The Last Card Vicky and I Attended

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Finding the first wrestling card that Vicky and I attended did not prove that difficult. Finding the last card, we attended proved more of a challenge. I thought it was around 1985 or 1986. It turned out to be in June 1984. Within two and a half years, Pat O’Connor, Bob Geigel, and Verne Gagne decimated a forty-year-old promotion they […]

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First Card with My Sister Vicky

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Recently, I went through St. Louis Wrestling Club cards from 1981 trying to find the first card I attended with my sister Vicky. My big sister taking me to the wrestling matches in St. Louis every three weeks led to my interest in professional wrestling history. When my mom married my stepdad, Ernest C. Diaz, I got five bonus sisters. […]

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Mellie Zimmerman’s Wash Day Accident

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My great grandfather Parker L. Zimmerman married three times. After a couple of months marriage to Victoria Harris during 1897 in Franklin County, Missouri, Parker moved to Bollinger County, Missouri to be closer to his family. His parents, Samuel and Sarah Zimmerman, lived in Dongola, Bollinger, Missouri. On March 31, 1902, 27-year-old Parker married his second wife, 22-year-old Mellie Bollinger. […]

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Julius W. Johannpeter, Air Pioneer

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My grandfather’s first cousin, Julius W. “Joe” Johannpeter, was one of St. Louis’ airplane pioneers.  Julius, who was known in the family as “Punks”, joined the Air National Guard in the mid-1920s.  He would be commissioned as a Lieutenant.  Julius flew planes for both the military and civilian air corps. Most of the men in his unit, which included Charles […]

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F.W. Johannpeter and 1883 Bar Incident

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Frederick William Johannpeter (1839 – 1915) was my second great grandfather on my mother’s side.  He died 4 months before the birth of his grandson, Gilbert P. Ellis, who was my grandfather. Since he died before my grandfather was born, I had very limited information on him, when I started researching the family history.  Grandpa didn’t have any verbal history […]

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St. Francis de Sales Dedicated in 1908

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On November 1908, three bishops and an abbot dedicated St. Francis de Sales Church, “the Cathedral of South St. Louis”.  Built to serve the growing German Catholic population in St. Louis, the huge church would become the home to many families including my great grandparents, Eduard and Magdalena Mosblech, and their 14 children. The St. Louis Archdiocese dedicated the church […]

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Eduard Mosblech (1884 – 1956)

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Eduard Mosblech is my maternal great-grandfather. Eduard was born in St. Louis, Missouri on October 24, 1884, to German immigrants Gustave Mosblech and Bertha Mosblech nee Monse. Often written as Edward but pronounced like putting together aid and ward, Eduard was as unique as his name. I struggled with writing much about him because the stories I heard about him […]

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