successfully repaid him because there is no debt owed to him according to her estate documents filed in October of 1879. Her three children – Fred “Duvall”, Mina Koelling and Rieka Duesenberg – sold the land for $400 in December of the same year and split the proceeds.

The reason she decided to purchase the land after having rented it for so many years is unclear. I suspect her landlords may have been concerned about her ability to run the farm successfully and pay rent after the death of her husband. To avoid the liability, they apparently sold the land to her instead. She appears to have done alright for herself, however, as she died owning it outright. (Good for her!)

Her estate documents also included an inventory of her personal belongings. Among them were twenty gallons of “fresh wine”, a blind mare, and 30 chickens, more or less. Sadly, there is no mention of her daughter, Caroline Düwel, who was 8 years old in the census of 1860 but was not listed in 1870. She is likely lost to the ages.

I had no idea what I might find in Warren County. I could have easily returned empty-handed. But, instead, I learned a great deal about two of my ancestors, one of whom appears to have been a strong, independent woman.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: 3rd great grandmother
Common ancestors: Anne Catrine Marie (Springmeyer) Düwel is the daughter of Friedrich and Marie (Geismann) Springmeyer, my 4th great grandparents