3 Apr 2022
Sad to report on the death of my aunt Joyce (aka Connie) Reuther Holley on 19 Sep 2021 at the age of 94. Connie is part of the Henry David
Speiser family. (Before I could get the Speisers updated, I realized my genealogy software had a bug in one of the reports so it dropped important information.
So sorry for the delay in posting about Connie's death.)
I have updated the William John Speiser family (aka the Minnesota Speisers) to correct Francis (aka Bud) Wollan's parents (mother Emily Wollan).
He was raised by his grandparents, and I had him as their child. Also corrected Alan and Charlie Rehbein. They are actually one and the same.
12 Feb 2021 The elusive Bernice (Wenzel) Gilbertson (1929-1958) of Minnesota - Finally! She first married Ronald Whitehill (two children Michael & Raymond). Then married Harding Wold Gilbertson. Still looking for both marriage dates. And why I had not already ordered Bernice's death certificate we will never know. Only $9 and they emailed it.
24 Jan 2021
Just realized that FamilySearch has microfilm of Bridgeport vital records. Scrolling through microfilm is a lot easier with a microfilm reader
than a laptop. Nevertheless, I persevered. For the Speiser's I added death information such as cause of death (Sophie & Rudolph), and marriage
dates. Not related to the microfilm, I have added information on Henry Eugene Speiser and Isabelle Nullet (they ran off together when she was
17, no one knew where for 3 years, both were arrested for "association", Henry secured a Reno, Nevada, divorce from Margaret Dolan in 1911).
For the extended Merz family I have updated Chris Becker and Anna Straub's marriage, children (DOD, cause, burial), Babette (Merz) Straub's
cause of death, and some additional info on the Boerschel family.
16 Dec 2020 Finally. More information on the Herzers thanks to newspapers.
15 Dec 2020 Sadly, Warren Henry Speiser, of St Louis, MO, died 16 October 2020, son of Reinhold and Florence. He was 97 and died of natural causes. His wife Eileen Lupo Speiser died in 2017.
5 Jun 2017 The Connecticut State Library has death and marriage indexes on-line back to 1897. Lots of fun thinking of which Merz and Speiser relatives I can track down more information on.
10 Apr 2014 I have updated the Speiser Ancestors in Germany page to add the three additional generations. We now start with Conrad Speiser, born about 1470. I have also updated all the Speisers in America on the main Speiser page.
9 Feb 2014 Unfortunately for my research efforts, Anna Maria Speiser, born 1847, who is known to have immigrated to America, did not marry before she immigrated. She may have immigrated with her brother in 1866, so there are four years for her to have married or died before the 1870 Census. So far I have not found her or brother Johann Wilhelm on a passenger list. But, as usual, I will keep watching for her.
31 Jan 2014 Martin Koepple (our researcher in Württemberg) has found another Speiser generation. The father of Blasius Speiser is Martin Speiser, and the father of Margaretha Schlegel is Michael Schlegel. Martin also found some of the siblings of Blasius. Martin is doing some research on some of our German immigrants to America, so I will have more information on them in coming months.
31 Jan 2014 I was so sad to (very belatedly) learn that Karyn Forbes-Thomas died in May 2010. She was the daughter of Kingston Forbes and his second wife. Kingston's first wife was my great-aunt Irma Speiser. Karyn and I had a wonderful email friendship trading information on her father. We last emailed a few months before her death when she offered to make a painted floorcloth for me in appreciation for all the research I have done on Kingston. I am sure her family and friends miss her terribly. Sadly, there was so much anger when Kingston and Irma divorced that Karyn never met her half-brothers.
23 Aug 2013 I have added a page for the Henry David Speiser (1850-1921) family bible.
24 Jan 2013 Sadly, my mother Jane (Hager) Reuther died in Atlanta on 29 October 2012. She was 79 years old and had been fading away for some time. I have added updates on the Connecticut and Philadelphia Speiser families. The availability of Pennsylvania death indices is very helpful for tracking down the Philadelphia branch. Plus an update on the Merz (descendants of Johanna) family in America.
1 Sep 2012 I am working on adding Speiser family pictures. The Christmas Cookie page is on-line. Also added a page with links to websites in Germany that are related to our Speisers - The Hotel Rössle in Ötlingen & Mühle Sting in Jesingen.