A trip to Iowa this past weekend to visit son Jeff and his girlfriend Audra also included eclipse watching and a trip to the site of the Burkey sod house.
Book review: “Giants in the Earth” by Rölvaag, 1927
I can’t believe I’d never heard of this book before, “Giants in the Earth“. It was written in 1927 by Ole Edvard Rölvaag, a Norwegian immigrant and a professor at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. The book is a fictionalized account of original homesteaders on the South Dakota prairie, and goes into quite a […]
OTD (On This Date) in 1802: Andrew Burkey
During 2015, you’ll be reading a lot of “OTD” (On This Date) posts. OTD posts are a fun way to review quick facts and photos from the family tree. First up is Andrew Burkey, Dale’s great-great-great-grandfather. On January 1, 1802, Andrew Burkey was born in the Bavarian Palatinate region of Germany to John and Solphonia Burkey […]
Joe and Annie Rademacher in Snyder, Colorado – Part 4
At first, the war years of 1914-1917 did not affect the Rademacher family that much. During this time, they opened a general store in Snyder. Apparently, it was quite large and stocked everything from tractors to groceries and fancy lace. It became a gathering place for neighbors to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee […]
Joe and Annie Rademacher, early 1900’s
This post has been updated: see below As we’ve been reading, Annie Burkey was born in Columbus, Nebraska, and then moved with her family to a sod house on a homestead near Julesburg, Colorado. The date of Joseph Burkey’s homestead application was 1887 and the process became final in 1892. The family legend is that […]