We’ve been looking at Annie Burkey’s life prior to her marriage to Joe Rademacher. I just got an email this morning from one of Dale’s cousins, Janine, who passed along this story about the family’s life in Julesburg. During the time that the Burkey’s were living in Julesburg, a band of gypsies with their horses […]
The Burkey’s Sod House
Dale and I are much indebted to Sister Marie Gerard, a granddaughter of Joseph and Ottilia, for sharing her memories about her parents and grandparents. We took notes from our discussions with her and it has been so fun to find records that verify what she told us. One of her stories was about Joseph […]
Annie Rademacher and the Burkey sisters
Annie (Burkey) Rademacher was one of eight children. She had three brother (Aloys, Vincent and Gerard) and four sisters (Hattie, Matilda, Bertha and Mary). The five Burkey sisters were very close and their lives were closely intertwined even beyond their childhood years. Annie was the oldest of the five. Both she and Hattie were born […]
Annie Rademacher’s mom: Ottilia Winkler
Last time we learned about Annie Rademacher’s father, Joseph Burkey. Joseph was a young Mennonite man living in Crete, Nebraska in the early 1880’s. How in the world did the Rademacher family tree – almost entirely Catholic – end up with a Mennonite branch? Let’s look first at the woman Joseph Burkey would eventually marry: Ottilia […]
Annie Rademacher’s dad: Joseph Burkey
Last time we noted that Joe Rademacher had married Anna “Annie” Burkey sometime between 1900 and 1910. Annie’s parents were Joseph Burkey and Ottilia Winkler. We know quite a bit about both the Burkey and the Winkler families. Today, let’s start with the Burkeys. It might come as a surprise to many readers that Burkey […]