Blog updated

This is just a note to anyone reading to say that I have gone through all of my old blog posts to update them with new information that I've learned since the posts were first written. They are up-to-date as of the date of this post.

75 Years Ago

Seventy-five years ago today, my grandfather's brother Charles Michael "Charlie" Thielen was a navigator in a bomber that flew missions over France in support of the D-Day landings. He wrote in a letter to his parents later that month: "In the Stars and Stripes for Wed June 7 you might be interested in column 1 page 1 the 2nd paragraph and in the 9th paragraph the last line."

The second paragraph in the Stars and Stripes' coverage of the D-Day bombing campaign reads:

"Between midnight and 8 AM yesterday alone, 10,000 tons of steel went cascading down on German targets on the coast of Normandy. In the same period more than 31,000 Allied airmen, not including airborne troops, dominated the sky over France."

The ninth paragraph, after discussing the first and second waves of the attack, ends with: "Another Nazi strongpoint was battered on the third mission."





























Uncle Charlie wrote in a letter home on June 12, 1944: "Sure hope those Germans decide that they really are licked, as they are, and this war doesn't last much longer[...] Suppose there are a lot of anxious parents back there in the States now that the troops are fighting on the ground now in the European continent."

Uncle Charlie was killed in action when his plane was shot down just over a month after D-Day on July 11, 1944. He is buried at Normandy American Cemetery on the cliffs above the D-Day landing zone. Today I'm thinking of Charlie and wishing I had the chance to know him.

Christoph Jammer, Johanna Brüche, and their children

Christoph Jammer and Johanna (Brüche) Jammer were my great-great-great-great-grandparents. Their daughter Caroline (Gammer) Dombrowe was my great-great-great-grandmother, her daughter Augusta (Dombrowe) Stacke was my great-great-grandmother, her daughter Lydia (Stacke) Revie was my great-grandmother, and her biological daughter Mary (Gotsche) Thielen was my grandmother.

Christoph Jammer

born ????

died ????

Johanna (Brüche) Jammer

born ????

died ????

Christoph Jammer and Johanna Brüche lived in Silesia, a region that at the time was part of the Kingdom of Prussia, but today is part of Poland. Most of their children died in infancy, and only two or three of them lived to the age of twenty.

Their nine children:

1. Christiane Jammer (1840-1840)
2. Johanna Jammer (1841-1843)
3. Gottlieb Jammer (1843-1852)
4. Friedrich Wilhem Jammer (1846-????)
5. Anna Rosina Jammer (1846-1847)
6. Anna Rosina (Jammer) Gräber (1848-????)
7. Karl Ferdinand Jammer (1851-1853)
8. Caroline (Gammer) Dombrowe Brenner (1857-1938)
9. Karl Ferdinand Jammer (1860-1880)

1. Christiane Jammer

born January 14, 1840 in Liatkawe, Prussia (modern-day Latkowa, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

died March 7, 1840 in Liatkawe, Prussia (modern-day Latkowa, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

Christiane was baptized at the Lutheran church in Gontkowitz, Prussia (modern-day Gądkowice, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland) on January 19, 1840. She died before reaching the age of two months.

2. Johanna Jammer

born March 26, 1841 in Liatkawe, Prussia (modern-day Latkowa, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

died January 22, 1843 in Liatkawe, Prussia (modern-day Latkowa, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

Johanna was baptized on April 4, 1841, at the Lutheran church in Gontkowitz. She died before her second birthday.

3. Gottlieb Jammer

born February 11, 1843 in Liatkawe, Prussia (modern-day Latkowa, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

died October 7, 1852 in Liatkawe, Prussia (modern-day Latkowa, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

Gottlieb was baptized on February 19, 1843, at the Lutheran church in Gontkowitz and died when he was nine years old.

4. Friedrich Wilhelm Jammer

born January 12, 1846 in Breslawitz, Prussia (modern-day Wrocławice, Poland)

died ????

Friedrich was the twin brother of Anna. He was baptized at the Lutheran church in Gontkowitz on January 18, 1846. Friedrich married Karoline Jänsch and they had six children: Pauline, Friedrich, Auguste, Friedrich, Anna, and Anna.

5. Anna Rosina Jammer

born January 12, 1846 in Breslawitz, Prussia (modern-day Wrocławice, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

died April 9, 1847 in Liatkawe, Prussia (modern-day Latkowa, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

Anna was the twin sister of Friedrich. She was baptized at the Lutheran church in Gontkowitz on January 18, 1846. Anna died when she was one year old.

6. Anna Rosina (Jammer) Gräber

born July 17, 1848 in Liatkawe, Prussia (modern-day Latkowa, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

died ????

Named after her deceased older sister, Rosina was called by her middle name. She was baptized on July 23, 1848, at the Lutheran church in Gontkowitz. At the same church, Rosina married Gustav Gräber, a man nearly thirty years older than her, on May 20, 1872.

7. Karl Ferdinand Jammer

born January 15, 1851 in Liatkawe, Prussia (modern-day Latkowa, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

died May 11, 1853 in Liatkawe, Prussia (modern-day Latkowa, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

Karl was baptized at the Lutheran church in Gontkowitz on January 19, 1851. He died when he was two years old.

8. Caroline (Gammer) Dombrowe Brenner

born February 3, 1857 in Liatkawe, Prussia (modern-day Latkowa, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

died January 4, 1938 in Abbotsford, Clark County, Wisconsin

Caroline's birth name was Johanna Christiane Karoline Jammer, but she later dropped the first two names and Americanized the last two. She was baptized on February 15, 1857, at the Lutheran church in Gontkowitz.

Caroline married Emil Dombrowe on April 20, 1881 and they had six children together before immigrating to the United States. Emil arrived in New York City, New York County, New York, on September 30, 1891, along with his future son-in-law Carl Frederick Stacke. Caroline and the six children followed, arriving in Baltimore, Maryland on May 19, 1892. After settling on a farm in Pine Valley, Clark County, Wisconsin, outside of Neillsville, Clark County, Wisconsin, they had two more children. Their children were Augusta, Frederick, Augusta, Louise, Otto, Paul, Rudolph, Oscar, and Edith. The family briefly moved to Fond du Lac, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, before moving to Colby, Clark County, Wisconsin, and then in 1912 to Abbotsford. Emil suffered a “stroke of paralysis” several years before his death, and died at their home in Abbotsford on November 26, 1934.

On July 25, 1932, Caroline married Christian Brenner, who was also widowed, in the Lutheran parsonage in Dorchester, Clark County, Wisconsin. Christian previously lived in Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, Indiana and had six children with his first wife. This marriage doesn't seem to have lasted, because when Caroline died of “old age complications” in her home less than six years later, there was no mention of her second husband in either of her published obituaries. Christian moved back to Lafayette and died there on March 24, 1947. Christian was buried with his first wife at the Asbury Cemetery in Shelby, Tippecanoe County, Indiana. Caroline and Emil are buried at Abbotsford Cemetery.

9. Karl Ferdinand Jammer

born May 11, 1860 in Liatkawe, Prussia (modern-day Latkowa, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

died April 12, 1880 in Kollande, Prussia (modern-day Kolęda, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

Ferdinand was born seven years to the day after the death of his namesake older brother. He was baptized the day after his birth at the Lutheran church in Gontkowitz and was called by his middle name. Ferdinand was murdered, and his body was found in a forest a month before his twentieth birthday.

Friedrich Stache, Johanna Karoline Bergander, and their children

Friedrich Stache and Johanna (Bergander) Stache were my great-great-great-grandparents. Their son Carl Stacke was my great-great-grandfather, his daughter Lydia (Stacke) Revie was my great-grandmother, and her biological daughter Mary (Gotsche) Thielen was my grandmother.

Friedrich Stache

born 1822

died ????

Johanna Karoline (Bergander) Stache

born December 20, 1837 in Krotoschin, Prussia (modern-day Krotoszyn, Gmina Krotoszyn, Krotoszyn County, Wielkopolskie Voivodeship, Poland)

died ????

Friedrich Stache's first wife was Johanna Brüche. Johanna was born on February 9, 1827, and she had five children with Friedrich before her death on March 17, 1867, in Breslawitz, Prussia (modern-day Wrocławice, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland). Friedrich married Johanna Bergander two months later, on May 12, 1867, at the Lutheran church in Gontkowitz, Prussia (modern-day Gądkowice, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland). Johanna was the daughter of Heinrich and Helene (Lebede) Bergander, and she was baptized on Christmas Day, 1837, at the Lutheran church in Krotoschin. Friedrich and his second wife had two children. The national borders in Silesia, the region where they lived, changed over the years. A part of the Kingdom of Prussia until the formation of the German Empire in 1871, Silesia became a part of Poland after World War II.

The five children of Friedrich and Johanna (Brüche) Stache:

1. unnamed infant daughter (1852-1852)
2. Karoline Stache (1854-????)
3. Wilhelm Stache (1857-????)
4. Christiane Johanna Stache (1858-????)
5. Rosina Stache (1862-????)

The two children of Friedrich and Johanna (Bergander) Stache:

1. Carl Frederick Stacke (1868-1930)
2. Auguste Stache (1870-????)

1. unnamed infant daughter

born October 17, 1852 in Breslawitz, Prussia (modern-day Wrocławice, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

died October 17, 1852 in Brelawitz, Prussia (modern-day Wrocławice, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

This child was either stillborn or died on the day of her birth.

2. Karoline Stache

born April 29, 1854 in Gontkowitz, Prussia (modern-day Gądkowice, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

died ????

Karoline was baptized on May 5, 1854, at the Lutheran church in Gontkowitz.

3. Wilhelm Stache

born November 1, 1857 in Breslawitz, Prussia (modern-day Wrocławice, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

died ????

Wilhelm was baptized on November 8, 1857, at the Lutheran church in Gontkowitz.

4. Christiane Johanna Stache

born December 21, 1858 in Breslawitz, Prussia (modern-day Wrocławice, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

died ????

Christiane was baptized on January 2, 1859, at the Lutheran church in Gontkowitz.

5. Rosina Stache

born September 5, 1862 in Breslawitz, Prussia (modern-day Wrocławice, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

died ????

Rosina was baptized on September 14, 1862, at the Lutheran church in Gontkowitz.

1. Carl Frederick Stacke

born August 16, 1868 in Breslawitz, Prussia (modern-day Wrocławice, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

died December 13, 1930 in Marshfield, Wood County, Wisconsin

Carl was baptized at the Lutheran church in Gontkowitz, Prussia (modern-day Gądkowice, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland) on August 23, 1868. Carl and his future father-in-law Emil Dombrowe immigrated to the United States together, arriving in New York City, New York County, New York, on September 30, 1891. On January 10, 1897, Carl married Augusta Martha Dombrowe, who was also born in his hometown, at First Saint John's Lutheran Church in Neillsville, Clark County, Wisconsin. They lived and farmed in Pine Valley, Clark County, Wisconsin, until about 1909, when they moved to rural Colby, Clark County, Wisconsin, where they had a dairy farm and raised their eleven children: Martha, Lydia, Herman, Emma, Adolph, Louise, William, Frieda, Walter, Adeline, and Ethel. During this time, the spelling of the family name was Americanized from Stache to Stacke.

Carl developed stomach cancer in 1930, and died at a hospital in Marshfield. In 1940, Augusta was living with her son Adolph and his family in Colby. She later moved to Curtiss, Clark County, Wisconsin, and Abbotsford, Clark County, Wisconsin, before moving to the Memorial Nursing Home in Neillsville on April 6, 1966, living there until her death on April 30, 1976. Carl and Augusta are buried in the Colby Memorial Cemetery in Colby.

2. Auguste Stache

born August 23, 1870 in Breslawitz, Prussia (modern-day Wrocławice, Gmina Milicz, Milicz County, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Poland)

died ????

Auguste was baptized on September 4, 1870, at the Lutheran church in Gontkowitz.