Sr Laura in Browerville, c. 1915

This is pretty cool: Grandpa's sister Theresa became Sr Laura, OSB.  Here she is in one of her first teaching positions, in Browerville, Mn, with the 8th grade graduating class.  The boy in front on the right is her nephew Louis Gottwalt.  How did that happen?  His family lived in Rice, Mn. I'll have to ask Lynn, whom we have to THANK for this beautiful photo ☺!

Louis T. Gottwalt

Since my pickup needs a new starter and I'm waiting till Fleet Farm opens, I thought I'd do a post on pics I found in the Atlases of dad's first cousin Louis T. Gottwalt:

(This is Louis E Gottwalt,
Who married Rose Hesch
in 1895...)

...and this is their son, Louis T. Gottwalt,
born in 1902.

Louis T. Gottwalt (right) married Marie Eisenschenk from Cold Spring, Mn. in 1928. They lived in Pierz and owned Gottwalt Lumber, so the pics below make sense. Looks like Louis built small windmills when he retired. I wonder--did his family appreciate them more than we appreciated dad's SOBin' planters and tables?

PIERZ -- Marie Gottwalt, 99, Pierz, died Tuesday, May 28, 2002, at Pierz Villa.

Marie was born June 22, 1902, near Cold Spring to Michael and Caroline Eisenschenk. She was a 1919 graduate of the St. Cloud Business College. She married Louis T. Gottwalt on Oct. 3, 1928, in Cold Spring. They lived in Pierz and owned and operated Gottwalt Lumber Co., for many years. She was a member of St. Joseph's Church in Pierz where she was active in the Christian Mother's Society and the Dioceson Council of Catholic Women. She held various office and board positions in those organizations. She was active in Boy Scout programs, often serving as den mother for Cub Scout packs. She moved to Country Manor apartments and lived there until entering St. Mary's Villa in November 1999.

Survivors include two sons, Louis Gottwalt, Shoreview, and Edward Gottwalt, Pierz; five daughters, Mary Jo Loscheider, Pierz, Virginia Haines, Mountain Homes, Ark., Margaret Murphy, Hemet, Calif., Linnea Sakry, Rice, and Kathleen Weiss, McAllen, Texas; 30 grandchildren; and 60 great-grandchildren.

Her husband; a son, Virgil Gottwalt; four sisters; and three brothers died earlier.

Jake Popp's wife

G'morning!  I'm off soon to have coffee at Kay's Kitchen with Mog, but I wanted to share this first.  It's another treasure from the Pictorial Atlas--the wedding photo of Mary Gottwalt and Jacob Popp (who became the parents of Ilene, Loren, Eugene, Virginia and Marlys Popp...☺).

Mary here was the daughter of Rose Hesch, Grandpa Anton's oldest sibling, and Louis Gottwalt.  If you scroll back to the previous post and check the 1925 photo, Mary's in the back row, next to Jake.

Oh, and see where Mom got my first name?  Marlys Popp married Ray Schlichting, and they lived near Rice.
The day before mom died, she drove to Mayhew Lake to attend Marlys' funeral.  Full circle, huh?

Related (pun intended ☺):  

Isn't this a cool photo?  Since Jake had more than two brothers, I figure this pic was of the two nearest in age to him, namely Ed and Leo, youngest sons of Joseph and Mary Popp.

Rice, 1906

            USED BABY SISTER FOR RIFLE TARGET
                   -----------------------------
           Boy of 10 Sets Tot Up and Fires Bullet
                         Thru Her Body.
                   -----------------------------
Special to the Journal.
St Cloud, Minn., Nov. 12--Theodore, the 10 year old son of Mr and Mrs T. Gottwalt, near Rice, Saturday, probably fatally shot his 4-year-old sister, Leon.  The mother of the children had gone to town and the father was out in the field.
The boy put his little sister in a chair and taking a 32-caliber rifle aimed it at her breast and fired.  The bullet passed clear thru the body of the little girl, piercing her lungs.  When the boy realized what he had done, he picked up the little girl and called his father.  The girl is still alive, but her chances for recovery are small.

--Minneapolis Journal, November 1906

There's something called "Presentism", whereby we judge something that happened years ago by today's standards or experiences.  "For example, Thomas Jefferson is often judged harshly as a sexist even though the notion of complete equality between the sexes was almost unthinkable in his era.' Gordon-Reed calls it the 'why wasn't Jefferson like Alan Alda' question."   Via

We look at that article and wonder about leaving a 10 year old to watch his little sister; about parents far from the house, and mostly, about leaving a loaded gun around unsupervised children.  But we also know this same scenario played out thousands of times in thousands of homes in those years with no tragedy, no little sister hurt, and mom and dad home for chores and supper, right on time, without incident.

We know about this because it was reported in the newspaper.

We also know that Leona recovered, and that both kids grew up, married, and had regular long lives.

While researching what happened later, Larry found that Theo and Leona's mom was Catherine Janson Gottwalt.  She was related to me thru mom. 

 The story of how that happened is HERE, ok?

Theo and Leona's AUNT would have been Rose Hesch Gottwalt, 

wife of Louis E.Gottwalt.

Isn't that cool?

Gotvald's Store

Twelve miles east of Buckman is a grocery and farm implement store--"Gotvald's Store"--that's been there for years and years. Researching online, I can't find the year they began, but in the 1920 census, there's this:

If you look at a map, the store is at the intersection of Lakin, Morrill, Mt. Morris and Hillman townships...lol In records, the name's spelled a dozen ways (Gottwald, Gotvald, Gottwaldt, Gotwald, Gotwalt....and here, GOTVILD) but usually pronounced Gut-walt.
Anyway, what I remember hearing about the store (I've never been there), was that it was a fun, and a little wild, place. I heard about celebrations, especially the 4th of July, and I thought there were dances, too....but there's a disconnect when you realize it's an Implement store...?
So, I looked for 'Gotvald's Store' online, and found an obit with this quote: LOL...sounds like a fun person, too!
What I'm trying to do with all this sleuthing is to see if there's a connection between the Louie and Rose (Hesch) Gottwalts, and this Gotvald family. What a challenge.
Do YOU know anything about it?

Gottwalts in Rice

A cool service (that I've lauded before here) is Google Books. They're digitizing obscure tomes and making them searchable online.
For instance, this, from 1881-1900. A report about where permanent markers were installed:

Isn't that COOL?

(Hug Larry for this one, too!)

Note: Corrections and additions

Trying to make connections on my tree, I saw I'd made a mistake on the Hesch/Gottwalt photo from 1925. I had Joe Hortsch married to a Margaret Dehler, but he wasn't...lol
I've changed it to
Joe Hortsch and wife Martha Otremba. (Duh.)

On that same photo, I had "Rose, John's sister". She WAS, but
"Rose Gottwalt, John's sister" is more clear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sue sent another great "angel" photo, and also one of 3 little girls with a priest, a possible May Day commemoration. I added both to the "Angels" post, below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Mike Sand post has more stuff now, too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

As we find new or 'more correct' information, I DO go back and change stuff, just so you know...lol

P.S....If you downloaded the Hesch/Gottwalt photo, you might go back and download the new version, but DELETE the one you have first, ok? We don't wanna create NEW confusion for some future researcher.

Louis T Gottwalt 1902-1980

Sue said this photo was in her grandmother Aggie Suess's album, evidently unidentified. When Sue took it out, she saw the signature on the back--Roses' son, Louie, Jr., possibly taken the same day as the whole family portrait? Nope, different tie, and a collar from the 20's.

Aggie Hesch Suess and Louie T Gottwalt were cousins.

Making sense of a photo 84 years later...

A TRUE MIRACLE of our age:
Sue sent this picture, too. (YAY, SUE!)

Last night, online, Larry and I figured out who most of these folks were, and their relationship to each other, with the help of the Gottwalt family picture, various census pages, online family genealogies and newspaper articles, and remarks made by family members...WOW.

We're pretty sure of most of them, figuring this was some ocassion in 1925--either John's birthday, or John and Ket's wedding anniversary, or possibly just a get-together because John was failing (he died in January of 1926).
If you see someone who's not identified, or who's wrongly identified, let me know, please.
One more question--well, two, actually...lol See the shadow of the photographer, lower left corner? Who would she have been? And, there are 4-5 UN-identified people. Any guesses?

Over a year later, we realized the couple to the right of Lizzy Hesch and below Louie Gottwalt Jr were probably John and Pauline Schmolke, next-door neighbors of John and Ket's.  And see the kid between John Pratt and Katie Mueller Hesch?  THAT was most likely my dad, Mike Hesch, who would have been 12 that summer (thanks to my sis Kath for realizing that!) Cool, huh?

Thanks to Sue, and to LARRY!

(And, thanks, Sue, for correcting Joe Gottwalt).

Louie and Rose Gottwalt Family

I'm not sure where I got this photo--probably on someone's online family tree. THANKS to whoever that was! For those just dropping in here, this is Grandpa's sister Rose (Hesch) Gottwalt, her husband Louie, and their grown kids.
One of the problems with German genealogy is the repetition of given names--this generation was absolutely peppered with Pauls and Johns, in honor of their Grandpa Paul and Great-grandpa John. I have seven Paul Heschs and five John Heschs so far...lol...not to mention the Paul or John cousins with different last names.

Sue mentioned her problem with Andrews and Josephs in the Suess clan--she has my sympathy!