The Crawford County, Iowa, IAGenWeb Project

Send us your comments for this page.

Mar 24, 2008

I was born and raised in Manilla and I have used your web-site many times gathering information about both sides of my family. Powers/Lahndorf I found it extremely helpful, with a tremendous amount of information. You all are doing a wonderful job.

Patrick Powers
Virginia Beach, VA

Feb 14, 2008

Hello,
I see that the last person to sign the guest book was looking for a Manchester family. I would also be seeking information about the Manchester family, namely U.S. Manchester, Flora (Philbrook) (Glaze) Manchester, and possibly Milo Manchester and John Manchester. Also possibly in the same household would be Earl Glaze.

Flora (Philbrook) (Glaze) Manchester was my paternal great grandmother, and Earl Glaze was my paternal grandfather.

The Philbrook family was related to this Manchester family, and my great, great uncle Barnabas Frederick Philbrook, (sometimes seen as Frederick Barnabas Philbrook) lived in Denison for a while. He was an inventor of a dental process for which he is relatively well known.

He is listed in a book titled, Iowa Pride, which I would like to obtain a copy of.

Your site is very well done, with what looks like a lot of very helpful information. When I have time I will go back to it and do some more searching.

Chere (Glaze) Negaard
Fallbrook, [San Diego County], CA

Sat, 5 Jan 2008

YOUR SITE IS AWESOME! I was looking for the Manchester family and didn't find it, but was very impressed with your site and felt I should give you the compliment...WELL DONE!

Noreen Wallace

Thu, 11 Oct 2007

My GG Grandfather John Walsh is buried at the St Rose of Lima cemetery. He died in 1920. I am trying to find more information on his time in Iowa. Your site has been very helpful,thank you.

Martin Dillon.

Wed, 29 Aug 2007

I have been working on our family history for my Grandmother's 90th birthday. I have been on many Iowa county sites and I must say Crawford County has the best information by far. Congratulations!! and Thank You!!

Tami Walker

Sun, 10 Jun 2007

I just contacted Leslie Hamby, listed under Bond, and we have shared some great information, pictures, land deeds, biographies, etc. I couldn't be more thrilled--thank you for all your hard work!! She sent me an original photograph of my great-grandmother, taken around 1920. I'm so happy!!! :)

Sun, 27 May 2007

My name is Kimberly Lynn Everly (Klinkefus). I am doing research on my family tree and your site was very helpful. I think I will be here more in the future.

Thank You,
Kimberly Everly

Fri, 11 May 2007

Hi,
thanks for the nice website. I'm from Germany searching for my ancestors in the United States. I try to collect informations about the family name Pranschke and put them online on my website www.pranschke.net . Your website was a great help for me. I really appreciate your hard work. If anyone here has some information about when and how members of the family Pranschke moved to Amerika, please leave me a note on my website.

Thank you very much!
Robert Pranschke

Fri, 4 May 2007

Hi!
I just finished looking at the Crawford Co. Gen web site and I think it's great that someone is keeping these things going. My grandmother was born in Manilla in 1886 along with 10 siblings! I will be returning to the site again!
Thank You again!

Patricia Midura (Lary)

Sun, 12 Nov 2006

Hi,
Thanks for maintaining these files. I'm looking for any information on Clark Thomas (C.T.) Marshall and his wife Dora Comstock. Clark was a brother to one of my 2nd great grandmothers. I've located some information via the online files but I'm looking for the actual text of his biography in the 1893 and 1911 Crawford County History books. Any assistance would be appreciated.

John F. Smeltzer
Fort Collins, CO

Fri, 22 Sep 2006

Thanks for the information you have posted on this site. I was looking for some information on the Argotsinger family and the Hamblen family but the info was was rather limited. I think an Alphabetical listing for the contact people in the "sign group " would be good.

The efforts put into this site are great. Thanks again for all those who have contributed to the info.

G. Dale Argotsinger and wife Juanita (Hamblen)

Sat, 19 Aug 2006

Every once in a while I like to look and get as much information as I can about my ancestors.

I received information from Carl-Erik Ripa from Sweden, who is some relation to me or is gathering information about the Belstene-Bilsten relatives in Crawford and Ida areas. From what I have been able to gather so far we go back to the 1565 era. It is interesting.

I wish I could get more info on my mother's side, but there are far too many half siblings and adoptions. But, on my dad's side it is way too interesting. I look forward to finding out more information as time goes on. So far its great.
Thanks.
Julie Belstene

Wed, 26 Jul 2006

Just looking at your site. Great. Trying to research my name.

Thanks.
William S Plumhof

Saturday, 10 Jun 2006

Hi there,

Just wanted to say thank you for the great information available for Crawford County. I found a newspaper wedding announcement of my husband's great great grandparents, Peter Portz and Mary Lane on your site.

The information in those few lines led me to look in Jackson county, where we found two more generations of the Portz family that had been lost. We were also able to find Crawford county burial information on other family lines, the Wearmouths, and Lanes.

Every little clue helps in genealogy, so thank you to all the volunteers who found and transcribed information for this county.

Sincerely,
Laurie Becker

Monday, 15 May 2006

It's been a few years since I visited the Crawford County Website and found to my delight that so much information has been added.

It's a great site. Found much information.

SACHAU-MAACK-KLINKER lines

Joyce Street
Muskogee, OK

Saturday, 10 December 2005

HELLO THERE:

I used to be an Exchange student in Dow City IA (Crawford County, near Denison).

I was surfing the web and found this great site of a land that had given me and my family lots of happiness and great memories. Anyhow I would like to have more pictures of Crawford County on the site.

My name is IVAN CAMPOS. I was an Exchange student in Iowa back in 1988, and from far away remember all those times with such great people. To everybody from Crawford County remember that you guys have a family (Campos Family) here in South America which always be grateful and will host you here anytime you’d like to come.

Regards

IVAN CAMPOS
T.Y.T.O.
Tránsito y transporte Organizados Ltda
DIVISION TRANSPORTE

Sunday, 27 November 2005

I just got done going through all the 1900 Census information for both towns and townships looking for my CAVETT, ISEMINGER and EVANS relations. I found people that I didn't even realize were "lost"!! A huge thank you to all the people that worked on the census. I really appreciate all the time and hard work that went into such a huge undertaking. The Crawford County site is one of the best ones on the USGenWeb. Keep up the good work and God Bless!!

Mrs. Laura Iseminger-Evans-Steele.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Hello:

I've just spent an amazing two hours on your Crawford site, and I am gobsmacked at the amount of material I've been able to find.

I was hunting Amanda WEMP from Amherst Island, Ontario, Using Google, I typed in her name, and was lead to your wonderful site. The Crawford County history book told me about her husband and children, and I was able to find them in the 1880 census at www.familysearch.org.

I never dreamed I would find so much info in one spot. Your site provided me with free cemetery and 1900 census info I never could have found otherwise. I now have many more folks to add to the tree.

Please pass my thanks to all your busy transcribers.

You have quite literally made my day.

Barbara Hopper
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Hello, my name is Rachel Gorden Simon from Dow City and I just love this site. I have forwarded it to all my relatives in Arizona and Nebraska and we refer back to it often.
Great job and many thanks !

Sunday, February 6, 2005

I so appreciate your site. My grandmother was born and baptized at the Friedens Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1904. She has shared memories of her childhood in Schleswig, Iowa before her move out of state at the age of 11.

I have been able to share this information with her today since she is remarkably lucid at 103 years of age. How valuable and interesting to find a site such as yours. Thank you very much.

Sincerely,
Lucinda Weller Marcello

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

This is from Iniki Bremser and Diane Bremser from Dow City, Ia, we are thanking you for the site , we were able to search.

I, Diane, live in the Bremser house in Dow City, and my wonderful husband and grandfather passed away March 15, 2004, there is a big empty space for all of us. The Bremsers have 6 grand children and wonderful sons and daughter-in-laws.

Sunday, January 2, 2005

I have great grandparents who came from Germany and lived in Crawford and Monona County, Ia. Charter Oak, and in Monona; Soldier, Ute, Mapleton.

Keep up the excellent work on your website. It is awsome!!

Jan Johnson
Sioux City, IA

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Thank you for the time and effort that went into the web article on Immanuel Lutheran Church in Schleswig, Iowa. I thoroughly enjoyed the article and am very pleased to be able to see a photo of not only the church but also the parsonage.

I was in Iowa from June through November 2001. I was based in the Des Moines area but traveled throughout the state, north to south and east to west. Unfortunately at that time I was unaware that my Uncle had lived in Schleswig for a time.

I recently started tracing my families history and although I have known since I was a small boy that my Uncle, Heinz Wilkens, had first settled in Iowa in 1921 the locale he settled had been long forgotten. Through the wonders of the internet and many, many thanks to the folks at the Ellis Island web site it was discovered that he had landed in NY and was headed for Schleswig, Iowa to live with the Reverend Firnhaber, an acquaintance of my Grandfather who was also a Lutheran pastor. My Uncle moved on to Chicago and finally settled in Buffalo, NY where he sponsored my Father and me to come to America in 1953.

Thank You,
Klaus Wilkens

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

To Fred, Bob and all you volunteers.

Thanks for your five years of hard work. You have one of the best web sites I have seen. I do wonder how many people have benefitted from your labors. Hopefully, you can keep it going for a long, long time.

Bill Powers

Friday, July 9, 2004

Dear Fred and Bob,

Sincerest thanks for a job well done in maintaining/creating the IA Crawford County Website. I know it has been so helpful for me. I also appreciate all the hard work that goes in to coordinating the page. Please know that the two of you and the contributors are very much appreciated.

Sincerely,
Leslie
PLIMPTON/SEAGRAVE/BOND/PRENTICE in Crawford County, IA

Friday, July 9, 2004

To the Crawford county volunteers;

Thank you for the lovely pictures. I'm Arnold Jensen's grandchild. My grandmother, on my mother's side was a Teut. I just finished reading the book by Larry Grill entitled "Schleswig in Iowa". It was a very informative read.

I visited the two churches in Schleswig. The United Church of Christ, where I found all of my relatives(Jensen, Brocksen, Teut) and the Immanuel Lutheran Church. I loved the site, which I went into again today.

Thanks again for the great website!!

Lisa Anderson
Patient Financial Services Specialist
Hall Health Primary Care Center
University of Washington

Wednesday, June 9, 2004

Hello...
I too wanted to say a big thank you for the hard work that has gone into this site. I am English and have been looking at a lot of sites to trace my ancestors, yours has been so helpful and a pleasure to negotiate... one that others should measure their own against!

It was with great pleasure I found some information - in particular on Dr R J Hart my Gt Grandfather, and my Gt GT Grandfather AP Hart. I hope to find more.

Regards
Dave Norton

Saturday, June 5, 2004

I haven't started to really look around yet, but wanted to thank those of you responsible for starting and maintaining this wonderful website. I was born in Denison in 1939; my mother was Margaret W. Pautsch, and I'm sure she knew many of you, and certainly your parents. She passed away a year ago on June 2, 2003 at the age of 89.
Best wishes for your continuing existance.

Mary Yamada

Thursday, March 18, 2004

Wow! What a fabulous website! It's a great starting ground for studying your ancestors. I've found much of my needed genealogy information from your website, as many of my ancestors resided in Crawford County.

The names I am researching are Carl Westphal, his wife, Fredericke Feddersen, their son, Detlef Westphalen, his wife, Martha Pranschke, her father, Ferdinand Pranschke and his wife, Mathilda Farnowske; Detlef's second wife: Emma Kunze, Edlef Westphalen, his wife: Sophia Rabe, her father: Gustav Rabe; his wife: Wilhelmine Schriever (Siblings Alwina, Albert, and Sophie), their father, Henry Schriever and his wife Wilhelmine Plumhof, Gustav Rabe Sr, his wife, Fredericke Fischer, and her father, Johann Fischer. Johann Fischer's wife was Caroline Sophia Fischer, and her Father was Johann Blunk. Just to note that the Gustav Rabe family and the Blunk family owned land side by side during the 1900 census.

If anyone has any information re: these families, or if they need information, please email MyGenWeb@aol.com

Thanks!
Rachel Fafinski

Wednesday, March 3, 2004

This is a wonderful website for me, as my ancestors, the Ahart family, lived in and around several vicinities of Crawford County. Thanks for all your hard efforts in making this website for what it is--just great!

David Fewins

Thursday, February 5, 2004

Whenever I come into your site, I laugh at the "programmer at fault" line...wish I'd thought of that when I was working with software development.

Then I silently bless you and Candace Lebrun for all the work which went into transcription of the 1900 Census. I used it to find Great Aunt Blanche Hodkin and her new husband Carl J. G. Larson "south of Denison" as their wedding clipping stated it. I had not yet found her sister Charlotte and husband John Sander, because they were not (yet) in Charter Oak where they belonged! But just three doors down from Aunt Blanche, there was Aunt Lottie! So easy when it is all laid out so beautifully. Thank you again for all the effort which shows so clearly in this site.

Margaret Grant Irwin

Monday, January 19, 2004

May I add my thanks also to a fine staff and a salute for all the hard work involved. I am especially grateful for the cemetery readings (can only wish for more) and the census info. While I didn't find who I was looking for I enjoyed visiting very much and will be back .

Linda Cooksey

Saturday, January 10, 2004

Dear Friends,

I have a very warm spot in my heart for Crawford County. Although I grew up in Dickinson County, Iowa, and now live in far northern Trinity County, California. A great many of my roots are with you. My great grandmother Margaret McLeod Grant, great grandparents Thos. and Louisa Eliza Hodkin, grandparents John and Daisy Hodkin Grant, parents Kenneth and Crystal Graham Grant, and baby sister Rebecca Jean Grant are all buried in the Dow City Cemetery, along with many other aunts, uncles, and cousins. I can remember as a child when it was overgrown and weed infested, so it is a particular delight when we visit now and see it so lovingly cared for.

I am passing the word about this wonderful web-site to the rest of the family, and preparing many old photos and obituaries for submission to it.

Keep up your exceedingly fine work.

Wednesday, December, 3, 2003

Dear Fred,
Hi. I am writing to compliment you folks with all of your hard work on the Crawford Co. Gen Web project page. I have been making my way around the database and have really enjoyed all of the tidbits I have been finding. I have written to Melba a couple of times and she has been so nice to provide me with additional information. I have also checked out other genweb projects : Minnesota and Wisconsin, and have found some difficulty.

Cara Rule Konopa

Monday, October 20, 2003

Hello:
As someone has already said, I wish all my ancestors had lived in Crawford County, IA. This "crew" has done and continues to do a fantastic job. Actually, most of my mother's family did live in Crawfrord County. She was the youngest daughter of Joseph Almon Jordan, son of Joseph A. Jordan, son of William Harrison Jordan. So that means the Johnsons, Masons, McKims, etc. are also related. I regret having not known any of them, but these pages bring them alive for me. Thank you once more for the kindnesses of the contributors to these pages.

Nadine Allen

Sunday, September 14, 2003

Bill Powers

Friday, September 12, 2003

Dear ones;
I admire the great job done on the Crawford CO website, I found the burial of great grandpa & grandma, death of great grandpa Grohmann. The church where service was held the marriage of grandpa & grandma Grohmann also held in the same church . Also the confirmation of grandpa's brother & sister at the same church.. The marriage of his sister. all in the St. Paul Lutheran church Hanover twp.
thanks,
Mary Schnarr

Sunday, June 22, 2003

Hello, My name is Steven Neubaum. I live in Greenville, SC and am the son of Gary Neubaum. My grandparents Ella Stier Neubaum and Barney Neubaum were from Denison Iowa. Just thought I'd say hello.

Joyce Neubaum O'Meara

Monday, May 19, 2003

HI!I enjoy your site. My name is Joyce Neubaum O'Meara and I am doing genealogy on the Neubaum and O'Meara lines. It is a very helpful site and if anyone has any information that they can help me with, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. My Neubaum line came over from West Prussia in 1872.

Vonice Darling

Sunday, April 27, 2003

Thanks for a great site. I have found many of my family members in various places on the site. My brother and I, our parents and all of our grandparents were born in Crawford County. All of our great grandparents lived in Crawford County and most of our gggrandparents also lived there. Family names are Darling, Brogden, Mason, Lilleholm, Buffinton, Crandall, Norman.

Vonice Darling

Bonnie Fortson Pierce

Wednesday, April 23, 2003

Thanks Fred, and to Everyone who worked on the Westside Town Census of 1900. I found my Grandparents EUGENE and ROSE FORTSON there. Also information I did not know.

Bonnie Fortson Pierce

Patti Chapman

Saturday, March 29, 2003

This is the best county site, I wish all my people had lived in Crawford County. Thanks ever so much for the look-up.

Patti Chapman

Roger Allen

Wednesday, March 26, 2003

Carolyn Jarvey

Wednesday, March 5, 2003
KUDOS

What a wonderful job you are doing with the Crawford County Website. Navigation is easy, identifications and directories are just wonderful! Please thank everyone involved.

Carolyn

Carol Peschke

Sunday, 26 Jan 2002
Subject: Morgan Township Cemetery

A big "Thank You" to the folks who did the work on the transcription on the Morgan Township Cemetery. I finally found the people that I was looking for.
Thank You.

Carol Peschke

Paula Curcio

Wednesday, 4 Dec 2002

I love your website. Over the past several months I have referred to it on numerous occasions. I have been to several other websites for various other counties, and this one is one of the best.

I have located information on some of my family here and I am still looking for some. The main branch of my family was the Brogans and Giblins, but his also contained all of their offsprings - Harrington, Finneran, Coates, Bracelin, etc.

Would love to hear from anyone that would have any information on any of these families.

I will be making a trip to Crawford County with my mom in May 2003. I ams so excited I can hardly wait. She actually lived there as a child and then they moved to Sioux City in the late 1930's.

Keep up the great work!

Paula Curcio
Memphis, TN

Desi Tyner

Thursday, 5 Sep 2002

I can't tell you how greatful I am to you and everyone who made it possible to open the 1900 Census. I have been on the net for 3 weeks trying to find info. on my great-grandmother. I started to tell my dad she didn't exist. Joking and frustration. All I kept thinking was I don't have the money to fly everywhere and research all this. I don't even have the money to pay someone to do this either. But thanks to you and all the wonderful people I don't have to leave California and fly to Iowa.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Desi

Mary (Ullrich)Wilson

Wednesday, 12 Jun 2002
St Boniface info

Just saw the web site for St Boniface. Thank you. Saw the names of many relatives. Just began searching and am encouraged by finding my family.
Great site.

Mary (Ullrich)Wilson

Cathy Flynn

Wednesday, 12 Jun 2002
Subject: Just Signing the Book. Thanks!

I have been on this site for almost 4 hours now. Even though I am not from the Midwest, my children and their ancestors are and I have found this to be a wonderful site, full of information AND very interesting at the same time.
Keep up the great work!

Cathy Flynn

Portia Haynes

Friday, 10 May 2002
Subject: Zion Lutheran Church at Manning

Thank you so much for sending this link.

I would attend Zion as a child with my grandparents Molly and Leon Hass, when I would go to Manning and stay with them. (I grew up and lived in Denison.) This has brought back many memories. Happy and sad. All cherished.

I have also attended my share of relatives funerals in the second and new buildings, as a child and an adult.

My Uncle has preached at Zion, and family has been baptised, confirmed, married, and buried there.

I thank you.
Portia Haynes

C. O. Lamp

Tuesday, 16 Apr 2002

Cheryl Williams

Wednesday, 20 Mar 2002

Cheryl Williams

Teri Lindsay

Wednesday, 6 Mar 2002

My daughter's great grandparents were John & Ella McClatchey, of Manilla. Ella's maiden name was Lorenzen. Who were her parents? I wished I asked her when she was alive. Thank you.

Teri Lindsay

Linda Warne

Thursday, 28 Feb 2002

Linda Warne

Deborah Sullivan

Monday, 18 Feb 2002

Debbie

Joan Baldus

Sunday, 17 Feb 2002

I sent my thanks to the Jackson Co person but wanted to add my thanks to you and all the others that worked on it.

I have been going through the census on Ancestry.com lately and know how hard it is to read some of the writing.

Joan Baldus

Dean Slechta

Saturday, 9 Feb 2002

Dean Slechta
Bennington, NE

Pam Schweikert

Wednesday, 23 Jan 2002

Now that I live a considerable distance from Iowa I can still conduct research via your website.

Keep up the good work, Crawford County!!!

ANCESTOR NAMES: MEADE, MAHAN, HAUGH, HEINRICKSON, BONSON, JENSEN, RASP

P.S. I hope someday you can talk a member of St. Rose of Lima church into posting some information. My Meade and Haugh ancestors are buried in their cemetery and Rasp resides in the old Catholic Cemetery.

Cynthia Salvador

Wednesday, 16 Jan 2002

Cynthia

Tom Fitzsimmons

Thursday, 3 Jan 2002

I am an American living in Ireland, near Cork City, County Cork and recently went to the Crawford County site and saw the 1900 census was on-line there, thanks to the efforts of all the volunteers.

Many thanks to all who have a part in making the page.

Kristen Butler

Saturday, 15 Dec 2001

Dear Fred,
My name is Kristen Butler, my Parents are Curt and Joyce Butler of Arion, and I just wanted to thank you for all the information about the Butler cemetery in Arion, It was a really exciting for all of us. We have always been wondering about it, and have been to it. I think that what you are doing is wonderful.

Thank You Again, and Happy Holidays.

Sincerely,

Kristen R Butler-Melton

Lynnelle Brant

Tuesday, 11 Sep 2001

Thank you for a wonderful web site, today I found the birthplace of my great-great grandfather Christian Didra (Dietra) and history of my great-great-great grandfather Mathias Didra the first German Settler in Buck Grove.

Lynelle Brant

Rob Johnson

Saturday, 25 Aug 2001

Thank you so much for your St. Boniface Catholic Church history site.

I descend from Patrick Copps, one of the original organizers of the church. It was nice to see that my grandfather (George Bernard Copps) was baptised in 1906!

Thanks,!!

Vicki Koeppe

Monday, 16 July 2001

THANK YOU AND ALL YOUR HELPERS WHO HAVE MADE THIS A GREAT WEB PAGE!!! It is wonderful to see the county in which I live on the internet. I have just started researching my genealogy and this web site has made it possible to search late at night when I have time. Its hard to wait to see what you will add to the site. Thank you again!

Vicki Koeppe

Bonnie Pierce

Saturday, 17 February 2001

I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone. Because of your hard work I have found my WILLROTH family. I even have pictures now that Tammie Fries sent to me. None of that would have been possible if it hadn`t been for all of you.

Bonnie Fortson Pierce

Delores Rohlf Cedar County, Iowa

Saturday, 3 February 2001

Subject: Crawford County Census1900

I am so happy some dedicated people put the 1900 Crawford Census on the internet. We knew some distant Thoms family lived in Crawford County around 1900 and I found them.

Thanks to you special people.

P.S. I am from Cedar County Iowa

Sandy Espolt Yeomans California

Saturday, 9 December 2000

Subject: Thank You ! DEATH ROLLS OF THE PIONEERS

Thank you so much for all the work you have done on the Iowa website! You might enjoy this success story:

I am in Southern California and because of your entries have located a "new" cousin who lives in Northern California, she in turn introduced me to family right here in the next county that I never knew about! I introduced them to a cousin in Oklahoma and the four of us are an "e-team" doing the family tree.

I found Mr. and Mrs. William Heiden there in the second list. Mrs. William Heiden is the daughter of Sophia Espholt. Her name was Reka Espolt.

I have spelled Sophia's name "Espholt" because it is like that on the 1901 list. The rest of the family in America spells it "Espolt" - though we have always suspected the spelling we use is incorrect and it may be that it is correctly spelled with the "h" . This is one of the main purposes of my research - to find the real spelling, as well as origin and ship.

The families HOMEIER, HEIDEN, and ESPOLT appear to have been very closeknit in Iowa with several siblings marrying. Other connected families are VOSS, EGGARS, SPENCER, and MAC DONALD.

If anyone has information on any of these families it will be greatly appreciated!

It wouldn't have happened without you, thank you, thank you!

Lesley Luth Garland, Texas

Tuesday, 29 August 2000

Subject: THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU
Ohde Sisters Photo 1940

Hi Fredric:

I must tell you I'm SO-O-O impressed with all the information available on the Crawford County website and I look forward to "perusing" it all in greater depth. What a huge effort that represents!!

My husband Fred's great grandfather Henry Luth married an Ohde (Maggie) and they lived in Crawford County from 1880-1889 (then moved to Nebraska), so I've been interested in Ohdes in your county for years. In 1990 someone referred me to Viola Ohde Martens (dau of George J.); she was so nice and such a wealth of family information. She would be 95 now; I don't know if she's still alive.

Again, thanks for your help--it is much appreciated.

Sincerely,
Lesley Luth
Garland, Texas

Doug Mehan, Meadville, Crawford County, PA

23 August 2000

Yesterday I was ecstatic when I located two families on the town of Denison 1900 Census. I have been re-checking your website weekly (sometimes daily when I'm bored at work) in hopes of tracking down two generations of my relatives! Thank you and your transcribers very much!!!! I await the balance of the transcriptions to locate the family of John C. C. Berndt who died in Goodrich Twp.

I was going to enter your contest and knew that I would be a winner. Unfortunately my wife did not let me change my name to "Unknown"

Regards,
Doug Mehan

Judy Wilson

19 August 2000

Crawford County has become one of the classiest sites on GenWeb.

WELL DONE!!!

Freddie Randolph

10 July 2000

I just wanted to send a thank you to all those involved in making the web pages so informative. I am 56 years old and have found out more about my roots by visiting the Crawford County web pages than I had known my whole life. There are some very nice people who subscribe to the list and help answer questions for those of us who are seeking information, even going so far as to visit the county cemeteries and take photos of the gravemarkers and tombstones for me. I am eternally grateful for all who have helped.

Thank you and Happy Anniversary to the Crawford County

Freddie Georgius Randolph

Janet Wain, England

1 July 2000

The History of Saint Paul; Lutheran Church 1874 to 1889, which was recently available on the Internet, is of great interest to me as I am related to the August Schultz and Herman Schultz mentioned in the history document. My grandfather, Martin J.A. Schultz was the son of Herman Schultz. He was married to Emma Swartz in Ricketts, Iowa on 4th November, 1914. It is possible that Pastor Runge may have conducted the marriage service.

In 1941 Martin and Emma moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan where they remained for the rest of their lives. Their daughter, LaVerna Schultz Ferguson also lived in Ann Arbor, but she died in March of this year. LaVerna had three children, Jack, Janet and Eileen.

With the strong link to the Lutheran Church, it is interesting that the great grandson of Herman Schultz is himself a Pastor who is ministering to his congregation in Hawks, Michigan; Ms. Eileen Ferguson (Mrs. D. Johnson) still lives in Ann Arbor.

I now live in England and have three children. My eldest child, Charles Martin Ferguson Wain (named after Grandpa Schultz) is now in the USAF, currently residing in Anchorage, Alaska. My two daughters, Suzanne and Melanie reside with me and their father (Richard H.R.) here in England. The last surviving daughter of Martin Schultz - Joyce Schultz Richardson now resides in Moscow, Idaho. She has a son Martin John Richardson and survives her second son, Scott Richardson who passed away in 1997.

We still have several relatives living in and around Schleswig but are not sure which church they belong to.

I hope this information about the descendants of Herman Schultz may be of interest to you and your fellow historians.

It would be interesting to see any pictures on the Internet. I would be most interested in receiving any future information about your congregation, also if you have any old pictures that could be scanned into your document and passed via the Internet. My brother would be very interested in the original document, written in German as he is very fluent in that language.

(Site coordinator note: The family web pages can be accessed from the Genelogies page.)

Portia Haynes

21 June 2000
Subject: Wonderful Wonderful Crawford County Site

Hello Fred.

I am writing for a couple of reasons. First of all to thank you and everyone involved in this project for doing it. It is wonderful !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot tell you what fun it has been to look at the information on these pages. Thank you all so much. It is very helpful.

I am from Crawford County and this is a real help. Many thanks again for the great work you have all done. I and, I am sure, many others appreciate it.

Portia (Hass) Haynes

Judy Johnson

6 June 2000

Thanks for the time put in on the census for Crawford county. I did not find my relatives in what you have done, but will check back. I am looking for Christauf and Marie Trinkelbach who came from Germany in about 1888 through the port of Galveston. They came to the Charter Oak, Ricketts area a few years after arriving in Tx.

Judy Johnson

Melba McDowell

28 May 2000

Both of my parents grew up in Crawford County and it has been a big part of my life. My mother was an Allen/Talcott from Arion and my father was a Winans from Deloit. They have now been married 68 years and we have heard tales of Deloit and Arion all our lives.

My daughter has sent you some of the information my mother had (Stacey Dietiker) but we have a lot more. She has pictures of the railroad station at Arion with several pictures of my Grandfather John Allen who rans this for a lot of years. He also had a store in Arion.

Maybe one of these days Stacey will get them scanned and sent to you for inclusion in the web site. We also have a copy of a picture of an accident that happened outside of Arion and several residents of that town - from around 1915-1920. We will have to dig out some of this stuff if you are interested in it.

Once again, just a thanks from the Allen/Talcott/Winans family for your dedicated work. We will try to keep supporting you.

Ann Flaherty, Melbourne, Australia.

17 May 2000

I have really enjoyed your website. Now I can understand a bit more about the place my great grandparents, grandparents, and father called "home."

The database is terrific! I've found lots of useful info here.

I wonder though, what life was like for my Irish family in Hanover Township surrounded by so many German families! Did everyone speak English or German? How far did the Flahertys have to go to get to a Catholic Church? So many questions that will probably never be answered.

But I check in every so often to see all the new items. Keep up the good work!

Joy Manning

AWESOME!

Just wanted to say that the website for Crawford County is awesome!

I am a descendent of Gustav Rabe of Ricketts and his daughter, Emma. I had feared that I would never find any information on the family, especially since this area of Iowa is not highly populated. To my surprise, this is one of the best sites that I have encountered! I have much respect for you and those who support you. Thanks to all! Joy Manning

Thomas J Kruse

OLD SETTLERS IN CRAWFORD COUNTY:
You're maintaining a really great site that I didn't expect at all. I think, we here in Germany need to catch up! I'm just working on the historical data of my grandfather (scanning in photos, entering data into a genealogy program (FTW). So I am looking for relatives of my grand-grand uncle Otto Kruse, who left Schleswig-Holstein shortly after his country fell to Prussia, and he didn't want to serve in the Prussian army. He came to Crawford Country, Iowa around 1868. He and his wife Meta settled in first Vail and than in Westside. Unfortunately, their son John stayed unmarried and did not had any children, so the name Kruse came to an end there. But their three daughters were married to Westside farmers, namely Catharina (Kate) to William Ewold, Maria (Mary) to William Gottsch, and Anna to Julius Thiedeman. I would be glad to find any relatives fron those families. Please tell me if it makes sense to provide any information on my family or the part of S-H where they came from. Best regards, Thomas

Thomas J Kruse

From Laudenbach/Heidelberg GERMANY:

I was really surprised to find so much info on Crawford County. Actually, I was looking for my G-G-Uncle Otto Kruse who came to Crawford County around 1868. Now I'm searching for relatives of the Gottsch, Ewoldt and Thiedeman families.

A great web-site! Much better than anything here in Germany on genealogy. Best regards, Thomas

Sherri Snider

Thank you for having such a great website for Crawford County Iowa. That is how I found it, I did a search for Crawford County Iowa because I have 2 generations from Vail town in Crawford County. I found this site very helpful, verified ancestors were there, I was thrilled.

Thanks Again/Sherri Snider

Andrea Schroeder

History Articles

I found out about the Crawford County website on www.RootsWeb.com Each time I visit this website, I feel a little closer to home. Often there are surnames that sound familiar and occasionally I'll locate names of my ancestors (i.e. Matthias Arnold; Emile Niewoenher)! It's exciting, yet I'm hoping to do more research to find out specifics about my ancestors (i.e. birth dates, cause of death, when they came to USA, etc. etc. etc.) I'm sure there's a plethora of knowledge to uncover! This website was very helpful! Keep up the good work!!!

glenn w. gustafson

Crawford Co Page - Church History

Thanks to All of You who put this together. I've driven past the church many times on the tractor going between farms in Stockholm township and farms in Monona County. Next time, when I pass I'll be remembering all this interesting history you have put together. You have done a great job. I was fascinated by the size of the numbers a rural church could put together - 1777 new faces greeting the world - 963 completing the journey thru confirmation - 792 having faith in the future - and several hundred who stayed the course. By putting this on the web, you have done a great service to the memory of these loved ones.

glenn

Marian Brooks Muller

Your web site is GREAT, although I didn't find our Muller's listed. The Surnames list was not ready today, but you have really put a lot of WORK and LOVE into this project. Keep up the good work.

Thank you, Marian Brooks Muller

Prof.Dr.H.D.Gronau

Hello Mr. Dethlefsen,

I just visited the genealogical webpage of Crawford county, which you created and maintain. I found the page very interesting and helpful and would like the express my respect to your work. I am contacting you by the following reasons, not only for the above one.

I am a German living permanently in Germany. My greatgrandfather Rudolph Gronau (1855-1914) had 3 brothers who emigrated to the U.S. in 1869 resp. 1884. The both older brothers settled in Kiron (Fred Gronau) and in Denison (Carl Gronau). In your homepage there are informations on these Gronau's (see, for example Kountry library). Actually our German Gronau's have had contact to relatives whose are descendants of Fred. In 1995 I came and visited Malinda Dahms, former resident of Schleswig and now a 87 year old nice lady living in a senior home in Denison for 3 days. She showed me around, I saw the graves of the Gronau's in Kiron. I met Jane Gronau from Kiron, who is keeping the Gronau genealogy, and Vernie and his daughter Lois Gronau. Although we have had a nice meeting and I sent several letters, I didn't any response. It seems to me that they are not interested more in genealogy.

I did a lot of genealogical reserach in recent years and I would like to share informations. For example, some of the informations given in your homepage (Kountry library) were obviously taken from the 1911 history book of crawford country, are not correct. I guess you are very familar with people of Crawford Country interesting in genealogy. Is any Gronau among them. Does any of these have e-mail access?

By the way, while staying in Denison, I found the grave of Carl Gronau and the obituaries with a lot of interesting facts. He has had two daughter, Amanda and Lizzy (Elisabeth). Amanda got married to Bernhard Sibbert about 1900, who owned the first garage in Denison. Their only son Carl became a opera singer and later a vocal instructor in Hollywood.

The other daughter got married to John Sievers also around 1900 and then they moved to Whittier, Los Angeles. Via the internet I found a living grandson of them, which is actually a third cousin of mine. I would like to learn more about my Gronau relatives and get in touch with some. If you can give any hint it would be highly appreciated. I am presently on sabbatical leave and staying in Boca Raton, Florida, till mid March 2000.

I learned that you have ancestors in Schleswig-Holstein. Actually, that's the neighbor-state of Mecklenburg in Germany. In case that your are interested in genealogy in Mecklenburg, then please, visit our homepage http://www.math.uni-rostock.de/MFP We founded this first genealogical association for Mecklenburg two years ago.

Thank you very much in advance for any reponse.

Sincerely, Hans-Dietrich Gronau

Gary and Barb Preul

Records of August Preul are at times difficult to find. My grandfather had changed his name from somewhat when coming to America. He spent three years in the German Army. Came to America Nov. 20, 1882 at the age of 26. First settling in Ida County and then in Crawford. My fathers baptism was in Charter Oak. He was born April 25, 1899, and had an older brother Fred. So I would be almost positive he spent most of his American life in the Charter Oak area. He died in 1934, and his obituary was in the Charter Oak paper.

My father Hienrich Preul was born 2/25/99 in the Charter Oak area. His father, August settled in that area. Most of his children were baptized and confirmed in St. John's Lutheran Church. There were 12 children born to August and his wife.

My dad spent his entire life in Crawford Co.

P. Miller

Thank you for the listings provided on cemeteries and the farmers. Since I am out of state, your resources make the search for my husbands' ggparents, a bit easier.

Stacey Dietiker

I love what you are doing with this website! I especially appreciate all of the articles and lists of names you have been adding recently. Several of my family lines - McKim, Allen, Talcott, Winans, Childress, Botts - are a big part of Crawford County's history and it's wonderful to see their names and find out more about them this way!

Thank you so much!

Barbara Lee West

I go to www.rootsweb.com and look for the query pages on the state and county. My relatives were in Iowa in 1866, and I have found several distant cousins. Hoping to get a complete family genealogy. In 1900 everyone married and moved to another state, and that was the last time anyone saw one another. Now, with the computer, and with the records on file, we are finding one another. My husband found a 91-year old Aunt that he hadn't seen since he was 8 years of age. He is now 71. They had a tearful reunion. She had thought he had been lost forever. It brought closure.

Thank you!

Michelle Boger

Andersen Air Force Base, Yigo, Guam:

My husband and I both grew up in Denison. I've just recently started researching into our family trees. He is in the military. We are now stationed in Guam so it would be difficult for me to help. Maybe at a later date.

Copyright © 2008, Stacey Dietiker for the Crawford County, Iowa, IAGenWeb Project.