A few updates.

I know, the posts on here are few and far between. I'll try to correct that.
Helen Herr, wife of John and mother of Denise/Lois/Carla, just turned 88! I called to wish her a Happy Birthday and she sounds the same as she always did! She musst be living a good, clean life!
Jime and Lois (Herr) West's son Ian has been working this summer in Alaska, getting in some fireman training apparently. Good for him! Their other son Preston just graduated high school and will soon be off to college. Good Luck Preston, and Ian! And kudos to Jim and Lois on their new house. HOW LONG were they in Carbondale???
Aunt Lorretta has a birthday coming up in early August and I think the magic number for her this year is 84! Congrats on many years, and many more!
MANY of the Herr clan are now connected on Facebook. I know a lot of people just are not into Facebook but I find it a great way to keep up with family and friends when you don't see people as often as you used to.
Jani Jecevicus, daughter of Pete and Lona Herr, retired a few weeks ago and is now looking forward to a life of leisure. Bill may have something to say about that but I'll bet he gets a good fight right back at him! Now she can travel with her sister (hint, hint).
If anyone has family updates they would like to share please leave a comment or send an e-mail and we'll get them posted!

2010 Herr Reunion!

OK, mark your calendars. I just found out today that the date for the reunion this year is August 14th.

As I am able to wrangle more information out of the planning committee I will post on here.

Can you see Herr spelled out in the picture above? This is one of the auction items you missed last year if you were not in attendance.

2009 reunion recap.

Well, the 2009 Herr Family Reunion is now history. What started out as a bad weather day, thunderstorms and wind, cleared up to a hot, sunny summer day by the time everyone started to arrive. Temps were in the upper 80's, with typical WI summer humidity, but there was a good breeze out of the West to keep things comfortable.

I kept hearing bad stories of the WI corn crop - too cool, not enough rain at the right time, etc - so I was worried that Bill's famous corn roast wouldn't happen. I should have known that Bill would not let us down - he sourced some fantastic sweet corn from over the border in IL and it was great!

Families (plus their connetcion to the original 15 children) that were there included the Jecevicus gang from Kenosha (Peter Herr), Van Bentham from Waupaca (Vince Herr), Helen Herr (John) and most of her desecndants, Lorretta Herr with daughter Sherrie, Kathy Walker (Barb Herr) with husband Jerry from IL, Douglas Gradecki (Lucille Herr), Pat Aker (Jeanna Herr). Newcomers this year were David and Theresa Herr, with son Jonathan. David is a great-grandson of first born of the 15 Clem! David and Theresa are providing information on a lot of Clem's descendants, something that the family has not had available, so we'll be getting a lot of the empty parts of the family tree filled in.

Approximately 40-50 people were in attendance this year and I think a fun time was had by all. We had some great items in the silent auction and up for raffle was a laundry basket full of kitchen gadgets and another basket full of childrens items. The special item was a home-made multi-level bird feeder that was won by Janet Broesch of Chicago! (I wanted it but had no way to get it home on the airplane)

Below are pictures of the festivities. If you missed this year, then we hope to see you next year!

Some of the Jecevicus gang.

Picking a lucky raffle winner!

Interesting photo collage of the letters in Herr.

Helen Herr (standing left) with some of her family.

Herr family members doing what they do best - having a great time!

Reunion time!

Well, get ready for the annual Herr reunion on August 8, 2009! It will be at Bong State Recreational Area in WI, same place as it always is, picnic area #3, 11am until we get kicked out.

If you have not received the invite, here are some of the highlights:

RAFFLES - Bring a new kitchen, garden or garage item to add to basket for raffle. Plus a new "kids" item to add to basket for kids raffle.

A SURPRISE item will be raffled off!

White Elephant Sale: Bring something you don't need and/or use but can't toss out. One person's trash just might be someone elses treasure!

Reunion 2009 pins will be available. (2008 version available too!)

Bill's famous corn roast! (I'm gonna pig out on that for sure!)

Family Recipe Cards! Sounds like they might finally be ready for their debut. And bring along your favorite recipes because more will be added each year!

RSVP and for additional info:

Janie at 262-537-3810 or wjecevicus@wi.rr.com
Kathy at 815-372-3256 or kat8walk@aol.com
Vinal at 715-258-7822 or VinalVan@aol.com

Hope to see you there!!

Eva Herr

Not that I wish to be morbid, but this IS family history.

Eva Herr died at quite a young age, at least by today's standards - she was in her mid 40's I believe. Mind you by then she had given birth to at least 15 children! I say at least because a few years back I recall a conversation I had with my Aunt Jeana, Peter and Eva's daughter. She indicated that in addition to the 15 children there were one or two that did not survive. This came as quite the revelation because growing up we were all told of the 15 and that was it. Her opinion was that it may have been more like 17-19 children in total.

The top image, that is written in Russian, was penned by Peter on the back of a photo of Eva's casket in state in the family living room, a tradition quite common at the time. The lower image, written in English, was interpreted by a professor of Russian history who my cousin Tom Heckenbach knew and had offered his assistance. Tom was told at the time that the handwriting Peter used was not common among the general populace, but more in line with that taught and used in the Czar's inner circles.

Topeka, KS address

This is a copy of a 1912 census (?) from Topeka, KS. Peter Herr is listed as residing at 546 Sardou Ave., about 2/3 of the way down the first column. Note that there are other Herrs listed also, which I personally don't recall ever hearing about. If anyone has info regarding these others please let me know. I do know that Peter worked in the cabinetry shop at AT&SF, which was the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad. Note that some of the other Herrs alos show that as their employer. Interesting.

Stay tuned for more...

Ship's manifest.

Here is a copy of the ship's manifest from when Peter and Eva Herr sailed from Russia to The US. They are listed on lines 12 & 13, indicating origin from the city of Pfeifer, Russia. If you click on the photo you should get a larger version that will be very readable. It also lists their first child, Clemens (Clem)-8 months old, and Peter's sister Katherine, age 16. It shows them going to Topeka, KS, which a lot of us knew. BUT, it lists the last address or relative where they resided before leaving Russia. If you can read that part please let me know! I want to do more detective work before the reunion.