Same blog, new look!

I'm very excited to re-launch Talking Box Genealogy!  TBG now has a new look and a new home at http://talkingboxgenealogy.com/.  Please update your bookmarks to reflect my new address.  RSS feeds can be updated by using http://talkingboxgenealogy.com/feed/.  No more posts will be added to this blog so please direct all future interactions to http://talkingboxgenealogy.com/.  Thanks for stopping by!

Life Got in the Way

And don't you just hate it when that happens?  I know I do.  I've been noticeably absent from posting on my blog because of it.  But I definitely haven't been idle.  My big project was changing employers.  I usually stay away from talking about work because, after all, this is a genealogy blog.  But I'm so excited about this new position I just couldn't help but mention that I've moved over to a different association where I'm part of the professional development team...education for public works employees.  I've always loved learning new things myself so helping others continue learning is definitely up my alley.

And I haven't been idle on the genealogy front either.  Here's what I'm currently working on:

• I've tried to ramp up working on my sources and citations.  Have I mentioned how much I hate citations?  I know they're not the big deal I'm making them out to be but I'll admit it, I stress out over whether I'm doing them right.  I really need to get a copy of Evidence Explained and read it but it's not in my budget right now unfortunately.  So for now I'll continue to try and figure out my citations using Family Tree Maker and the ProGenealogist Genealogy Citation Guides online.
• Speaking of working on my sources, I've been ordering vital records and finds from the North Dakota State University archives as my pocketbook will allow.  I've got a surprising amount of documents to save/scan, sort and attach to my tree in Family Tree Maker.
• I dug in and worked hard on my organization one weekend.  I'm utilizing the system set out in Eliminating Genealogy Clutter by Sherene Henrie Whiting with one or two tweaks.  I think this is a great system but I don't have a lot of room for binders.  On the other hand, I have plenty of file cabinet space for hanging folders.  I'm not even close to being done but I think I've got a very good start.

Working hard on my genealogy organization and filing!

• The spousal unit and I traveled to Iowa and sat down for a day of genealogy and family time with the Iowa family branch.  We had fun, shared some genealogy and made some VERY interesting discoveries!  Let's just say when my puzzle pieces matched with their puzzle pieces we made a couple of full (or almost full) pictures.  It was very exciting.
• I mentioned earlier that I was the recipient of a RAOGK (Random Act of Genealogical Kindness) when a non-relative happened upon some family ephemera and was kind enough to be willing to return it to our family.  You can read about that RAOGK here.  I was surprised to receive another email from this kind stranger letting me know he'd been contacted by the flea market seller again and had come into possession of one last piece of the family ephemera.  I feel very fortunate that he was willing to be the messenger to pass that last piece to me last weekend and a photo of my first cousin (once removed) has returned home.

A six-year-old Harold Wilkinson returned to the family fold

• The spousal unit and I also dropped in on the North Dakota family branch and got to spend a little time talking with them...which, for me, inevitably leads to genea-talk.  The few hours we had with them turned out to be a few hours too little when we started talking about my father, who passed away a little over a year ago.  It's fun to hear stories and thoughts from other family members about the people you love.  I haven't talked much about my North Dakota family because I was working on my DAR paperwork (which is on the maternal side and not the paternal side, where the North Dakota connection comes in) but North Dakota has become a very special place for me in the last couple of years thanks to the kindness of family and friends there, so I'm sure you'll be hearing about that side of the family in the future.

WHEW!  In between all of that I'm still attending as many genealogy education events as I can.  I've participated in some great webinars recently and I'm hoping to use some of what I've learned very soon.  I've been using the heck out of the Ancestry subscription the spousal unit gifted me and even broke down and put a public tree out there in hopes of getting some nibbles on my tree.

So here's to getting back on the blog-wagon...I can't wait to post some of my recent discoveries!

A New Year

After a taking a brief hiatus from blogging for the holiday season I decided a good first post for 2014 would be a review of accomplishments for 2013 and a list of goals for 2014.

I was very excited to get back into working on my genealogy in 2013 after several years of not working on it.  In March I attended the Genealogy KC conference and attended some fantastic sessions on subjects ranging from brick walls to DAR genealogy.  After attending that conference and talking to my mother about what I learned, she mentioned that we should be able to join DAR and that lit my fire.  I began researching DAR chapters, located the patriot I could connect to, chose a DAR chapter to work with and began the process of proving my lineage to Guian McKee.

In June I married my husband.  D1 has not only been tolerant of my genealogical craziness but he's encouraged me every step of the way, from getting paperwork for my DAR application to traipsing through cemeteries to take pictures of unknown gravestones for Find-A-Grave to stopping at out of the way cemeteries to just walk through and look at the old tombstones.

In July I took the big leap and started TBG.  It's been a lot of fun writing about different genealogy items.  It wasn't a goal of mine in 2013 to start a blog but it's definitely been an accomplishment.

My big accomplishment for 2013 was completing my application for the Daughter's of the American Revolution.  I'm very excited about having made my goal of completing the application, obtaining all the required documentation and submitting it to the chapter I selected by the end of 2013.  I'm currently awaiting a response from National about the acceptance of my paperwork!

Looking forward to 2014, here's a list of the things I hope to accomplish:

• Continue the research I've begun on D1's family and start collecting proof of lineage (on a side note, it's pretty amusing to me that I discovered D1 and I share a common ancestor around 8 generations back, LOL!)
• Once my application to DAR has been accepted, start work on adding one additional patriot to my file, submitting paperwork for the additional paperwork by the end of 2014.
• After acceptance of my DAR application, obtain my first DAR pin.
• Make a genealogy trip to Danville, Illinois to see the grave of my third great-grandfather and visit the genealogy library to see if I can find any information on my family there.
• Make a trip to North Dakota to visit family and obtain more genealogy information on my paternal family.
• Increase my participation in the Billion Graves transcription project.
• Get a new copy of my great-grandmother's obituary
• Get the genealogy document hard copies sitting in piles around my house organized.
• Print and organize all electronic copies of genealogy documentation
• Finish attaching electronic copies of records to applicable persons in my genealogy database.

Wow, that's a large list.  I realize I probably won't get all of that accomplished but if you can't shoot for the stars, why bother right?

I hope all my wonderful readers and followers are having a great year so far.  Tell me, what's on your genealogical to-do list this year?

Tombstone Tuesday: Franz "Frank" Carl Gottlieb Nohr

Welcome to another edition of Tombstone Tuesday!  Today we're spotlighting my great grand uncle (by marriage), Franz Carl Gottlieb Nohr.

Tombstone of Franz "Frank" Carl Gottlieb Nohr
Located in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery

Franz was the child of Herman Edward Gottlieb Nohr and Henrietta Natzke.  According to his obituary in The Fargo Forum on 28 February 1963, he had at least six brothers and four sisters, who preceded him in death.

Franz was born 11 March 1870 in Morrison, Brown, Wisconsin.  He married Wilhelmina "Minnie" (Altman) Nohr on 1 February 1899 in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  Together they had three children (one boy and two girls).

Franz passed away 28 February 1963 in Lisbon, Ransom, North Dakota.  He's buried in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  The cemetery borders what used to be family farmland.

Franz "Frank" Carl Gottlieb Nohr

Tombstone Tuesday: Wilhelmina "Minnie" (Altman) Nohr

Welcome to another edition of Tombstone Tuesday!  Today we're spotlighting my great grand aunt, Wilhelmina "Minnie" (Altman) Nohr.

Tombstone of Wilhelmina "Minnie" (Altman) Nohr
Located in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery

Minnie was the child of Julius Ferdinand Altman and Marie Louise Henrietta (Froemke) Altman.  She had five brothers (three older and two younger) and seven sisters (two older and five younger).

Minnie was born 30 June 1872 in Waumandee, Buffalo, Wisconsin.  She married Franz Carl Gottlieb Nohr 1 February 1899 in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  Together they had three children (one boy and two girls).

Minnie passed away 17 May 1970 in Shenford, North Dakota.  She's buried in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  The cemetery borders what used to be family farmland.

Wilhelmina "Minnie" (Altman) Nohr

 

Tombstone Tuesday: Robert Altman

Hello and welcome to Tombstone Tuesday!  Today we're jumping cemeteries and spotlighting my great grand uncle, Robert Altman (not the movie director, haha).

Tombstone of Robert Altman
Located in Pinecrest Memorial Park

Robert Altman was the child of Julius Ferdinand Altman and Marie Louise Henrietta (Froemke) Altman.  He had four brothers (all older) and eight sisters (five older and three younger).

Robert was born 16 April 1867 in Waumandee, Buffalo, Wisconsin.  He married Albertina Amelie (Lange) Altman 28 June 1893 in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  Together they had seventeen children (five boys and twelve girls).  Among their seventeen children were three sets of twins.  Albertina passed away 28 June 1931 and on 24 May 1936, Robert remarried to Anna Olivia Crabtree in Sandpoint, Bonner, Idaho.

Robert died 9 March 1945 in Sandpoint, Bonner, Idaho.  He's buried in Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint, Bonner, Idaho.

Tombstone Tuesday: Carl August Froemke, Jr.

Welcome to another edition of Tombstone Tuesday.  Today we're spotlighting the husband of my first great-grand-aunt Augusta Christine (Altman) Froemke, Carl August Froemke, Jr.

Tombstone of Carl August Froemke, Jr.
Located in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery

Carl August Froemke, Jr. was the child of Carl August Froemke and Henrietta Elisa (Schwarz) Froemke.  It's unknown how many brothers and sisters he had.

Carl was born 5 February 1866 in Orel, East Prussia, Russia.  Nothing is known of his parents at this time.  He immigrated to the United States in October 1880.  He married Christine Augusta Altman 4 July 1888 in Lisbon, Ransom, North Dakota.  Together they had thirteen children (seven boys and six girls).

Carl August Froemke, Jr. and Christine Augusta (Altman) Froemke

Carl August Froemke, Jr.

Carl Jr. died 23 February 1942 in Lisbon, Ransom, North Dakota.  He is buried in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  The cemetery borders what used to be family farmland.

 

Tombstone Tuesday: Augusta Christine (Altman) Froemke

Welcome back to Tombstone Tuesday!  After a break for a couple of weeks we're back to visiting the Altman family in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery.  Today we're looking at my great grand-aunt, Augusta Christine (Altman) Froemke.

Froemke family marker
Located in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery

Tombstone of Augusta Christine (Altman) Froemke
Located in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery

Augusta Christine was the fourth of thirteen children of Christian Gottlieb Altman and Christina Frederika Sofie (Kolbe) Altman.  She had five brothers (two older and three younger) and seven sisters (one older and six younger).

Augusta Christine was born 2 August 1868 in Waumadee, Buffalo, Wisconsin.  She married Carl August Froemke, Jr. on 4 July 1888 in Lisbon, Ransom, North Dakota.  Together they had thirteen children (seven boys and six girls).  She died 5 August 1947 in Shenford Township, Ransom, North Dakota.  She's buried in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  The cemetery borders what used to be family farmland.

 

Carl August Froemke, Jr. and
Augusta Christine (Altman) Froemke

Augusta Christine (Altman) Froemke

 

Tombstone Tuesday: Marie Louise Henrietta (Altman) Froemke

It's Tuesday and that means another edition of Tombstone Tuesday!  Today we're still wandering thru Anselm Lutheran Cemetery.  Among the many family members residing in Anselm Cemetery is my second great-grandmother, Marie Louise Henrietta (Froemke) Altman (a.k.a. Altmann).

Headstone of Marie Louise Henrietta (Froemke) Altman (a.k.a. Altmann)
Located in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery

Tombstone of Marie Louise Henrietta (Froemke) Altman (a.k.a. Altmann)
Located in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery

Marie Louise was the second of seventeen children of John Gottleb Froemke and Efa Rosina (Bair) Froemke.  She had six brothers (all younger), nine sisters (one older and eight younger) and one younger sibling of unknown gender.

Marie Louise was born 5 April 1846 in Buchwerder, Friedeberg, Brandenburg, Prussia, Germany (a.k.a. Welmin, Gmina Strzelce Krajenskie, Strzelce-Drezdenko, Lubusz, Poland).  She died 12 March 1904 in Casey Township, Ransom, North Dakota.  She immigrated to the United States with her family in 1856 and married my second great-grandfather, Julius Ferdinand Altman 5 April 1863 in Waumandee, Buffalo, Wisconsin.  Together they had 13 children.  The inscription on her headstone reads "Asleep In Jesus Blessed Sleep".  She is buried in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  The cemetery borders what used to be family farmland.

Marie Louise Henrietta (Froemke) Altman (a.k.a. Altmann)

You  may have noticed I have added an also known as name of Altmann.  The family story goes that the Altmann/Altman brothers came to the United States and subsequently had a falling out.  The brothers parted ways, with one changing his last name by dropping one of the N's from the end of the Altmann name.  I personally haven't verified that information but it makes for an interesting story.  Big Brother C has been working on the Altman side of the family and he has much more information than I do, but I'm working on updating my records as he shares his findings.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tombstone Tuesday: Elsa Sophia Altman

Welcome to Tombstone Tuesday!  Today we're looking at the tombstone of my paternal first cousin, twice removed, Elsa Sophia Altman located in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery.

Tombstone of Elsa S. Altman
located in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery

Elsa Sophia was the ninth of seventeen children of Robert Altman and Albertina Amelie (Lange) Altman.  She had five brothers (three older and two younger) and eleven sisters (five older and six younger).

Elsa Sophia was born 13 November 1902 in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  She died 26 August 1903 in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  Her tombstone inscription reads "A little flower of love that blossomed but to die."  She's buried in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  The cemetery borders what used to be family farmland.

Tombstone Tuesday: Allen Willard Altman

Welcome to another edition of Tombstone Tuesday!  Still making our journey through Anselm Lutheran Cemetery, today's tombstone belongs to my paternal great-uncle, Allen Willard Altman.

Tombstone of Allen Altman
located in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery

Allen Willard Altman was the second of four children of Ludwig Wilhelm Altman and Ida Marie (Krueger) Altman.  He had two brothers (one older, one younger) and one sister (also younger).

Allen was born 1 October 1912 in Lisbon, Ransom, North Dakota.  He died 10 January 1971 in Lisbon, Ransom, North Dakota.  He's buried in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  The cemetery borders what used to be family farmland.

Allen Willard Altman

Tombstone Tuesday: Laura & Clara Altman

It's Tuesday again and you know what that means!  Time for another Tombstone Tuesday.  Continuing our journey through Anselm Lutheran Cemetery, today's tombstone belongs to two of my paternal cousins, twice removed, Laura and Clara Altman.

Laura & Clara Altman's tombstone
located in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery

Clara was the second of seventeen children of Robert Altman and Albertina Amelie (Lange) Altman.  She had five brothers (all younger) and eleven sisters (one older and ten younger).

Laura was the third of seventeen children of Robert Altman and Albertina Amelie (Lange) Altman.  She had five brothers (all younger) and eleven sisters (two older and nine younger).

Clara and Laura were both born on 14 March 1895 in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  They died 15 March 1895 in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  They are buried together in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  Their tombstone inscription reads: "There we shall meet again."  The cemetery borders what used to be family farmland.

Ah Those Genealogy Tangents

I typically spend my weekends as most others do: running errands, working around the house, watching a little t.v. and other mundane tasks that never seem to get done during the week.  But I also allot a bit of time to indulge in things that I enjoy doing and might otherwise get pushed to the side if I didn't allot some specific time to these items.  Genealogy is one of those things.  Volunteering at the National World War I Museum is another.  Last weekend, those two things came crashing together.

I've been working on a goal as a volunteer at the museum.  I really want to work in the museum's research center.  I mean, what genealogist or history junkie wouldn't want to spend four hours or more surrounded by history of that magnitude and have the ability to help a stranger discover new and interesting information?  My other goal is to step out of my quiet little comfort zone box and take a place among the interpretive corps of the museum.  Yep, I'm challenging myself to step in front of a group of strangers and guide them through the museum and do it so well that they're excited to spread the news about what a great museum the went to.  Ah, but I digress.

So each weekend I'm putting in my volunteer hours, walking the corridors of the museum, learning as much as I can and talking to visitors who come in.  Many have stories of relatives that served and in speaking to one person I had the sudden realization that I had a World War I draft card for my paternal great-grandfather, Ludwig Altman, in my possession that I hadn't done a darn thing with.  Whoa.  Stop the crazy train because I need to get off for a minute and check this out.  It was one of those moments that I really just wanted to headdesk myself because here I was, volunteering at a World War I museum that actually HAD a research center in the basement and I had neglected to check out this piece of information?  As Bill Engvall would say, "Here's your sign."

World War I Draft Card for Ludwig Wilhelm Altman

So this past week I took a couple of minutes and composed an email to the research center staff at the museum requesting to know if I was able to provide the information from the draft card if they had the resources to look and see if my great-grandfather had served?  The answer was yes so I forwarded the information to them and one of the kind volunteers was able to assist me in discovering that Ludwig had not served in the war.  He was (in my mind, quite unfortunately) too old to fight but still young enough to be required to fill out a draft card.  He was also the only provider for my great-grandmother Ida.  A little disappointed that I would get no military file from Ludwig, I thanked the volunteer for their assistance and began to move on my merry way to other things.  It only took a few minutes for me to begin kicking myself.  Was I really giving up THAT easily?  Surely somewhere in the family members I knew of that currently existed on my family tree there was someone, somewhere that had served during World War I?

Thus began my latest genealogy tangent.  Oh how easy it is to get distracted from what you're doing on one line when you make a new discovery.  I decided I wanted to follow this tangent.  It was a project that was, most likely, short-lived.  It had a definite beginning and a definite ending and, potentially, wouldn't take too much time to complete.  I probably never would have attempted this project at this point if it wasn't for the existence of a timeline view in my handy-dandy little iGadget app MobileFamilyTree.  If you remember, I've been playing with MobileFamilyTree for a bit and did a review of the app here.  One of the features the app has is a timeline view, which worked great for my needs on this project.  I decided to begin by looking for people who would have been 18 years old when the U.S. entered the war in 1917.  I knew there were younger people who volunteered earlier in the war but I just needed a place to start.  Inputting that criteria into the app gave me the following view:

Time frame selection for timeline view

 

Final result of timeline view using the period 1880 to 1896

 

Now THERE'S a list!  Everyone in my family tree that was born from 1880 to 1896 and would have been 18 in 1917.  I know you can't see the list very well, that's okay, I just wanted to give you an idea of what the app's timeline view would look like.  The work of paring that list down wasn't terribly difficult either.  I went through the list, removing the females (because, let's face it, they're not highly likely to be in the military records) and those who were deceased or just born within those years.  That got me a very manageable list.  I believe I was looking at about 12 men.

 

A sampling of individuals from my timeline view

I then went to the Mid-Continent Public Library and logged onto their Ancestry database and began systematically checking each person's name in just the military section of Ancestry.  I managed to find draft cards on almost all of them.  Unfortunately most of the eligible family members were claiming exemptions, so I suspect they won't have served during the war.  I am happy to report that I found a couple of good possibilities for war service, however, and will be checking with the research center very soon to see if anything pans out with any of the draft cards I located.  Writing them off completely without verifying the fact that they have no service record would just be ridiculous, especially considering how easy it was to verify that great-grandpa Ludwig didn't serve in the war.

So stay tuned, this is a project I hope to have completed in the next week or so and I'll be sure to update you on my findings.  On a side note, I was talking to my new brother-in-laws about my findings this weekend and PhotoGuru got very excited and said their family had some very interesting things pop up in their family tree when he traced their family history.  Um, really?  How did I not know that PhotoGuru had done this???  Funny how no one thought to mention that to the obsessed genealogist who was entering the family until now, LOL.  So with any luck, PhotoGuru will gather up that information he discovered (along with some other rather interesting findings and information he talked about) and I can get on working on those elusive Newell ancestors.

Have a great week everyone!

Tombstone Tuesday: Florence Bertha Irene Altman

Welcome to Tombstone Tuesday!  Today we're still looking at family tombstones in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  Today's tombstone belongs to my paternal first cousin, twice removed, Florence Bertha Irene Altman.

Tombstone for Florence Bertha Irene Altman
(tombstone only reads Irene B. F. Altman)
located in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery

Florence Bertha Irene was the eleventh of seventeen children of Robert Altman and Albertina Amelie Lange.  She had four brothers (three older and one younger) and eleven sisters (six older and five younger).

Florence Bertha Irene was born 16 December 1905 in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  She died 28 May 1907 in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota at the of 17 months old.  She's buried in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  The cemetery borders what used to be family farmland.

Tombstone Tuesday: Clarence Harvey Altman

Welcome to another edition of Tombstone Tuesday.  Continuing with the family buried in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery, today's tombstone belongs to my paternal great-uncle, Clarence Harvey Altman.

Ludwig, Ida and Clarence Harvey's tombstone
located in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery

Clarence Harvey was the first of four children of Ludwig Wilhelm Altman and Ida Marie (Krueger) Altman.  He had two brothers (both younger) and one sister (also younger).

Clarence was born 14 April 1907 in Lisbon, Ransom, North Dakota and died 18 April 1933 in Ransom County, North Dakota.  He is buried next to his parents, Ludwig and Ida Altman, in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  The cemetery borders what used to be family farmland.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tombstone Tuesday: Ida Marie Krueger

It's Tuesday again and  you know what that means...that's right, it's another edition of Tombstone Tuesday.  Continuing with the family buried in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery, today's tombstone belongs to my paternal great-grandmother, Ida Marie (Krueger) Altman.

Ludwig, Ida and Clarence Harvey's tombstone
located in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery

Ida Marie was the second of three children of Wilhelm F.G. Herman Krueger and Johanna L. Hinz.  Johanna died after the birth of her third child and Wilhelm remarried a few years later, having three more children with his second wife, Carolina Rosalina Charlotte Nohr.  So really, Ida Marie was the second of six children.  She had one older brother, one younger brother, two younger half-brothers and one younger half-sister.

Ida Marie was born 29 October 1883 in Morrison, Brown, Wisconsin and died 21 January 1971 in Sheldon, Ransom, North Dakota.  She is buried along with her husband, Ludwig Wilhelm Altman, and son, Clarence Harvey Altman, in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  The cemetery borders what used to be family farmland.

Ida Marie (Krueger) Altman

Thanks for stopping by!

Tombstone Tuesday: Ludwig Wilhelm Altman

Welcome to another edition of Tombstone Tuesday.  Today we're jumping states from Missouri to North Dakota and jumping families, as well, from my maternal side to my paternal side.  Located just over an hour west of Fargo, North Dakota and 15 minutes west of Lisbon, Anselm is a small unincorporated farming community.  I'm sure if I was able to go to one of the local libraries or a genealogical society in that area I'd be able to find some history on Anselm but not having had the forethought to do that before I started my blog and not having the time now to head back up there to look I had to settle for what I could find on the internet.

Piecing together what I've observed with what I could find on the internet (which, obviously right now, is purely my theory supported by a few facts), Anselm was a small community of people, probably from the German/Russian region of Europe.  This theory is based on the names in the cemeteries and the fact that my paternal family resided (and still resides) in that area.  It's a strongly Lutheran/Catholic area and active farming community.  It also has some connection to the railroad community.  Currently the Canadian Pacific Railway has a network location there (it was rather interesting to see on their network location map that they also had locations in Enderlin, Fingal and Valley City which are all names I remember my father and grandmother talking about).

Years ago, as a child, I was introduced to Anselm Lutheran Cemetery and told that I had family buried there.  A few years ago, while in North Dakota for a family reunion, we re-visited Anselm and I realized - WOW!  I really DID have family there.  Over half the cemetery has some connection to my paternal family, whether direct line or distant cousins.  My visit there was enlightening to say the least.  So for the next few Tombstone Tuesday posts I'll be highlighting those family members who are buried here.

Anselm Lutheran Cemetery sign

Ludwig, Ida and Clarence Harvey's tombstone
located in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery

So today's tombstone belongs to my paternal great-grandfather Ludwig Wilhelm Altman.  Ludwig was the tenth of thirteen children of Julius and Marie Louise (Froemke) Altman.  He had four brothers (all older) and eight sisters (five older, three younger).

Ludwig was born 12 May 1880 in Shenford Township, Ransom, North Dakota and died 22 August 1968 in Lisbon, Ransom, North Dakota.  He is buried along with his wife, Ida Marie, and son, Clarence Harvey, in Anselm Lutheran Cemetery in Anselm, Ransom, North Dakota.  The cemetery borders what used to be family farmland.

Ludwig Wilhelm Altman

 Thanks for stopping by!