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On a recent visit to Clear Lake, LoisMarie Okonek
photographed a number of tombstones at the St. Marcus Parish Cemetery. Thanks to her generosity, we have posted photographs of
the grave markers for the following people: husband John, wife Mary and
daughter Magdalena L. Kaufmann; and father John,
mother Kate and son Charles N. Haaf, plus
Charles' wife Alyce and son James T.
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Pictures from the recent Kampa Family Branches Reunion in St. Cloud,
Minnesota are now posted on the site. The weather was pleasant and everyone had a great time getting to better know each
other. Hats off to Sharon Farrah for all her work in organizing the event and
to everyone else involved in making the reunion a reality! Well done!
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Marge Randall's research has turned
up obituaries for Franz Anton Stimmler, his wife Crescentia and daughter
Sophia (Stimmler) Dingmann. She also located a letter from Paul Stimmler
to Joan Dingmann circa 1979 regarding the genealogical research his branch of the Stimmler family had done on our common ancestors.
Paul Stimmler sent information on the earliest historical reference to the Stimmler surname through
Tobias Stimmer of Schaffhouse, Germany, a well-known artist of his time who was in charge of the paintings on the face of
the famous astrological clock of the Cathedral of Strasbourg in 1570. In addition, Paul
found a copy of an etching of Christopher Columbus executed by Tobias Stimmer in 1575 in an article published in the New York Times
Sunday Magazine August 11, 1991 entitled Discovering Columbus. Thank you, Marge and Paul for your super research!
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Through the connections and efforts of Jeanne Carley Gendreau,
Robert Procott's well-researched article, "Silesia to America -- A Heritage: Polish Settlement
in Minnesota" has been reprinted with his permission from the Winter 1996-1997 issue of the Polish Genealogy Society
of America's newsletter. Jeanne also has kindly given us permission to reprint her article, A Pilgrimage to Poland,
from the WCGS newsletter, Vol. 14, No. 10, regarding her trip to the Kampa family
homeland near Opole. Thank you so much, Jeanne and Robert, for this excellent background material on our Polish ancestors!
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Thanks to the considerable work of
Martin Holz, there is now a German translation of the History
of St. Lawrence Parish entitled, appropriately enough, Geschichte der St. Lawrence Pfarrgemeinde.
We are indebted to Martin for his efforts in this area. Vielen Dank, Martin!
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Joe Hall has discovered
more great new research tools! As a result of his work, the Resources section now has a
cost of living calculator and links to two sites
that have in-depth listings of professions and
archaic occupations. There's also an interesting story of Joe's recent
visit to Canada, the land of his Hall and Foley ancestors in the Family Forum
section. We are grateful to Joe for his work and this opportunity to remind everyone that the Family Forum is available
for your use in posting birthdays, anniversaries, or anything else of note that you would like to share with the family.
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LoisMarie Okonek has contributed
some fantastic research on the Stimmler line of the family, including detailed information on Nick Stimmler's
branch and her photographs of several Stimmler tombstones in St. Marcus Cemetery,
Clear Lake, Minnesota. Dana Stimler's research into Polska Nowa Wies records
has yielded the death dates of Martin and Frances Kampa's
five children who died in infancy. Thank you kindly, LoisMarie and Dana, for all your good work!
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Aunt Sally Berthiume (née Braun)
shares her impressions of her adorable niece Maya Marie and new mom Diane Anthony
tells the story of a lovely heirloom quilt she received as a gift from her
Aunt Ceola! We are grateful to Sally
and Diane for sharing these special moments with us!
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Thanks to information provided in Don Kampa's
book, Gram and Gramps, biographies have been added for siblings Rick Kampa,
Ron Kampa and his wife, Phuong,
Mark Kampa, and Kaydie and
Richard Vistelle. There is also is photograph of the
Dick and Marianna Kampa family circa 1966. In addition,
Don Kampa's reminiscence of Christmas 1995 with Mark and
Suzanne Kampa's family has been added to the site, as well as Chapter 4 On the Road of
Don Kampa's book.
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Joe Hall's research
has turned up a copy of the Petition to Prove Will of John Foley from 1907 as well as an
excerpt from the book, The People of Mayhew Lake, entitled "Foley, the New County Seat" detailing the exploits of
John Foley to move the Benton County seat from Sauk Rapids to Foley. Joe also has located a number of
valuable government resources for family genealogical research. As a result we now have a new section on the
Resources page for Government Genealogical Resources.
Thank you, Joe, for the information on these great new assets!
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Paul and
Mark Stimmler have contributed an article entitled
Manyunk's Glory regarding their great-grandfather
Johann Stimmler's involvement in the dedication of the what was then the new
St. John the Baptist Church, originally reported in The Catholic Standard on April 7, 1894. In addition,
an article had been added regarding their grandfather Joseph Stimmler's involvement in
the ceremonies surrounding the dedication of the boy's high school associated with
St. John the Baptist parish, as initially reported in The Catholic Standard on September 16, 1922. Thank you
very much, Paul and Mark, for sending us these articles!
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Three new babies have recently been born to the family! They are
Bentley Revell Boone born on May 15th,
Maya Marie Anthony born on May 22, and
Grace Kathleen Reber (granddaughter of Paul Stimmler) on May 24, 2001.
Congratulations to the happy parents, proud grandparents and family, and welcome to the new stars in our family firmament!
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Joan Powers, Alvina Morse
(née Kampa)'s granddaughter, sent a wonderful group portrait of the
Marguerite and Ronald Richter family taken December 23, 1999.
Thank you so much!
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Gene Kampa has
donated many great old family photographs for inclusion on the site. One of the latest is this wonderful picture of
Charles Kampa seen at right. Gene has also contributed a
handwritten note by Frances Windhurst (née Kampa) entitled
"Recollections". We are very indebted to Gene for
sharing these treasures with all of us!
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There have been some great new additions, thanks to
Sharon Farrah's diligent research! She has located the
obituary for Frances Kampa (née Jurek), information for a biography of
Lena Kampa (née Haaf)'s brother,
Charles N. Haaf and his wife, Alyce,
Alyce's obituary, plus their son, Robert D. Haaf and
his obituary. She has also located the obituary for
Henry Maiers or Meyer, Franciska Kampa's husband. As if this weren't enough,
there are some new orphan photos and a
great photograph of the Balder-Zylla-Herbst-Kampa branch of the family in 1926 or 1927
too! Thank you so much, Sharon!
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Some of the orphan photographs have
been identified by Ceola Weingard (née Stimler). These pictures
are now posted on a new page with Ceola's comments regarding the Weingards and
Campbells in San Diego in 1964 and also have been moved to the Orphans Reunited page.
Thank you for your help and the story behind these photos!
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