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| G. G. G.Grandpa Gottfried and Me! |
In order for me to attend the Creative Connection last weekend, my Aunt Gail (The Dallas Chick) flew in from Texas to help with my Mom during the weekend. While here, one of the things she wanted to do was to complete some of our ancestry family tree, by finding missing puzzle pieces, taking pictures and visiting grave sites. Monday morning began with a trip to Afton, Minnesota, a quaint little town located along the banks of the St. Croix River. We were on the hunt to find the cemetery that my Great Great Great Grandpa Gottfried Zabel, his wife, Christine Louise and daughter Louise Albertina were buried in. That cemetery is named St. Paulus Lutheran, in Afton. We drove up and down St. Croix Trail and Stagecoach Trail, not finding a thing! Finally, we stopped and asked and lo and behold, the cemetery was located directly behind Mudslinger Pottery, go figure! What an awesomely quaint old cemetery. Gail and I started looking through the grave stones, only about 30 of them are still existing. Right in the center, nestled between other families we located three beautiful headstones with the names of our ancestors on them. WOW! I can't explain the feeling! Albertina was only 34 when she died, and she had 6 children, 2 died, 1 at birth and 1 a few months later. So where are the babies and where are the other children. We know that her youngest only 1 1/2 years old at the time lived with his grandparents until they died when he was 16. His name was Albert Steindorf and he is my Great Grandfather, we know he is buried in Union Cemetery along with his wife, son and his sons wife. Still, the haunting feeling, Where are the babies?, can't escape us. Yesterday, Gail and I visited the museum in Afton and with this wonderful woman Pam, who works at the museum, we found them! They are at St. Peters Lutheran Cemetery, in Afton.
Today, Gail and I are out the door to visit those babies. So the story continues..........
Kate
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| Gail making a "grave rubbing" |
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| Grave Rubbings |
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| Gail and Albertina Please leave us a comment if you have any suggestions in finding our roots. Thank you! |
