September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. We have enjoyed celebrating this for several years now and thought we should invite our readers along for the fun!
Alphonse Pollpeter and Gertrude Boeding were married on September 15, 1936 at St. Mary’s Church in West Point, Iowa. Gertrude is Walt’s second cousin once removed.


I have always liked the flavor of my banana bread recipe, but it was somewhat dense. Also nuts or chocolate chips fell to the bottom of the loaf. So I decided to try to use kitchen chemistry to see if I could fix those issues.
Martha Clemens was born on Septenber 8, 1916 to Frank and Josephine Krueger Clemens. She was born in West Point, Iowa. Two of her sisters married into Walt’s family. Her sister Marie married Albert Link, Walt’s great uncle. Martha’s sister Gertrude married Aloysius Brune, Walt’s second cousin once removed.
We recently hiked with a friend at Strawtown Koteewi Park. It’s a nice, nearby place to get a quick nature fix. We saw a bunch of lovely sights which I utterly failed to capture for posterity. But I did whip out the phone when we saw the baby snakes!
Robert was the youngest child of Isadore and Teresa Kempker Link. He was born on August 25, 1902. Robert is Walt’s great (or grand) uncle. His brother William (WJ) is Walt’s grandfather.
I was at work when my phone pinged with an incoming message. Usually it’s Michelle, asking a question. So I checked it as soon as I was decently able. It wasn’t Michelle. The analytics package we use on this site was congratulating us – we’ve reached a big milestone!
When you are doing family research, it can be tricky to track all of the relationships. I thought it might be helpful to explain what some of the relationship descriptors actually mean. My software helps me sort it all out, but it’s not too complicated if you know where to start.