Researching German family in Milwaukee? You'll have to create the resources yourself ...

Updated: I made a rare find in the German papers: an authentic, but unlikely obituary for a poor, old, insignificant German immigrant named Agnes Schumacher (née Hamacher). She died in the County Asylum in 1884, and is officially recorded as buried there ... but she's not!

Agnes' step-son, Peter Schumacher, my ancestor, claimed her remains, and had an obituary published for her in the Seebote. She was buried from St. Anthony Catholic Church, at Holy Trinity Cemetery, recorded in the parish register, but where? Burial records were destroyed in a fire in 1910.

In winter 2024, I flipped over a toppled marker at Holy Trinity Cemetery & experienced a thrill: here was my step-3rd-great-grandmother Agnes! She wasn't buried with her daughter's Esser family in Block 3 as I presumed, but in Section 1, which is single adult graves.

This month, Aug 2026, I stumbled across Agnes' grand-daughter's family plot in Block 3, marked in the 4 corners with the name N. Huwer, carved on the property markers, but no grave stones.

Sad to say, this is how we have to research Milwaukee's "working class" families: need a resource? You might have to create it yourself. I wouldn't have known anything about Agnes without randomly browsing the German papers. I created a huge index to help others.

I've done that twice for German Milwaukee: first with the German-American papers, now with lost burials at Dreifaltigkeits Friedhof.

Collecting secondary resources for 20 years, I've used that data as a substitute for records lost by this cemetery. Many were used to create Memorials at Find-a-Grave but I've been blocked from creating new memorials or editing my work because of including "historical information" in the bios of my entries. You can't make this up.

Joseph Schlitz' final farewell to Milwaukee! A poignant moment in the brewer's story.

Farewell. A heartfelt farewell to my friends and acquaintances whom I did not have the opportunity to see before my trip to Germany. Jos. Schlitz 

In spring 1875, Joseph Schlitz notified the Milwaukee community that he was traveling to Germany; he didn't know it would be his last trip. These paid announcements were an occasional practice by Milwaukeeans, and I've indexed them in my project.

His Lebewohl (literally, Live well!) is one of the more poignant items I've found, even more so than the tributes that followed from his, and other Milwaukeeans' loss during their return voyage, 7 May 1875.

[In May 2026 Pabst Brewery announced they will no longer be producing a 'Schlitz Beer'.]

The murders of Renee Good, Alex Pretti & Nurul Amin Shah Alam would have been reported in Milwaukee's German Newspapers ...

“That's fine dude, I'm not mad at you.”  Were the final words of Renee Nicole Good, mother of 3, before she was murdered, shot in the face, by a government employee of the USA.

Her murderer spoke a benediction over her body: "F...ing b^tch".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  

“Are you okay?” were Alex's final words to a woman he was protecting who had been pushed down by government agents. He was then tear-gassed, shoved down, and then 10 bullets were pumped into him by the US government agent.

The 'rump Administration's ICE freaks were not harmed, injured, or inconvenienced, after murdering Renee Good & Alex Pretti.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

The intentionally negligent treatment of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Rohingya refugee, leading to his death would have been reported in Milwaukee's German newspapers. It's a story illustrating the takeover of the USA by repulsive christian nationalists, a repeat of the "Know Nothing" movement of the 19th c.

These papers were sensitive to the problems of ALL immigrants. I've debunked the WASP church-lady mythology that these papers focused on church communities and "obituaries".

Milwaukee's German newspapers were about local, national, and world NEWS. The HORRORS of the emigrant / immigrant experience are also told, missing from the old Milwaukee Journal & Sentinel.

A family's Memorial for Anna Heinl

 

 

 

Two death notices for Anna Heinl: one from a German language paper, it's reminiscent of Catholic funeral card Memorials. The other is from an English language 'daily', a helpful but perfunctory notice about funeral arrangements, and adequate for data collectors.

There was no separate obituary in either paper.

The information is similar, but not identical. One is clearly a family memorial to a loved one, published by the family.

Mysterious bones found in 2024 explained by the "Milwaukee Herold" in April 1887 ...

"Where the Prospect and Maryland Avenues meet in Ward 1, a new school building under the direction of Contractor Danischefski is being built. It is not a flat surface, but a large, grassy place in which an infinite number of depressions can be seen; namely graves, which were once raised above the surface, but now have sunk down.
The site was used for more than twenty years as a burial ground, and funerals were held there in 1863. Twenty-five years ago, it was covered with gravestones and monuments.
Although a sanctified place, it was always neglected, as most of the bodies entrusted to the earth were those of "paupers"* and dying homeless, upon whom the tears of a loving mother had earlier fallen." [*The cemetery served the 2 orphanages across the street.]

Die Verlobung von Fräulein Nettie Lederer von hier ...

It's that time of year! Engagements and wedding announcements are just a small sample of what's found in Milwaukee's German-American press. A part of the genealogy community is obsessed with the social columns that might include engagement or wedding notices; yet they ignore wedding anniversary clippings (that requires more work!).

Spread between Milwaukee's multiple German language newspapers, reportage of nuptials is not as representative of the diverse German immigrant community as it is in smaller towns.

In 1893, while at art school in Philadelphia, Milwaukeean Nettie Lederer (daughter of Abraham and Dorett Lederer from Forchheim, Bavaria) was engaged to artist A. Stirling Calder. The couple married in 1895 in New York. Family or friends may have called in this news accounting for misspellings. Son Alexander Calder was the result of their marriage.

The art work one of at least one these now world famous Calders is found in a Milwaukee Art Museum collection, and around the world.

Hints of integration within Milwaukee's 19th c. German community ...

 

Miss Celia Kantorowitz and Mr. Samuel Shulskin were married at Tempel Beth Hamidrosh Hagodel on N. 5th Street, followed by a reception at the Deutschen Männervereins-Hall on N. 8th St. and W. State St.