My name is Todd Volkman, and I live in Appleton, Wisconsin. I have an interest in local history, and I have occasionally volunteered at our Appleton Historical Society Museum. Today I acquired a wooden cheese box from the Nicholas Simon Cheese Company. I stumbled across your blog entry from 2020 while looking for more information, and I see that you may have more information about a film that was made about Simon’s large cheese block.
Is there any information that you’d care to share? I could put you in touch with one of the AHS board members, and they would help determine what’s appropriate for the museum.
Todd, thank you for writing. I seem to remember that there were two Nicholas Simons, but I will need to go through my notes in order to give you an educated response. Please give me a couple of days, and I hopefully will have an answer for you.
Susan
What a wonderful article!! The research benefit is of immeasurable benefit to our Western Stoneware history. It makes me want to know more details about the Kaukauna Klub company and especially “The rest of the story” which means the me….what happened to the over-sized crocks! I cannot help but believe that with more people reading this history and more people knowing about the existence of the two oversized Kaukauna Klub crocks, one or both of these crocks could surface. Wouldn’t that be something!!! Thank you so much for all this information. Please know that the Stoneware Museum in Monmouth, IL appreciates this information. We have to keep history alive.
Wonderful story and the connection with Western Stoneware Pottery. So glad to have found you!!
Susan C Fassbender
Thank you so much! I do love a good research project.
Vicki (McGinnis) Roberts
I am from Kaukauna. We always had a crock in thr fridge. I have several crocks I have. Ollexted over the years. I even found one in Ohio when we lived there. Love your stories and your research is amazing and inspiring. I know I have the Fassbender name in my tree.
Susan C Fassbender
Thank you so much for your kind words! I am glad you liked this story. If you like crocks, you should definitely check out the Stoneware Museum of Monmouth’s website and Facebook page. I would love to know where you have Fassbender in your tree.
Mark
Glad you shared this recipe. A Geman WI classic. Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of that cookbook. I’m from that same area, and hope you might consider sharing the Butterhorn recipe that is included in that cookbook.
Susan C Fassbender
There are actually TWO (very different) recipes for Butter Horns in the cookbook. Sadly no evidence that either recipe was attempted, but I am happy to share them with you. I will get them scanned and send them to you. Thank you for reaching out!
MARGOT WIENEKE
I loved your Mom.
Bonita Boggs
Hello Cousin Susan! Please contact me. I’m a great granddaughter of Robert R. and Christine “Tina” also. Thanks! Would love to connect.
Dear all,
I made a search for “Belsmühle” in the internet and found your articles.
It was very interesting for me, because I am a resident in Oedekoven.
From my knowledge of the sorrounding area and the history the pictures are not from the “Belsmühle” but from the central farm – called “Tempelhof”, which is also in Oedekoven.
The “belsmühle” used to be a mill aof that farm.
I would like to get into cantact with you to get more information.
Best regards
Detlef Nath
Detlef, I would love to learn more about Oedekoven and anything that you can add to, or correct what I know about Belsmühle. I will send you an email. Although I see one from you just now coming through!
Obviously, we are distantly related. I would be interested in any information about the Tappers in Hammond. I knew Roland and Verna as they lived across from us. I am afraid our history will die out as we age.
Margot Wieneke
I hadn’t seen this blog Susan so found it fascinating. We are very lucky to have you do all this research. I wouldn’t know where to start. Thank you. Hope you and family are doing well. Love and hugs
Margot
Loved this, Susan! It was very nicely done – just wish I could have been there, although it was thoughtful of Barb to have Mary and I able to “join in”.
Well dang! They changed the link again. Here is the updated link, and I will add the name of the photo to the blog post in case they change the link again. https://wisvetsmuseum.catalogaccess.com/photos/39561
We also have to remember that Watson stood 6′ 1/2″ tall (per his military records), and No. 4 is definitely a tall man, while No. 14 is much smaller.
Ms. Fassbender, I enjoyed your article very much. Your research contains so many interesting details on my former hometown, and I want you to know that I am most appreciative of the time and effort you have given to preparing this post and telling about this important stage in Alexandria’s history..
Mary Knapp
It must be wonderful to be able to take the trip your Mom took so long ago–it’s great that she and your grandmother kept all of the writings.
I think it is amazing that she kept all of the letters and postcards. I am also so happy that I asked her to put together a memory book of the trip for me back in 2011. I also have some of the souvenirs that she purchased that I can photograph and add to my book. I need to get back and finish the last little bit of it.
I can’t even imagine what it would be like to walk through that place!!! It’s so beautiful!
Susan C Fassbender
I SO hope to go one day. Just to stand outside of the building and to try to get a feel for what it must have looked like all those years ago. Someday. Hopes and dreams.
Amanda Fassbender
Sorry I wrote that wrong peter Joseph Hubart was my great great great grandfather, I think Hubart was his son, along with Henry john. Then so on and so forth.
So glad to meet you! And I followed you in your description of how you descend from Peter. I have been working on updating this site, and have made better use of the categories. For more stories about our family, check out the category for Fassbender and White Clover Dairy under the Blog heading. If there is something you would like to know about, I would be happy to write a post, or send you information. Thanks for commenting.
Thank you for taking the time to write and find this information. Hubart fassbender is my great great great grandfather. Hubart to Henry to Norbert to Donald all my grandfathers. I love finding new info on my a genealogy. Thank you so much
This is Tootsie,Gary’s cousin. When I was four we were staying at Grandma and Grandpa house while our house was being remodeled. I used to accompany Uncle Butch and Marie on their dates. I would sit between them are the monies and stand between them on the front seat of the car. Butcher would walk Marie to the door for some knoodling and leave me in the car. The dog would start barking and I would start to cry and Butcher would have to leave Marie and come to comfort me. I have always just loved both of them to pieces.
Oh my gosh! You made me laugh out loud. I can just see you with them. Do you have any pictures of you at that age? It would be fun to make an addition to the post with your story. Thanks for writing.
Oh my gosh! I would love to see this if you can find it. I would also love to know about this image. Our copy hung on the wall of Henry’s son’s home office for decades. Did you also know that there was a movie made of the process? I have more information about that also.
I still feel this way. I still think, where is that? Oh! I gave it away. But when you know you also have to pack and move and store etc. you mother’s home of 40 years. It all becomes “things.” Thank you for your kind words.
I can totally relate to this post!! Well written. I felt your emotions.So many similar feelings when we packed up 8 years ago and moved across the country.
Well Susan, you had a better grasp of Jane McGarvey Cook was than I did. I knew the story but not about the impact she was to the Cooks. Thank you
Margot
Susan C Fassbender
More to come!
Ardra sundberg
Hello! It is quite by accident that I hv come to your most interesting and valuable site. I am Ardra Hall Johnston/Sundberg and am of course Martha Paine Wheeler Cook Johnston’s granddaughter. I would like to hvfurther contact with u regarding my darling Grandmother! How is it that u hv so much information about her? R u relater to the family in Oshkosh?
I am at the moment visiting in Miami but live in Brussels.
I am so sorry that I missed this response to my blog post. I will have to check my notification settings. I have sent you an email response. Thank you for reaching out to me.
Trinity Lutheran Church is located east of Ellington/Stephensville. It was originally the German Methodist Church and is located 1 Road south of S and 1 Road west of A.
My relatives were the Peters and Langlotz families.
Hello Susan,
My great-grandfather was Joseph Fassbender, Elmer Fassbender my grandfather. I love reading your blog about the Fassbender family. I live 4 miles east of Stephensville, and spend quite a bit of time in town. My car club, the Stephensville Street Rods, holds meetings, car shows, and cruises from town. If you’d like help with anything related to Stephensville, such as pictures, let me know. I’d be happy to help! My email is JenL90@hotmail.com
So glad you are enjoying the posts, I love writing them. I have to get back to the Fassbenders soon. I got caught up in a question from another cousin, and time gets away from me, but I have about finished with that particular story.
Hi, I was the project manager of the restoration of Church of the Resurrection in 2007. We have photos of the original wall paintings, etc. If you are interested in them I can see if I can find the photos and send to you. Also, if you contact the parish office they could send you the history book that was recently put together on the churches that comprise Resurrection (St James and St Mary’s). Also, the baptismal font that is present in the church today is not the original. This font was created in 2007 with the restoration.
Thanks so much for your reply! Yes, I will definitely contact the parish office about the history book thank you. I would love to learn more, and I am sure that my aunts would also be very interested. I am a bit disappointed about the baptismal font, although as I stated, I didn’t want to disturb the woman praying, to stomp up front and take a picture, so didn’t get a good look at it. Do you know if the history book has an image of the font? And I would love to see some of the images of the original wall paintings. What an interesting job to be project manager for a restoration of this magnitude. As a remodeler who loves historic restoration, I find it fascinating. I do want to stop in again, and hopefully attend Mass, but in the meantime, thank you again so much for responding to my post.
Love this idea! I recently told my sister about writing about the entrepreneurlal spirit on both our paternal and maternal lines. I have been wondering about how I could organize this information….. and today I realized I already have a tool in my Legacy Family Tree. Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks Christine, for me it works really well, and I just love the flexibility of Legacy to allow me to keep it all in my database. I am not organized enough to have all this information compiled elsewhere.
Hi Aunt Margot, thanks! You are not the only one having trouble – and I can’t figure it out. Glad you are enjoying them, I really love putting the stories together. We are more than numbers in the Cook Book! 🙂
Very cool post! It was nice “noodling” through this and other questions with you. You helped me figure out a lot of things in my family history, but also led me to new information and questions that I now need to investigate. Hmmm. Isn’t that the way it goes… the answer to one question leads to ten new questions?! I guess that’s the fun of it all, along with finding and chatting with relatives you didn’t even know were out there and also interested in the family history. Thanks for all of your help (for the research and resource tips, too)! You’re really, really good at this!!! I keep wondering if Trinity is still an active church since I can’t even find a current phone number or anything for them. Please let me know what you think after you drive over there (no hurry). More in an e-mail soon (I’ve had a ton of things on my to-do list the past few days).
Cousin Bethany 🙂
Hi, our church Trinity is still active. Our Pastor Ronald Ash currently serves our congregation. We have service every Sunday at 10 am.
We no longer have a phone connected to church but if you would like more info you can email me at rlguyette@aol.com
Yes, Gretje is my mother’s paternal great-grandmother. Her grandmother could command a post in her own right. Every ancestor on all sides of my family show strength, courage, creativity and are fascinating.
Susan, no idea if you will ever get this at this late a date, but obviously we are related as Gretja is my great-great- grandmother. Would like to hear your background if you like.
Hi Norman, I was out of town for a few days, and so am a bit late in replying. Yes, we are related through Anton and Louise, I am the granddaughter of Roland and Verna, and Gretje is also my great-great grandmother.
are you Sue Fassbender??? I’ve lost track of you and have meant to see if you want to be a research buddy.
I may have the same peony in my garden….I dug some up when we sold Unity Dairy Farm, grandfather George’s farm.
Sharon
Hi Susan, I’m a descendant of Joseph Peter Fassbender. Joseph is my great-grandfather, Elmer is my grandfather. Thanks for sharing the info you have. I’m into family history also, and enjoy reading your stories here 🙂
Hello Jennifer, thanks so much for your comment, and it’s nice to “meet” you. I have much more to tell, and really need to sit down and concentrate on continuing the story. It will be a good goal for the coming year.
Susan-
My name is Todd Volkman, and I live in Appleton, Wisconsin. I have an interest in local history, and I have occasionally volunteered at our Appleton Historical Society Museum. Today I acquired a wooden cheese box from the Nicholas Simon Cheese Company. I stumbled across your blog entry from 2020 while looking for more information, and I see that you may have more information about a film that was made about Simon’s large cheese block.
Is there any information that you’d care to share? I could put you in touch with one of the AHS board members, and they would help determine what’s appropriate for the museum.
Thank you.
Todd Volkman
Todd, thank you for writing. I seem to remember that there were two Nicholas Simons, but I will need to go through my notes in order to give you an educated response. Please give me a couple of days, and I hopefully will have an answer for you.
Susan
What a wonderful article!! The research benefit is of immeasurable benefit to our Western Stoneware history. It makes me want to know more details about the Kaukauna Klub company and especially “The rest of the story” which means the me….what happened to the over-sized crocks! I cannot help but believe that with more people reading this history and more people knowing about the existence of the two oversized Kaukauna Klub crocks, one or both of these crocks could surface. Wouldn’t that be something!!! Thank you so much for all this information. Please know that the Stoneware Museum in Monmouth, IL appreciates this information. We have to keep history alive.
Thank you LaDonna! I am always researching.
Wonderful story and the connection with Western Stoneware Pottery. So glad to have found you!!
Thank you so much! I do love a good research project.
I am from Kaukauna. We always had a crock in thr fridge. I have several crocks I have. Ollexted over the years. I even found one in Ohio when we lived there. Love your stories and your research is amazing and inspiring. I know I have the Fassbender name in my tree.
Thank you so much for your kind words! I am glad you liked this story. If you like crocks, you should definitely check out the Stoneware Museum of Monmouth’s website and Facebook page. I would love to know where you have Fassbender in your tree.
Glad you shared this recipe. A Geman WI classic. Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of that cookbook. I’m from that same area, and hope you might consider sharing the Butterhorn recipe that is included in that cookbook.
There are actually TWO (very different) recipes for Butter Horns in the cookbook. Sadly no evidence that either recipe was attempted, but I am happy to share them with you. I will get them scanned and send them to you. Thank you for reaching out!
I loved your Mom.
Hello Cousin Susan! Please contact me. I’m a great granddaughter of Robert R. and Christine “Tina” also. Thanks! Would love to connect.
Hello! I will send you an email.
Dear all,
I made a search for “Belsmühle” in the internet and found your articles.
It was very interesting for me, because I am a resident in Oedekoven.
From my knowledge of the sorrounding area and the history the pictures are not from the “Belsmühle” but from the central farm – called “Tempelhof”, which is also in Oedekoven.
The “belsmühle” used to be a mill aof that farm.
I would like to get into cantact with you to get more information.
Best regards
Detlef Nath
Detlef, I would love to learn more about Oedekoven and anything that you can add to, or correct what I know about Belsmühle. I will send you an email. Although I see one from you just now coming through!
Obviously, we are distantly related. I would be interested in any information about the Tappers in Hammond. I knew Roland and Verna as they lived across from us. I am afraid our history will die out as we age.
I hadn’t seen this blog Susan so found it fascinating. We are very lucky to have you do all this research. I wouldn’t know where to start. Thank you. Hope you and family are doing well. Love and hugs
Margot
Thanks Aunt Margot. We are all well, and enjoying cooler weather.
Loved this, Susan! It was very nicely done – just wish I could have been there, although it was thoughtful of Barb to have Mary and I able to “join in”.
Hi,
I’m trying to figure out which picture is actually my 3rd great-grandpa Watson. David Helgeson on Ancestry.com had No 14 as Watson. He also has a picture of Watson and his wife and you can see it at my tree at this link https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/6180433/person/-1332289941/media/5797c773-37ce-4762-8431-d605ffc04a57?_phsrc=q11-576522&usePUBJs=true .
I tried to find the photo at the Wisconsin Veterans website that you said they had of Watson but it doesn’t come up at the site. ??
Very happy to have found this article on the photo.
Thank you!
Well dang! They changed the link again. Here is the updated link, and I will add the name of the photo to the blog post in case they change the link again.
https://wisvetsmuseum.catalogaccess.com/photos/39561
We also have to remember that Watson stood 6′ 1/2″ tall (per his military records), and No. 4 is definitely a tall man, while No. 14 is much smaller.
I hope that this helps.
Susan
We have been to so many weddings at Van Abels.
Toffee squares are always a favorite
Yes they are!
Ms. Fassbender, I enjoyed your article very much. Your research contains so many interesting details on my former hometown, and I want you to know that I am most appreciative of the time and effort you have given to preparing this post and telling about this important stage in Alexandria’s history..
It must be wonderful to be able to take the trip your Mom took so long ago–it’s great that she and your grandmother kept all of the writings.
I think it is amazing that she kept all of the letters and postcards. I am also so happy that I asked her to put together a memory book of the trip for me back in 2011. I also have some of the souvenirs that she purchased that I can photograph and add to my book. I need to get back and finish the last little bit of it.
I can’t even imagine what it would be like to walk through that place!!! It’s so beautiful!
I SO hope to go one day. Just to stand outside of the building and to try to get a feel for what it must have looked like all those years ago. Someday. Hopes and dreams.
Sorry I wrote that wrong peter Joseph Hubart was my great great great grandfather, I think Hubart was his son, along with Henry john. Then so on and so forth.
So glad to meet you! And I followed you in your description of how you descend from Peter. I have been working on updating this site, and have made better use of the categories. For more stories about our family, check out the category for Fassbender and White Clover Dairy under the Blog heading. If there is something you would like to know about, I would be happy to write a post, or send you information. Thanks for commenting.
Thank you for taking the time to write and find this information. Hubart fassbender is my great great great grandfather. Hubart to Henry to Norbert to Donald all my grandfathers. I love finding new info on my a genealogy. Thank you so much
It was a lovely home you and Gary designed. We enjoyed our times with you there and on your screened porch with fireplace as well.
Thank you!
I just loved reading this about your Mom and grandparents!
Thank you!
This is Tootsie,Gary’s cousin. When I was four we were staying at Grandma and Grandpa house while our house was being remodeled. I used to accompany Uncle Butch and Marie on their dates. I would sit between them are the monies and stand between them on the front seat of the car. Butcher would walk Marie to the door for some knoodling and leave me in the car. The dog would start barking and I would start to cry and Butcher would have to leave Marie and come to comfort me. I have always just loved both of them to pieces.
Oh my gosh! You made me laugh out loud. I can just see you with them. Do you have any pictures of you at that age? It would be fun to make an addition to the post with your story. Thanks for writing.
Thank you for writing this!! I am a descendant of Loretta Cook and find this story so horribly tragic but also so interesting to learn about.
Thank you. I love writing about the Cooks and this Lady Elgin story is one that shaped our family in a way that no one could have imagined.
Thanks for posting this! I have a picture somewhere of him standing next to the cheese 🙂 Fun to read a bit more about him!
Oh my gosh! I would love to see this if you can find it. I would also love to know about this image. Our copy hung on the wall of Henry’s son’s home office for decades. Did you also know that there was a movie made of the process? I have more information about that also.
I still feel this way. I still think, where is that? Oh! I gave it away. But when you know you also have to pack and move and store etc. you mother’s home of 40 years. It all becomes “things.” Thank you for your kind words.
I can totally relate to this post!! Well written. I felt your emotions.So many similar feelings when we packed up 8 years ago and moved across the country.
Well Susan, you had a better grasp of Jane McGarvey Cook was than I did. I knew the story but not about the impact she was to the Cooks. Thank you
Margot
More to come!
Hello! It is quite by accident that I hv come to your most interesting and valuable site. I am Ardra Hall Johnston/Sundberg and am of course Martha Paine Wheeler Cook Johnston’s granddaughter. I would like to hvfurther contact with u regarding my darling Grandmother! How is it that u hv so much information about her? R u relater to the family in Oshkosh?
I am at the moment visiting in Miami but live in Brussels.
I am so sorry that I missed this response to my blog post. I will have to check my notification settings. I have sent you an email response. Thank you for reaching out to me.
Trinity Lutheran Church is located east of Ellington/Stephensville. It was originally the German Methodist Church and is located 1 Road south of S and 1 Road west of A.
My relatives were the Peters and Langlotz families.
I like this blog but it is my first visit.
Thank you for visiting.
Hello Susan,
My great-grandfather was Joseph Fassbender, Elmer Fassbender my grandfather. I love reading your blog about the Fassbender family. I live 4 miles east of Stephensville, and spend quite a bit of time in town. My car club, the Stephensville Street Rods, holds meetings, car shows, and cruises from town. If you’d like help with anything related to Stephensville, such as pictures, let me know. I’d be happy to help! My email is JenL90@hotmail.com
Jen
Good Morning Jen,
So glad you are enjoying the posts, I love writing them. I have to get back to the Fassbenders soon. I got caught up in a question from another cousin, and time gets away from me, but I have about finished with that particular story.
Hi, I was the project manager of the restoration of Church of the Resurrection in 2007. We have photos of the original wall paintings, etc. If you are interested in them I can see if I can find the photos and send to you. Also, if you contact the parish office they could send you the history book that was recently put together on the churches that comprise Resurrection (St James and St Mary’s). Also, the baptismal font that is present in the church today is not the original. This font was created in 2007 with the restoration.
Thanks so much for your reply! Yes, I will definitely contact the parish office about the history book thank you. I would love to learn more, and I am sure that my aunts would also be very interested. I am a bit disappointed about the baptismal font, although as I stated, I didn’t want to disturb the woman praying, to stomp up front and take a picture, so didn’t get a good look at it. Do you know if the history book has an image of the font? And I would love to see some of the images of the original wall paintings. What an interesting job to be project manager for a restoration of this magnitude. As a remodeler who loves historic restoration, I find it fascinating. I do want to stop in again, and hopefully attend Mass, but in the meantime, thank you again so much for responding to my post.
Love this idea! I recently told my sister about writing about the entrepreneurlal spirit on both our paternal and maternal lines. I have been wondering about how I could organize this information….. and today I realized I already have a tool in my Legacy Family Tree. Thanks for sharing!!
Glad that it inspired you.
What a great Idea.
Thanks Christine, for me it works really well, and I just love the flexibility of Legacy to allow me to keep it all in my database. I am not organized enough to have all this information compiled elsewhere.
I have trouble sending you responses in this I have been following all your blogs and love them
Hi Aunt Margot, thanks! You are not the only one having trouble – and I can’t figure it out. Glad you are enjoying them, I really love putting the stories together. We are more than numbers in the Cook Book! 🙂
Very cool post! It was nice “noodling” through this and other questions with you. You helped me figure out a lot of things in my family history, but also led me to new information and questions that I now need to investigate. Hmmm. Isn’t that the way it goes… the answer to one question leads to ten new questions?! I guess that’s the fun of it all, along with finding and chatting with relatives you didn’t even know were out there and also interested in the family history. Thanks for all of your help (for the research and resource tips, too)! You’re really, really good at this!!! I keep wondering if Trinity is still an active church since I can’t even find a current phone number or anything for them. Please let me know what you think after you drive over there (no hurry). More in an e-mail soon (I’ve had a ton of things on my to-do list the past few days).
Cousin Bethany 🙂
Hi, our church Trinity is still active. Our Pastor Ronald Ash currently serves our congregation. We have service every Sunday at 10 am.
We no longer have a phone connected to church but if you would like more info you can email me at rlguyette@aol.com
Yes, Gretje is my mother’s paternal great-grandmother. Her grandmother could command a post in her own right. Every ancestor on all sides of my family show strength, courage, creativity and are fascinating.
Susan, no idea if you will ever get this at this late a date, but obviously we are related as Gretja is my great-great- grandmother. Would like to hear your background if you like.
Hi Norman, I was out of town for a few days, and so am a bit late in replying. Yes, we are related through Anton and Louise, I am the granddaughter of Roland and Verna, and Gretje is also my great-great grandmother.
Ah,your mother’s great-grandmother, that is.
Fascinating history of your mother’s grandmother. Thank you for sharing it with us.
are you Sue Fassbender??? I’ve lost track of you and have meant to see if you want to be a research buddy.
I may have the same peony in my garden….I dug some up when we sold Unity Dairy Farm, grandfather George’s farm.
Sharon
Hi Sharon, yes, it’s me. It’s fun to see my grandma’s peony thrive and split off to create more peonies!
Hi Susan, I’m a descendant of Joseph Peter Fassbender. Joseph is my great-grandfather, Elmer is my grandfather. Thanks for sharing the info you have. I’m into family history also, and enjoy reading your stories here 🙂
Hello Jennifer, thanks so much for your comment, and it’s nice to “meet” you. I have much more to tell, and really need to sit down and concentrate on continuing the story. It will be a good goal for the coming year.
Good to “meet” you too, Susan! I look forward to reading the rest of your story. Good luck & thanks again for sharing!