Update from yesterdays post. "Chasing our Roots"



Louise "Albertina" Zabel Steindorf



Benie & Lucy

We found the babies! You can't imagine our excitement at locating them. As I told you yesterday, Albertina Zabel Steindorf was my Great Grandpa Als Mother.  She was just 34 years old when she died.  Of what she died we do not know. Yet! Albertina (Tina)  gave birth to six children during her short lifetime. Two of which died.   Albert, (Benie) was Albertinas fourth child, he died on the day he was born.  It is not known if he was still born or lived a few hours. Lucy is Tina's third child and was about four months old when she died, and we also don't know the cause of death. Yet!  There are so many unanswered questions......
What did they die from?


Making a rubbing of the headstone

 Why were the babies buried in St. Peters Cemetery and not St. Paulus?
Why is Tina the only child of Gottfried and Christine Louise Zabel buried in St. Paulus?
Where did they live?
Are there any records of Gottfried being a Tailor?
Where are the other children, Bertha ( married George Reimers), Frederick (died in 1906 at 26yrs of age), and Lewis.  My Great Grampa Al is buried in Union Cemetery in Maplwd. Mn with his wife.   He was the youngest of Tina children's.
So many unanswered questions....but so fun discovering them!
-Kate
I would like to extend a thank you to Ancestry.com, Afton Museum, Mudslingers Pottery and the many others that have helped us with this along the way.  You have all been extremely helpful and it has been a pleasure to work with all of you.  If anyone out there has any suggestions please let us know.  My e mail is kateland@yahoo.com

"Chasing Our Roots!"





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



Gail making a "grave rubbing"



Grave Rubbings





Gail and Albertina

Please leave us a comment if you have any suggestions in finding our roots.  Thank you!

Hi Everyone,  I'm back from an amazing three day conference that took place in St. Paul, Minnesota called The Creation Connection. The main focus was how to turn our creative passion into a business through social media and marketing.  The personal stories of some of today's most successful names in books and blogs were very inspirational.  I can't wait to share the event with you in the coming weeks, but........
Today is Sunday, it's raining, the Vikings are losing the football game, and I am making a big

pot of Chicken Dumpling Soup.  I know I've shared this recipe with you before but here it is again, in case you
you would like to join me on this lazy creative Sunday.

Chicken Dumping Soup
1 rotisserie chicken from the grocery store of your choice
1 stalk of lettuce, chopped
1 bag of carrots, cut
2 large onions, chopped
1 package of Mrs. Grasses chicken soup mix
2 Tablespoons, give or take of chicken broth powder
celery salt and pepper

Boil chicken in large pot of water for 1 hour. Then strain chicken and put broth back into the pan letting the chicken pieces cool. Now add the chopped celery, carrots, onions the package of soup mix with the egg and the chicken broth powder to taste.  Pick through the chicken pieces and place the good meat into the pot, discarding the bones, skin and fatty pieces.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil and simmer at least 1 hour or until vegetables are tender.


Dumplings
6 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
2 cups flour

Beat eggs, add cinnamon, sugar and milk.   Then slowly stir in flour till thick like brownie mix or even thicker.  Bring soup back to a rolling boil. Heat teaspoon in soup and drop tablespoons of dumplings mixture into the soup.  Cook another 10 minutes and serve.

While my soup is cooking I will spend my time organizing my thoughts about the Creative Connection. I have hundreds of pictures and stories to share with you.  It was a crazy, terrific ,
exciting weekend.  I am totally inspired!!!
-Kate