I really enjoyed seeing my cousins Wendall and Cathy Wagner, and their son Randy last week. The last time I saw Wendall and Cathy was at Grandma Federer's funeral, over 30 years ago. Randy came to the Centennial Reunion we had in 2010. Randy has taken an interest in family history and sent this email to me a few days ago. I really appreciated him sharing his research. It was fun to use Google maps and see the areas where my ancestors lived.
I called, text, and messaged Cathy hoping she and her family would attend the reunion. We were all thrilled they came. I realized once again, that my efforts to have family reunions are worth it.
From my cousin Randy:
I was talking with Kay and Debbie last week
about the places our ancestry is from. I mentioned that I had found
several of the places you mentioned in your book and Debbie got my email
address so I could pass on some of that info to
them. I thought I’d do a little write-up that I could just send and
then I thought I should send it to you first. It’s all directly in
reference to your work and you are much more able than I am in making it
available to anyone who might be interested. I haven’t
received any emails from Debbie yet.
If you think I misunderstood anything or got anything wrong please let
me know and I’ll fix it before you distribute. I deliberately kept the
instructions at the beginning for using Google Maps brief. If you think I
was too brief I could work on that too.
I don’t have any idea why I wasn’t expecting our get together last week
to be as great as it was-I should have! Thank you for your efforts with
that!
Here is a photo of the church that is the only thing left of Everett, Missouri where our people are from.
These are coordinates and brief descriptions of locations provided in Eileen’s well written book on Theodore and Edna Federer’s family history.
A satellite view, map, and photos of these locations can be found on Google Maps on the internet. By going to that site and entering the coordinates given into the search window you will be shown that location. You could also just copy the coordinates or names from this document and paste into the search window. You can switch between just a map or a view from the sky with the satellite view and you can zoom in and out. There are photos available from the area shown on the screen if you are in satellite view (you might need to find an additional features kind of button to see the photos that are available) and a topographic map can be selected if you are in map view. The distances I provide are “as the crow flies” and are measured from the downtown area of large cities.
Theodore’s Father Johan Ludwig “Louis” Federer was born in Unterschontal, Baden-Wurttenburg Germany: 48.947, 9.396. It’s 15 miles Northeast of Stuttgart and looks like hilly farmland with some forests and an open pit mine nearby. The farmland looks lush and includes orchards. Compared to Wyoming’s landscape, life must have been somewhat soft. That’s true of many places.
Theodore’s Mother Johanna Marie Karolina Frederike “Ricka” Konrad is from Todenhagen, Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: 54.230, 12.612. This small town consists of a short road with houses lining both sides. It’s within 15 miles of 2 shorelines along what is now Germany’s Northern coast. It’s exactly 100 miles straight South of Copenhagen, Denmark. The farmland is flat with forests nearby. When I first found this location when the book came out I did some looking into the area’s history and found that in the early 1800’s this location was the far Eastern edge of a country called Pomerania. I hadn’t noticed until now that it’s in the name-“Volpommern”. I think that confirms it-we’re part Pomeranian. It’s interesting to me that our family has had more than a half dozen Pomeranian dogs over the decades.
Theodore is from Illinois, South of Effingham. The book refers to both Bible Grove and Mason City. Mason (38.953, -88.625) is 12 miles South Southwest of Effingham and Bible Grove (38.874, -88.447) is 18 miles South Southeast of Effingham. It looks like fairly flat farmland like much of Illinois.
Theodore and Edna's third son Marion George Federer was killed just weeks before the end of WW II in Europe at Rodgen, Germany: 50.366, 8.766. This is 18 miles North Northeast of Frankfurt and 102 miles North Northwest of Unterschontal where his Grandfather was from. If you don’t spend some time every Memorial Day thinking about Marion George Federer then maybe you should start to.
Edna May Parker and both her parents George Johnson Parker and Ivor Nora Stevens were born in Everett, MO: 38.503, -94.427. This is 42 miles South of Kansas City, 10 miles from the Kansas state line, and 5 miles from the town of Archie. Everett is now the crossing of two dirt roads with a church on one corner. I’ve been there and it looks to me like the kind of place Edna May Parker would come from. The history of the area is that a rail line went in 4 miles east of town so the people of Everett moved to it and started the town of Archie. I wonder if this was around the same time the Parker’s thought they might try living in Wyoming instead. My Mother says that she had no idea that her Grandmother and Great Grandparents were from a town called Everett when she named her second son Everett.
Written by Randy Wagner. Son of Wendell and Cathy Wagner (Federer), and Grandson of Clarence.
