Many thanks to Velma Janssen Sprehe for introducing me to the wonderful records in the church office. Here are just a few of the pieces of information gleaned from the records.

1. Henry Konrad Krumwiede's son Louis went to Minnesota. This we knew. We also knew that he was married before he left, but the full name of his wife was not known, and, in fact, the old family records having been written from memory her last name was not entered correctly. The church records quite clearly give her name as Maria Lauson. In addition, out of the blue one day, I got a message from one of my long-term Internet contacts who had just received in the mail "The History of Jackson County, Minnesota," which he had been eagerly awaiting. One of the first things he saw was a biographical sketch for Cousin Louis, giving his wife's birth name (as Larson, however), their children's names and even his daughter's husband's name. I hope to be able to contact further descendants of Louis in the future.

2. The church records (in conjunction with the cemetery records and birth records of Iroquois County) finally cleared up my confusion in having one-too-many August Hartkes in my records. As it happens, William John Hartke and Mary Krumwiede indeed had TWO SONS named August. The first was August Friedrich and the second was August Friedrich Martin (presumably because he was born on Nov. 10). We know the first died in infancy. I'm not sure about the second

These are far from the only things I learned from the church records, but are two of the most interesting.

History of St. John's Ev. Lutheran Church, Buckley, Illinois I am slowly transcribing the 1945 Anniversary Book of the congregation, complete with photographs that are small enough to be scanned. Please check the site often, as this project will take a while to complete.
Use this link to the latest reading of St. John's Cemetery The file has also been deposited in the office at the church.
Link to Cemetery Plot Map NOTE: Your browser and monitor must allow scrolling in all directions.

The Iroquois County Genealogical Society has as an on-going project the transcription of Marriage and Birth Records up to the year 1916, which can be purchased from the society. Last year on my visit to Illinois, I purchased the volumes that have been completed. These records were enlightening with regard to our family, giving a chuckle from time to time at seeing the names Krumwiede, Hilgendorf, Sprehe and Hartke mangled almost beyond recognition in some cases. Here are some of the more interesting finds.

1.Henry William Krumwiede was married THREE times. We all knew about Elise Fricke and Jenny Dacosse. After he and Jenny divorced, he married again to Ida Zimmerman and had more children. Larry Johnson and I have been working together on this line.

2.I nearly missed George Freitag's birth listing in the records; when his birth was registered, the family name was translated, and as far as Iroquois County is concerned, his name is George Friday, which name he may or may not have used throughout his lifetime.

3.Several births were registered without the child having been named, including Laura Krumwiede Walwer's.

4.Several births were registered twice to correct errors, including Lorenz's. He was first registered as Lawrence, and Krumwiede was pretty badly mangled.

I will be bringing these books with me to the reunion so all may enjoy them. Birth transcriptions so far are only up to the letter "P", and I will be eager to get my hands on the next book when it is ready, as it should have listings for children named Sprehe and Theesfeld.

I log on daily to The Daily-Journal out of Kankakee as a source of obituary information.

Unfortunately, I have had to allow my subscription to The Record lapse. This means I have not seen any obituary or wedding or birth notices from that paper since about February, 2000. I hope to be able to start that subscription again, but I already have two years worth of papers I haven't transcribed information from..

Many thanks to those of you who have contributed photographs to the files this year. Special thanks go to
LeRoy and Lois (Luhrsen) Krumwiede and their son Kip and his wife Lana for the photographs of Henry Konrad and Dorothea Krumwiede.

If ANYONE has a photograph of August and Louise (Sternberg) Krumwiede - PLEASE share them with me. Call me, e-mail me - whatever - and we will discuss how this can be done.