Strong Roots, Beautiful Leaves

This post is very different from my usual, but I felt inspired to write about a sensitive subject that I think affects more families than what people would like to admit or even realize. I frequently listen to a genealogy podcast called Genealogy Gems by Lisa Louise Cooke. She had a psychologist on as a guest speaker to talk about the psychology of genealogy. They first talked about feeling like having a spiritual and deeper connection to ancestors after researching them. This is something I definitely feel. I have always felt close to my family. Learning their stories, why they made the choices they did, what affected their everyday lives, has brought me even closer to my family. I love knowing what led to my existence today, and knowing that one little change, one different decision by even just one of my hundreds of ancestors would mean I would not be here today. The rest of the podcast talked about how what our ancestors have been through bleeds into the following generations, and ...

Louisa AKA Minnie was my 3x great grandma. She was born November 23, 1863 in Indiana. She married Wilhelm Frederick Kuhlenschmidt on September 4, 1880 at Zoar Evangelical Church in Elberfeld, Warrick County, Indiana. Wilhelm later 'Americanized' his name to William. They had 12 children, only one not surviving to reach adulthood. Minnie died suddenly on June 15, 1927 from a cerebral hemorrhage in Campbell, Warrick County, Indiana. She is buried at Zoar Evangelical Church Cemetery in Elberfeld. "This is the story of Louisa Kuhlenschmidt's death, based on the recollections of the stories told by Edgar and Raymond Kuhlenschmidt. When her son William's wife was due to give birth to a new grandchild, Louisa went to his home. According to Edgar, Louisa had some skill as a midwife and was called upon to help with the births of grandchildren. When Doris June was born, Louisa came out of the bedroom, asked for her pills, sat down, and died immediately." I have tried th...

 After a post I copied from a genealogy Facebook page talking about "accidentally telling grandma she was adopted", it got me wanting to post about a very surprising and frustrating find while doing my research. My great grandma's maiden name was Kuhlenschmidt. She loved being a Kuhlenschmidt! She loved our large family, how we seem to be related in one way or another to anybody (mostly because of the large German population of Evansville), and she loved our German ancestry. After my research (which I will explain), I had the hard task of informing grandma that we aren't even blood Kuhlenschmidt, and we are, in a sense, 'adopted' into the name. She took it surprisingly well, and seemed to be in as much shock as I was when I first found out! It's easier to tell the story from the beginning of the genealogy line... Hans Kuhlenschmidt was born March 10, 1771 in Langenholzhausen, Lippe, Germany. He first married Anna on April 22, 1792. Anna was born in 1765. A...

 It has been a while since I have posted! I have been working many hours to help cover the affects of COVID in our hospital. This story affects me because of the misuse of medical facilities in our country at this time. First, here is a little background to understand how this individual falls into the family tree. My great grandma's (Evelyn Kuhlenschmidt Stewart) mother was Bertha Wiggers Kuhlenschmidt. Her mother was Emma Thube Wiggers. Her mother was Johanna Tzschoppe Thube. Johanna's brother was August Julius Tzschoppe. August was born April 5, 1842. He married Mary M. Wiggers. August and Mary are who Emma came to visit when she first arrived to America in 1884. August served in the Civil War. He almost starved to death at a Union Camp for his service. After the end of the war, Julius Sr. was a well honored and decorated hero. He died August 2, 1932 at 90 years old. One of Julius and Mary's children was Julius Jr. Julius was born November 18, 1870. Julius was an educate...

Friederich "Fritz" Simon Kuhlenschmidt definitely lived an eventful life. Fritz was born April 29, 1820 in Langenholzhausen, Lippe, Germany (actually Prussia at the time). He was baptized May 7, 1820 at Evangelisch, Langenholzhausen, Lippe, Germany. His wife, Amalia Wilhelmina Bodemeier, was also born here on March 7, 1819. The couple married August 13, 1843. Their first two children, Friederich Charles and Friederich Ernst, were also born in Germany. Fritz trained as a brew master in Berlin, Germany. By 1848, the family decided to move to America. During this time period, more than a million German citizens came to America to escape economic hardships and political unrest, riots, rebellions, and a revolution that broke out in 1848.  This must have been a hard decision to move across the world to an unfamiliar land with two small children while Amalia was also pregnant. It must have been heartbreaking for the family to see the outbreak of the Civil War so close to their arriv...