Many people have also contributed and are acknowledged in the book.Various family members have been very generous in sharing information with me for which I am very grateful. These documents and other resources formed the basis of my initial family research.Many thanks to all who contributed.

Martha Margaretha (Cordes) Kirmse -My Grandmother

This book presents photographs from photo albums that my grandmother, Martha Margaretha (Cordes) Kirmse, prepared. Also,When I stayed with my Kirmse grandparents during the week for two years while I was in high school, my grandparents told me stories about themselves, their parents and other relatives. I was interested and I did take notes at the time. Now 60 years later, I wish I had taken more detailed notes and asked many more questions for which I am now looking for answers.

The “Three Cousins”

During the 1970-1990 time period Norma (Kirmse) Rauh teamed up with Julius Henry Kirmse (Norma’s brother) and her first cousin, Helen Marie (Kirmse) Hacker to collect family history information.

Norma Marha (Kirmse) Rauh

My Aunt Norma (Kirmse) Rauh collected and cataloged the information the “Three Cousins” gathered.In 2003 I visited Alva, Oklahoma and scanned the extensive files thatmy Aunt Norma had collected. wth the permission of Katherine (Rauh) Ernest, Norma’s daughter who had the files in her possession.

Helen Marie (Kirmse) Hacker

Helen (Kirmse) Hacker owns and lives on the Kirmse homestead in Farrar, Missouri. In the fall of 2003 I visited Helen in Farrar, Missouri on my great grandfather’s Kirmse family farm. And, while there gathered documents and pictures from the Perry County Historical Society.Helen has since shared many more documents and photographs.

Julius Henry Kirmse

My father and stepmother independently researched family histories. They also visited relatives in Missouri to collect information.

Frederick “Fred” M Eggers

For the last 15 years I have communicated with Fred Eggers on many questions about family histories in Perry County, Missouri. He is a mentor at the Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum in Altenburg, Missouri and has looked up and transmitted historical information.

Daniel Oetjen

David emailed my as to why I had pictures of his relatives in my blog, “Grandma Kirmse’s Album”. At the time I had posted pictures from Grandmother Kirmse’s photo album but was still in the mode of determining who were in some of the portraits. David has helped identify his relatives and over the years has provided much information about theParishScheeßel where he lived at the time.