1906, The Quake and the Gehrke/Braun Clan

Copyright 2023, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Written for my family history, published 1997, "The Gehrkes, Descendants of Karl and Charlotte Gehrke, Emmigrants from Germany 1888."

Because the Gehrke clan was living on the Oakland side of the bay, I researched the quake and the aftermath looking for the experiences of those living in Oakland, vs those living in San Francisco. I included this short summary in my book:

 "On April 18, 1906 at 5:15 A.M. San Francisco and surrounding area experienced what is commonly known as the “Great Earthquake”.  The shock of the quake was felt over an area of about 375,000 square miles, destruction was found over 400 miles south and ran 25 to 30 miles on either side of the fault.   The quake produced 135 after shocks on April 18th and 22 more on the 19th.  What the quakes did not destroy in San Francisco, fire did.  The “Great Fire” burned for four days.  The death toll has been set from hundreds to current theories that maybe as many as 3000 died."

"In 1906 there was no bridge between San Francisco and Oakland/Berkeley.  Travel between the two locations was done by ferry.  Ferries ran frequently, people lived in Oakland and worked in San Francisco."

"The damage in Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley was relatively light (if one considers property damage in excess of $2,500,000.00 light) when compared to the tragedy in San Francisco.  Frank Aleomon Leach, former newspaper reporter, at the time of the quake was the superintendent for the United States Mint in San Francisco, and lived in Oakland.  He wrote an article, “Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906", which compiler found on the Internet.  He tells of buildings dancing lively jigs during the quake, moving as much as a foot up and down.  He also tells of the destruction of Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda and his descriptions are the best compiler found."

“Nearly every brick building in town suffered a loss of fire walls, while three of four old buildings were so badly injured that they were subsequently removed......There was not a building in Oakland, Alameda, or Berkeley, that I heard of, that was not shorn of its chimney tops.”

"Fire was a threat to Oakland and Berkeley as it had been to San Francisco, however, only a few alarms for fires went off.  Oakland was lucky, the damage was such that they were able to repair their water mains within hours of the quake."

"The death toll in Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda was very low, one of the worst disasters in Oakland was at the Empire Theater where the walls collapsed and five people were killed.  Many were injured in Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda, but not many died."

"Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda became the relief center for over 270,000 people from San Francisco.  Oakland before the quake had a population of less than 100,000.  Committees were organized to meet the refugees at the docks and trains offering hot coffee and something to eat.   The refugees were then taken to places to sleep.  Shelter camps and hospital camps were organized.  It is said that two weeks after the disaster, that every one of the homeless had been cared for."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Karl and Charlotte (Gehrke) and all of their children, except Hedwig arrived in Alameda in late 1904.  Their daughter, Hedwig, with her husband August (Braun) arrived sometime in 1906, and returned to Hawaii in 1908.  Karl and Charlotte lived on the Oakland side of the San Francisco Bay until they moved to Michigan about 1911.  One can only imagine their experiences and their memories of this historical event.  

In my research of this family and sharing of family stories, traditions, some true and some stretching the truth, never once did any of the descendants mention the 1906 earthquake.  In hindsight, that strikes me as somewhat odd.

* Sources include articles found on the Internet through the site maintained by the Museum of the City of San Francisco.  Research done in Summer 1997.

** Links, URL's, for the most part will not be included henceforth on my posts, (this post is one of the few exceptions) as so many of them change and then I have to come back and try to re-discover and relink.  Frankly folks, I have no desire to spend my limited time here on this side of the sod with those kinds of do overs.  As researchers, or just members of the internet community, sites such as Find A Grave are easy to find, some are free to use and with the information I am sharing with you, hopefully, you can duplicate the research/findings. That said, I have seen memorials at Find A Grave be removed.  If you have questions, I suggest you leave a nice comment for me. OR find the method I have outlined on my blog for contacting me.

***As of today, April 2023, a current site with tons of history, including some incredible photos is A tour of the Great Quake of 1906 by Curbed San Francisco.  

**** From Internet Archives, it is possible this link will disappear due to litigation which puts this source in muddy waters.  I have included the link.  I also downloaded the PDF file of this work for my future reading.  The portion about the 1906 earthquake starts on page 313 of this work.

Recollections of a newspaperman; a record of life and events in California

by Leach, Frank Aleamon, 1846-

Publication date 1917

Topics Frontier and pioneer life, Women, Urbanization, Real estate development, Law and politics, Business

Publisher San Francisco, S. Levinson

Collection americana

Digitizing sponsor Google

Book from the collections of unknown library

Language English

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One Memory, My Best Genealogy Day, Correct That to Read, Man’s Best

Copyright 2015, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

One of Man’s lineages has an extremely interesting pattern of immigration. The Gehrke clan, left “Germany” and landed in Lihue Hawaii. Years later they moved to Alameda County California and then moved once again to Michigan. This clan was the subject of my first family history book.

For our 25th wedding anniversary Man and I saved for a few years and booked a trip to Hawaii. About six months before departure, Inki hit the island of Kauai and pretty much damaged every building on the island. We were very disappointed as we wanted to visit there, some of his cousins still lived there, one daughter of the immigrant family lived all of her life on the island.  She died there and is buried on Kauai.

Just a few weeks before we departed on our trip, Kauai was re-opened for tourists. We changed our plans, added a week to the vacation. We were thrilled to meet up with a cousin, who has now departed this earth.

But, the magic of this trip was in the 1.5 hours I managed to find to research in Honolulu at the Hawaii State Archives, in the Kekauluohi Building, Iolani Palace Grounds, 364 S. King Street, Honolulu, Hawaii.

At that time many of the finding aids in the research center were of the 3 X 5 card catalog type. The staff pointed out the most likely document sets to search. Man and I both searched, and in short order we had found at least one document that needed to be brought up from the storage area. So, we waited.  The wait was worth it, isn't th is a fun document??

Man was getting antsy, research is not his forte, even tho he is very good at indexes and city directories. He started wandering around. In this research center, there was a long wall of books. A very long wall. I am guessing it was 100 feet, more or less. I remember it being quite tall too, maybe to the ceiling, 8 feet? Many books stored there.

Man wandered over to the books. I have no idea why, but, he did. He studied some titles, just looking. And, at some point, magic and serendipity took over. He reached up, pulled one, just ONE, book down, brought it over to me, asking, “Do you think this would help?”

Seriously, a non-researcher picking one book out of hundreds, and he wants to know if it would help in the study of his great-grandparents? It is almost laughable.

Except - -

It was the one book in all of the world that would solve the question, where in Germany?

See, there was this little issue. We had the name of the town Man’s grandfather was born in, Hammerstein. There was another little issue. There used to be FIVE Hammersteins in Germany. And, we had not one clue which one was the birthplace.

The book was a master’s thesis by one Bernhard Hormann, “The Germans in Hawaii”. With the clues there, the Lutheran Church records from Lihue, Hawaii, family tradition and a bit more research we had our answer. The Hammerstein was now Czarne Poland.

Once again, miracles, magic and serendipity mixed with many (MANY) hours of hard core research and the answer has been found.

All due to Man’s restlessness and one small master’s thesis stored on a very huge wall of books. And to think we only had 1.5 hours to research. Really, a miracle.




* Another fun document we have on Carl Gehrke during the years he lived and worked in Lihue Hawaii, is this November 1891 Pay Roll sheet.

** Note:  Both the Pay Roll sheet and the Certificate of Special Rights of Citizenship were originally published in a "little" (sarcasm intended) work on the Gehrke family.  The notes trimmed in black were done by hand.  Printed information, trimmed by craft scissors, double sided sticky taped to the black construction paper, also trimmed by craft scissors, again double sided sticky taped to a photo copy of the record.  Scanned by the printer into the book.  

***The Pay Roll page has been digitally edited for this format, in the book, the entire page was shown.

**** Certificate of Special Rights of Citizenship, courtesy  of the Hawaiian Archives.

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National German-American Day

Copyright 2014, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Today is National German-American Day, 2014.  

German-American day, celebrates, in part, German American heritage.  There is a short article about it on Wikipedia.

Man and I both have German heritage.  My lines include, but are not limited to, Halterman, Holsinger, Kessler, Lehman, Argobright (Ergebright).  Man's line include two strong German lines of Gerth and Ruthig, both of which spent a number of years in Canada before actually coming into the thumb area of Michigan.

Man also has the "Gehrke" blood, via his mother, grandfather and great-grandparents.  The clan left Germany in 1888 aboard the J.C. Pfluger bound from Bremerhafen to Honolulu. They lived on the island of Kauai until around 1904 when they moved on to the Oakland California area.  After living through the 1906 San Francisco earthquake the clan moved to Huron County Michigan, one son by 1909, the rest were found on church records in Huron County by the end of 1911.

The patriarch of the Gehrke clan was Karl/Carl/Charles Herman Gehrke.  The matriarch was Charlotte Louise Gruendemann-Grunbaum Gehrke (the story of her maiden name is long and convoluted and no, I am NOT sure it is Gruendemann-Grunbaum.)

Carl about 1910:

Charlotte about 1910:

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Sunday's Stories, 52 Ancestor Weeks, Week # 17, Three Gehrke Infants

Copyright 2014, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

This is week 17 of my participation Amy Johnson Crow's, once a week challenge to blog about one ancestor a week, tell their story, biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on that one ancestor. More about the challenge can be found at her Blog, No Story Too Small.

This week I will focus on three infant children of Karl Herman "Carl or Charles" Gehrke and his wife, Charlotte Louise Gruendemann-Grunbaum Gehrke, all three were born and died in Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii. All records presented are from the Lihue Lutheran Church records, Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii.  (See film available from FamilySearch and the LDS library system, film number 1031194 .)  Some of the records I found in this set of records were sent to Germany for translation.  You may note some "English" printing on the records, that is the efforts of the translator.

The first child is Albert Wilhelm August Gehrke, second son and third born child.  This particular presentation of his baptism record was taken from my work on the Gehrke clan, "The Gehrke's : Descendants of Karl and Charlotte Gehrke, Emigrants from Germany 1888", which I privately published in 1997.

Albert was born November 2, 1889 at Lihue, was baptized on December 8, 1889 at Lihue. 

His death record from the Lihue Lutheran Church records, which tell us that  Albert drowned in the stream of Kapain.  Albert died on May 17, 1895 at or near Lihue.  He was buried the next day, we suggest that burial was probably at the Lihue Lutheran Church although there is no marker for him. Presented as 2 images.

The next child is Julius Gehrke, fourth son and fifth child.  Julius was given an emergency baptism on the day that he died in the home of his parents who acted as his baptismal sponsors.  Julius was born on May 2, 1894 at Lihue and was baptized on May 14, 1894 just before his death.  Note that in the far left column his death date is given with the cross and date.  Baptism presented in 2 images. 

His death record.  The reason for his death was given as "weakly since birth".  The pastor indicated in his remarks on the recording of his death that the child died and was buried during "my absence".   We suggest, that as with his brother, that Julius was probably buried at the Lihue Lutheran Church, although there is no marker for him.  Death presented in two images.

The last child is Auguste Clara Sophie Gehrke, the tenth born and third daughter.  Auguste was baptized at home in an emergency baptism.  Her baptismal sponsors were Supervisor August Braun, Mrs. Clara Schumacher, nee Braun, Sophie Schilling all of Lihue, but all absent at the emergency baptism, but represented by Mrs. Schmidt, Mrs. Gehrke and Hedwig Gehrke.  The emergency baptism "was given in the house of the family Gehrke, the 12th child of the couple Gehrke, she died May 5, 1903" (This translation provided by friends and family of my daughter-in-law.  Translations done in Germany.)  You will note the record states the 12th child, and I have mentioned that she is the tenth born.  Yes, we seem to be missing 2 children.  I have not found them, yet.  I hold out hope, always hope.

Augusta Clara Sophie Gehrke, born the 15th of March 1903, baptized May 1, 1903 at the family home.  Her death is noted in the far left column.

Her death record, Auguste died on May 5, 1903 and we believed was buried the same day. Again, we suggest that she was buried at the Lihue Lutheran Church, although we have no proof.

Wish list for Gehrke infants:  Newspaper articles listing place of burial.  Possibly a pipe dream there.

Over all wish list for the Gehrke family unit, find those two missing babies!

* Additional source data can be obtained by contacting me, see the right hand column for a yahoo email address.

** 52 Ancestors Weeks Button courtesy of Amy Johnson Crow.

*** I use many resources to research, FamilySearch.org is a free site.  Ancestry.com is a pay site for which I pay, no discounts, etc.  None of these sites have asked me to review them, or use them.  See my Disclaimers page for further details.

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Sunday's Stories, 52 Ancestor Weeks, Week # 6, August Gruenwald, WHERE Did You End Up?

Copyright 2014, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

This is week 6 of my participation Amy Johnson Crow's, once a week challenge to blog about one ancestor a week, tell their story, biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on that one ancestor. More about the challenge can be found at her Blog, No Story Too Small.

August Gruenwald, well, maybe Gruenwald, maybe not.

How about we start with the back story, as I know it, not that there is a lot:

In 1888 a small family from Germany stepped off the German ship, J.C. Pfluger at Honolulu Hawaii.  The ship's master was B. Kruse.  The J.C. Pfluger had sailed from Bremerhafen.  It arrived in Hawaii on November 2, 1888.

The family we are interested in appears about half way down this page, Karl H. Gehrke, 24 years of age.  Listed next we find, Charlotte Gehrke, age 27; Fritz Gehrke, age 3 and Hedwig Gehrke, age 10 months.  Please note the next passenger is one August Grunwald, age 5.  He does not appear to be part of any of the other family groups, families with the same surname.  It's just August.  Five years of  age.  Listed.  Traveling with whom?

You will note in the caption on the right that I state that August may be a child of Charlotte's.

A closer look at just the names:

From family tradition: it is reported that Charlotte had a illegitimate child named August before she married Karl. Charlotte and Karl had more children, census reports state she had to up 13.  I have records of ten.  If you count this August Grunwald as a child of Charlottes, I have eleven children accounted for.

One of Karl and Charlotte's children, Frank died in 1919.

Frank's obituary appeared in the Friday, October 3rd, 1919 issue of "The Pigeon Progress" newspaper of Pigeon, Huron County, Michigan as follows:
     "Frank Henry Sherke (note this wonderful spelling!!) Was born April 17th, 1998 (well, the typesetter was obviously having a Murphy's Law day!! Ouch!) At Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands as son of Charles Scherke (yep, another and different spelling!) and his wife Charlotte Grindermann. In 1903 he came with the family to San Francisco, Cal. where they resided about eight years.  In 1911 the family came to Michigan and lived here ever since on different places near Owendale working beets and doing farm work on rented farms.  Two years ago Frank went to Detroit where he was employed as street car conductor but could not hold his position on account of poor health.  He came home sick last winter and had been suffering from consumption ever since.  He died last Friday night at the home of the family near Gagetown.  He is survived by his parents, four brothers, two sisters and a stepbrother and other relatives.
     His age was 21 years, 5 months and nine days.  The funeral was held from the home and at the church at Linkville were conducted by Rev. A. Deichmann last Monday afternoon. The remains were laid to rest in the cemetery of the Ev. Luth. St. Paul's church."

Note that mention of a step-brother as a survivor, I have always felt that the step-brother is August Gruenwald. Despite the fact that we are pretty sure that August is alive in 1919 he has not been found on the 1920 census index.

In fact, nothing further has been found about August.  No other census, no Lutheran church records in Hawaii or stateside, no marriage, no death, no ship's manifest listing from Hawaii to the mainland.

NOTHING.

NADDA.

ZIP!

Where did you end up August??  What name did you go by??  August, Gus, something else?  Gruenwald, Greenman or something else.  I have seen that surname spelled so many different ways I've lost count!  We all know spelling don't count.  But, dear, dear August, I have to have SOMETHING to work with here!

WHERE DID YOU END UP??

My wish list for August Gruenwald - - simply - - something - - anything - - just a lead.

* Additional source data can be obtained by contacting me, see the right hand column for a yahoo email address.

** 52 Ancestors Weeks Button courtesy of Amy Johnson Crow.

*** I use many resources to research, FamilySearch.org is a free site.  Ancestry.com is a pay site for which I pay, no discounts, etc.  None of these sites have asked me to review them, or use them.  See my Disclaimers page for further details.

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Churches in Our Family History, The Lutheran Story, the 109th Carnival Of Genealogy

CABS for Reflections From the Fence

The subject of this month's Carnival of Genealogy is "Our Ancestors' Place of Worship!"  Thanks to Jasia of Creative Gene and a new mystery blog who are sponsoring the COG this month.  Thanks to footnoteMaven for the totally fabulous poster.

Man's family is strongly Lutheran.  I so love that, as there are so many Lutheran church records that have survived, and in my experience, for the most part, their pastor's keep really fabulous records!  Oh, ya, there is that small issue of many of them being written in German, but, even I managed to learn to read the records enough to extract the facts.  Well, those really old handwriting ones have been a challenge, but, I have a secrete helper there.  Seems my daughter-in-law is German, and she knows elders that live in her parent's apartment building (back in Germany) that have been able to read the old German handwriting for me.  Sweet, eh??

I am not sure how many Lutheran Churches may be involved in Man's heritage, I know I have written letters to many!  Thought I would focus on four, all of which have meant so much to this family.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Calvary Lutheran Church, Lincoln Park, Wayne County, Michigan.  Two of our sons were baptized here, many cousins as well.  Man was confirmed here, as was his mother.  Man's parents were married here.  Cousins married here.


(Right:  Our first born, baptismal day at Calvary.)



Last year we buried Man's mother from this very church.  She attended Calvary since her parents moved to Lincoln Park sometime between 1925 and 1930.  She received her last communion from the pastor of this church shortly before her death.  The pastor came to her apartment, where with 2 of her cousins, she had her last religious supper.

Above:  Calvary Lutheran Church, Lincoln Park, Wayne County, Michigan
(Source of photo unknown.  Year unknown.)

Interior, Calvary Lutheran Church
(Source of photo unknown, year unknown.)


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, Pigeon, Huron County, Michigan is the church were Man's mother was baptized.  (See her certificate right, written in German.)

It is also the church where her parents, Man's grandparents, were married.

Many years ago this church let me borrow a photographic copy of their early church records.  Can we say, genie happy dancin'?  I was able to copy pages and pages of baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and deaths.  I have been forever thankful for that treasure trove of data.  There were even page long obituaries, written in German, but of course.  (Several translated, but of course.)

It so happens that this is the only church of the four that Man and I have never personally visited.

Above:  St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church,
Pigeon (Linkville), Huron County, Michigan
(Photo appeared on their history dated 1894-1994.)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Lihue Lutheran Church in Lihue,  Kauai, Hawaii is where Man's great-grandparents Karl and Charlotte Gehrke and their children worshiped during their years on the island.  Karl and Charlotte lived in Hawaii from 1888 to 1904.  They left Germany in 1888, worked at the sugar plantations and in 1904 moved on to Oakland, Alameda County, California.

The church allowed microfilming of their early church records and I have borrowed that film from the LDS FHC and made a LOT of copies.  I have well over 45 different events recorded from that one film alone.  There are baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and deaths for this family recorded in this church's records.  For example here is Man's grandfather's confirmation record. (This is a two page record, first page on top, second page on the bottom.  I folded photocopies of the record so I could get the headings of each column to line up with the actual record.)

There are some terrific old photos and a bit of history on the church here.  The church also has a web site, while you are there, be sure to click on the tab for the history, which tells us in part:  "The long experience on board ship was reflected in the architecture of the church, as they carried out the symbolism of a ship as descriptive of the church. The floor slants like the deck of a ship; the balcony is the captain’s bridge; the ceiling is like the hull; the lights are ship lanterns; and the pulpit the forecastle."

Man and I had the opportunity to visit the island and the church while we vacationed there in 1993, just six months after Hurricane Iniki hit Kauai.  We were delighted by the interior of the church, you really feel that you may be on board a ship.

Above:  Lihue Lutheran Church, Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii
(Source of photo unknown, possibly a post card,
believed to be pre-Iniki.)

Behind the church is the church cemetery, where several of Man's extended family relatives are buried.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The last church highlighted is also from Man's lineage.  This church is in Miseau, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.  There is some interesting town history for Miseau, here.  For those who are interested, I also found a map on this page, that shows where Miseau is located, you can enlarge the focus area for a closer look.

Man's second great-grandfather, Valentine Ruthig (Rudig) was born nearby and was baptized in this church in  1821.  From three rolls of film available via the LDS FHC I was able (with a TON of help from my friends) to take this Ruthig - Rudig - Ruediger lineage back at least 4 more generations and intersecting lines back 4 to 6 generations.

While I was in SLC at the research mecca in May/June of this year I took the very last day of research to review these films and try to capture digital copies of the records.  My prior copies of the records are of rather poor quality and digital is so wonderful.  This is the baptismal record of Valentine's great grandfather, born 1736 and baptized in this church.  Ya, not only is this written in German, it is written in the old German handwriting.  Whew!  I was unable in one day to obtain copies of all the ancestors, but the few I did get are precious and I just love how clear the images are.

In 1997 Man and I (in fact, our entire family) went to Germany to celebrate the wedding of our son and his German bride.  While we were there we were able to visit Miseau.  We did not have a lot of time, for a lot of reasons, much too complicated to go into here.  Suffice it to say, we somehow managed to find Miseau, even managed to stop at a fuel station and convey to the clerk in sign language that I needed a map of the area.  But, alas, the church building was locked when we arrived and we had no idea how to find anyone to assist us in gaining entry (all those that spoke German in our family were not with us on this adventure).  So, we took photos of the outside of this lovely church that was built in 1738 and called it a day.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Four Lutheran Churches, uncounted documents for baptisms, confirmations, marriages and deaths.  Yes, I do so love researching Lutheran families!


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Ya, I Had to Go Have a Lookie See

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

OK, I'll admit it, I had a small vainglory, err curiosity attack, had to go have a lookie see at one of the books I compiled and donated to the Family History Center here in Salt Lake City.  I was a bit distressed however to find they had destroyed the front cover, which had lovely photos on it, but, somehow maintained the back cover.  SIGHHH.  Attack over, I moved on.

*And, nope, that book next to it, I cannot connect to that Gehrke family.

** Post Script:  I had reason to go pull the book again, I needed a graphic I don't have on my computer any longer, for reference.  I found the cover, about 4 or 5 pages in, they bound it out of order.  (Shrugging my shoulders, but, glad it is still there.)
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99th Edition Carnival of Genealogy, Religious Rites Can Tell A Life Story

Copyright 2010, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

This Carnival of Genealogy, hosted by Jasia of Creative Gene has a challenge of: 

Baptisms/Christenings, First Holy Communion, Confirmation, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, church weddings, anointings, ordinations, etc. Organized religion played a large part in many of our family histories. Virtually all religions have their rites/ceremonies. Has your family participated in any of these rites?

In my years of research I have either been elated or deflated at the religious records found for the ancestors of Man and Moi.  For many of my ancestral lines there are few records, there were quite a few Baptists and other Protestants.  Those of you who have ancestors with those religions will agree with me, those religions and their lack of records can be deflating.  Oh, there are records here and there, but for the most part my ancestors are not included in them.  (Hear the huge SIGH of a discouraged Carol?)

On the other hand, many of Man's ancestral lines are of the Lutheran religion. I have to say, I have found the Lutheran's to be extremely family research oriented. I am pretty sure they did not keep those records for the benefit of family researchers (OK, Carol is being a tad bit sarcastic here, LOL), however, this family researcher LOVES Lutheran records!

Using Lutheran records I have been able to trace generations of Man's clan back in Germany, well over 100 years worth of Ruthigs, Molder/Molters, Creutzens, Hirsches, Wagners, Warners, Jungs and many others, all one church.  Using Lutheran records I have been able to track an ancestor's life events, baptism, confirmation, marriage, children, and death and burial. 

Today's images and story concerns one of Man's aunts, and all but one of her life events took place via the same church, Calvary Lutheran Church, Lincoln Park, Wayne County, Michigan, where the Gehrke clan has worshipped, baptized, confirmed, married and buried many family members.

Frieda's baptism took place at St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Pigeon/Linkville, Huron County, Michigan.  It was written in the Old German handwriting, the translation is loose, but gives us the basic details.

Above, Frieda's Confirmation certificate, from the Calvary Ev. Luthern Church, Pastor, Walter O. Kleinhaus.  Confirmation for a Lutheran is a major milestone, as it marks the entry into a person's religious adulthood, it is a personal public profession of his or her faith.  It has been celebrated and continues to be.  Many families have parties to celebrate the rite. 




Right, photo of Frieda about the same time, it is my opinion that this photo was taken the day of her confirmation.

Above, Frieda married Emmett Bell on 04 February 1939, note she was married by the same pastor, Walter O. Kleinhaus.  It is not totally clear if they were married in the church building.

In September of 1941 Frieda gave birth to her one and only child, Patricia Mildred Bell.  Patricia was baptized at Calvary reportedly in October 1941, the date has not been verified.

In early October of 1941 Frieda died, her funeral was held at Calvary, and once again Walter O. Klienhaus officiated at this Gehrke family event, as revealed in her obituary, newspaper source unknown:

"Services for Mrs. Frieda Bell, who died Sunday in the Highland Park General Hospital at the age of 26, were held at 1:30 P.M. Wednesday from the Nixon Funeral Chapel, and at 2 P.M. from the Calvary Lutheran Church with the Rev. W.O. Kleinhaus officiating. Burial was in Glen Eden cemetery. Surviving are her husband, Emmett, of Highland Park; her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Gehrke, of 4040 Agnes Avenue, Lincoln Park; one daughter, Patricia, three weeks; four sisters, Mildred Gehrke and Mrs. Martha Maitland, of Lincoln Park, Mrs. Hilda deHilster, and Mrs. Hedwig Pariseau, of Hazel Park; and a brother, Arthur."

Church records, when found can fill out your family tree.  The trick is, of course, to locate the correct church and verify where those records are held.  I found records for the German Ruthig family through the Latter Day Saints.  The Gehrke clan lived in Lihue Kauai Hawaii for a number of years, the Lihue Lutheran Church records have also been filmed by the LDS.  I found many baptism records there, as well as a few death records.  The pastor from Lihue recorded cause of death and some other interesting tidbits of data that family researchers cherish.  Michigan church records were examined, one church even loaned me a photocopy of the entire set of records - - I had a field day, it was great fun!

Yes, our family did participate in their religious rites, and as you can see, for some ancestors and families that participation is well recorded and tells us much about their life stories.  Now, if we could get some of the Protestant churches to do "do-overs", and create lots and lots of records for me to review.  Ahhh, the dreamer I am!

*Thanks to fM for the poster.

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Wedding Wednesday, The Photo

Copyright 2010, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

 

Mildred Louise Gehrke and Arthur Norman Stevens, Jr.

May 24, 1947

Lincoln Park, Wayne County, Michigan

 

*While contemplating Wedding Wednesday, I realized I have no photos of Man and I on our wedding day (eloped).  None of my parents (eloped, I believe).  None of  my mother's parents (eloped, yep, train ride to Maryland).   None of my father's parents (eloped, and she did not even tell for months!).  Do we see a pattern here??  Of course, there may be photos undiscovered - - hope springs eternal.  But, I guarantee, none of Man and I.  LOL

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