Archives for Missouri
1943 Wagner Family Recordings
Ben Wagner recently found some 78-RPM 8-inch records in his late father Arnold’s collection. On them are the voices of our ancestors - my great grandparents William C. Wagner and wife Lilly Giegerich, along with their son William F and Lilly's aunt Tillie Eckert Henry. The recordings were made on…
Are we related to Barack Obama?
The short answer is: sort of. President Barack Obama's maternal GGGG grandfather Thomas L. Clark settled in Canton, Missouri around 1835. All of Thomas' 11 children were born there and they lived there at the same time our extended family (Vesper, Eckert, Hetzler, Wagner, Giegerich). Obama's ggg grandfather Christopher Columbus…
Forest Grove Cemetery, Canton, Missouri
Forest Grove Cemetery is where my grandparents, Homer Henry Wagner and Louise Adelaide Weiler, and other family, are buried. It is in Canton, Missouri, our Wagner hometown, high on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. Numerous generations and extended family were born, lived, and died there. Above: Paul Wagner at…
John Wagner and the Texas Widow
My 2x great uncle John Wagner served alongside his two brothers, Henry and my 2x great grandfather William Wagner, in the Civil War. After the war he moved to Texas, and all I knew was that he had "married a Texas widow." I finally found his obituary, and it lead…
Old Bill Wagner
Jacob William (later dubbed "Old Bill") was born in 1840 in Elleringhausen, Germany. At the age of 6, he and his family joined the waves of German immigrants after their friends in Quincy, Illinois, kept writing for them to come. Six-year-old William took his little sister Henrietta by the hand…
Frank Funkenbusch – his life after moving to Montana in 1905
When writing the foregoing biographical life of Father and Mother is was intended the story should end with their activities and demise. But now since some have read it and commented it has been suggested that an addition be appended depicting my own life and activities after coming to Montana…
Ancestral History of Frank Funkenbusch
I was born on my father's small farm about five miles north of Canton, Missouri January 27, 1880. My father's name was William Funkenbusch. This name I wore until 1925, when for social ease and for the benefit of my two young sons I had abbreviated to 'Busch'. This was…
Frederick Vesper
Frederick Vesper was my 3x great grandfather. He immigrated from Munden, Germany in 1846 at the age of 26, arriving at New Orleans. He settled in Canton, Missouri, where he farmed and lived the rest of his life. DOWNLOAD "Frederick Vesper" PDF