Walt’s great great grandmother was born on December 16, 1823. Catharina Maria was born to Johann and Maria Strüving Heil in Fladderlohausen, Lower Saxony, Germany. We don’t know much about her, but because three of her sons chose to come to the United States there are many descendants living here now.
Tag: Family History Page 17 of 26
Posts about family history/genealogy.
Andra Kellogg was born on December 9, 1941 in Rapid City, South Dakota. Her parents were George and Hazel Durfee Kellogg. She was my (Michelle’s) aunt.
Last week, I talked about Erasmus and Maria Straub. His brother was Markus Straub, Walt’s 4th great-grandfather. Today, we are celebrating the anniversary of his daughter Ann Straub’s marriage to Andreas Sauter (Sauters). These are Walt’s 3rd great-grandparents.
Erasmus Straub was the brother of Walt’s 4th great grandfather. He was born in June of 1870 in Bieringen, Baden-Württemburg, Germany to Josephus Carl and Anna Maria Truffner Straub. We don’t know a lot of his story in Germany, but we do know he married Maria Sauter on the 25th of November, 1807 in Bieringen. They had 9 children, two of whom died in infancy. Maria died in 1824. Erasmus and his children immigrated to the United States in the 1840’s.
John H. Link, Senior, was born on November 18, 1885 to Isadore and Teresa Kempker Link in West Point, Iowa. His brother, William J. (W.J.), was Walt’s grandfather.
I have been scanning in photos and adding to the family history. When I found this picture of two cousins, I spent some time finding out more about them. Kathryn Link is Walt’s great-aunt, and Helen Brockman Hummert was her cousin on the Kempker side of the family. I browsed through the pictures and found a couple more photos with them.

Walt’s great grandfather John Swisher Hole was born on November 4, 1840 in Darke County Ohio. His parents were James Anderson and Mary Ann Swisher Hole.
Sometimes a picture can take you deep down a rabbit hole. I found this picture of Walt’s great-grandmother, Ann (or Anna) Redmond Fisher. It was taken sometime before 1919, but I don’t know the exact date.
It’s been so much fun to dig through the pictures. I found a couple of great ones with Walt’s Grandma Link this time. Lizzie was born April 2, 1890.
W.J. Link (Walt’s grandfather) did a lot of different jobs, threshing, pulling stumps, laying drain tile and drilling wells over the years. We found a couple of pictures in the latest batch that show some of his worksites.