VISITORS AND QUERIES
by Karen Hansen
Those who have visited our genealogy room have been the following: Rebecca and Brett Gaskill of Walnut were looking for information on the trains that went through Walnut.
Pat Hembel of Carlsbad, CA was looking for information from the 1870’s on William CAMPBELL and Fannie or Azora, his wife.
Pam Hoheisel-Zimmermann of Alexandria, MN was seeking MUELLER family information. Her great-grandmother was Lena Mueller Mohn, daughter of Conrad and Willhemine Mueller. Gayle, Ruby and I found many Mueller obituaries for her and also maps that showed where they lived north of Walnut. She also contacted Milton Mueller of Walnut and found how they are related.
Annette Neveln Steckel from Texas and friend Lisa from Des Moines were very pleased that Ruby Andersen could direct them to the Neveln, Drake and Fraser graves at the Layton Township Cemetery.
We received a telephone inquiry from Bill Casey of Hammond, WI. His great-grandparents, David and Anna Murphy CASEY (also spelled CASY), moved from Illinois to Wright Township in Pottawattamie County between 1875 and 1878. The 1880 Census lists their children as Lizzie, John, Maggie, William, David H. (also went by Harper), Nellie, Harris (also went by Harrison or Harrie), May and Charley (twins). In the 1895 Census, David was living with his sister Ellen in Fort Dodge and was widowed. John Francis Casey left home when he was 17. (This is listed as his age in the 1880 Census.) As he grew older, he went back to Iowa to see his family, but they were all deceased. Bill would like to know if they died in an epidemic or what happened to them.
Tracy Techau sent an e-mail query after finding Mariann Martens’ article on her family’s Hausbarn in Germany on our website. He and his family were planning a trip to Germany and were grateful to find Mariann’s information and to make a connection with her.
To Janet Nystrom of Sioux Fall, SD, we sent NAMANNY family obituaries that she had requested.
Donna Petersen of Collinsville, OK has sent a history and a photo of the St. Rose House in 1891 including some of her relatives, Doris Burmeister and Bertha Fleming. We helped her to contact William Rasmussen of Los Angeles, CA; his family acquired the hotel from Doris Burmeister. She traded the hotel to Jurgen Thiessen for his house in December, 1911.
Barb Butcher helped me by photographing probate records at the Avoca Courthouse for Wayne SANKEY of Janesville, WI. Does anyone have photos of the Central House Hotel, Sankey livery barn or auctioneering business? He would like to find these photos.
Our microfilm reader has been repaired and is making good copies now. If you need to make copies of any articles from our newspaper films, now is a good time.
KH