Gustave Koerner

06/01/2026

Cholera epidemics hit southwest Illinois in the early 1830s and again in the late 1840s. The medical community did not understand cholera was linked to contaminated drinking water and instead used bloodletting and strong laxatives to restore the body's "four humors." This short item in the December 3, 1865, Belleville Democrat newspaper urged doctors to find a remedy. The cause of cholera was not identified until 1883 and it wasn't until the 1950s that oral rehydration therapy was adopted to reduce the fatality rate.

05/31/2026

05/31/2026

🧾 Word of the Week: Quitclaim Deed

📖 Definition: A quitclaim deed transfers whatever interest a person has in a property — without guaranteeing that the title is clear. These deeds often appear in family transfers, estate settlements, and boundary adjustments.

🌍 Why it matters: Quitclaim deeds can reveal family relationships that don’t appear anywhere else. They can help you:

📜 Identify heirs dividing inherited land
🔎 Spot remarriages when a widow releases her interest
🧩 Connect siblings who jointly inherited property
🏠 Understand how land passed through a family over time

🧭 Try it this week: Search for quitclaim deeds involving your ancestor’s surname. Who else signed? Those names may be siblings, cousins, or heirs. St. Clair County deed indexes for 1790 to ~1909 are available on microfilm at the Belleville Public Library. If you need help, we provide deed index lookups. Visit our website for details on this service.

05/31/2026

📚 Word of the Week: Ortssippenbücher

📖 Definition: Ortssippenbücher (often abbreviated OSB) are “local family books” compiled for a specific German village or parish. They gather information from church books, civil registers, tax lists, and other local sources to create multi generation family groupings for everyone who lived in that community—sometimes reaching back many generations. You may also see them called Ortsfamilienbücher, Familienbücher, or Dorfsippenbücher depending on the region.

🌍 Why it matters: For German genealogy, Ortssippenbücher are incredibly valuable because they organize scattered records into clear, easy to follow family structures. They can help you:

🔎 Identify parents, grandparents, and siblings when original records are difficult to read
📜 Trace families across multiple generations within the same village
🧩 Connect branches of the same surname living in different households
🧭 Spot migration patterns when individuals leave the village
🏘️ Understand how families intermarried within a small community

Because German research is place based, having an OSB for your ancestor’s village can save hours of deciphering old handwriting and paging through church books.

📚 Where to find them: The St. Louis County Library holds one of the largest collections of Ortssippenbücher in the United States — a fantastic resource for anyone researching German roots. Many OSBs are also available online through genealogy.net, making it easier than ever to access these village level family reconstructions.

🧭 Try it this week: If you know your ancestor’s German village, check whether one exists for that location. Even if your ancestor isn’t listed, you may find neighbors, godparents, or in-laws who help confirm you’re researching the right place.

05/31/2026

Today is Sunday, May 31, 2026. In 1833, Sunday was an occasion for German immigrants who settled near Shiloh, Illinois, to visit with each other as they continued to adapt to life in America. The first group to arrive at Shiloh was the Friedrich Engelmann family, including student revolutionary Gusatve Koerner. Koerner described the Sunday gatherings in his two volume memoir. The Engelmann farm is located on a bucolic slope with an upper house and lower house. Attached is a photo of the Engelmann family cemetery. The property is open to the public and is a St. Clair County park.

05/30/2026

An anonymous soldier wrote to the Daily Dispatch newspaper of Belleville, Illinois, about rumors and misinformation in the early months of the Civil War. The soldier was stationed at Cairo, Illinois, and the subject of his report was about supposed Confederate movements at Bird's Point, an island in the Mississippi River opposite Cairo. A rumor spread that Abraham Bird had left the island overnight with 120 of his Negroes and a search of his house found a great number of guns, a large amount of powder and pig iron, and 300 revolvers in the attic of the house. The letter writer then recalled a conversation he had about the incident. The letter appeared in the June 11, 1861, issue. Bird's Point was the site of a minor clash August 19, 1861.

05/29/2026

The first wave of German immigration to St. Clair County, Illinois, arrived in 1833 when the Friedrich Engelmann family bought a farm at Shiloh, Illinois. Gustave Koerner, one of the German university students who attempted to overthrow the municipal government of Frankfurt, Germany, was a member of the Engelmann group. Koerner described his American neighbors' religious preferences. Pictured is a view from the Engelmann Farm Park provided by Heartland Conservancy. Koerner would later develop a personal, political and professional relationship with Abraham Lincoln.

05/28/2026

Here is a notice published in the May 26, 1848, issue of the Belleville Tribune newspaper. It explains a business dispute over a hack business offering coach transportation between Belleville and St. Louis. The notice also cites the practice of that day of trading personal notes for payment of a debt. Hacks disappeared with the arrival of rail transportation beginning in the mid 1850s.

05/27/2026

Gustave Koerner left Germany in April of 1833 and entered the port of New York in May. He and members of the Friedrich Engelmann family would settle on a farm at Shiloh, Illinois later in the year.. While in New York, Koerner described his stay at the Commercial Hotel and the food served and the cutlery used.

05/26/2026

In addition to the emotional chaos caused by the beginning of the Civil War, an unsound money system compounded daily life. Paper money issued by states and banks was devalued due to the uncertainty of its soundness. The Daily Dispatch newspaper of Belleville, Illinois, ran a story June 28, 1861, about the situation.