War

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Claude “Bus” Stierwalt: WWII Letter from the Front

Claude Stierwalt, known as “Bus”, was born in Oklahoma in 1920 to Claude and Nina (Sequichie) Stierwalt. In July of 1942, he joined the Army Air Corps, serving as a Staff Sergeant throughout World War II. Family Photos Before the War Before Claude left for service the family gathered to take photos. Letter from Italy 1944 In 1944, while stationed in Italy, Bus wrote a holiday letter home to the family. His sadness at missing out on the holidays is...

The Boudreau (Boudrot) Family: Our Acadian Roots

Expulsion of the Acadians by George Craig This is the forest primeval; but where are the hearts that beneath itLeaped like the roe, when he hears in the woodland the voice of the huntsman?Where is the thatch-roofed village, the home of Acadian farmers,—Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands,Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an image of heaven?Waste are those pleasant farms, and the farmers forever departed!Scattered like dust and leaves, when the mighty blasts...

Property where the Shull family lived

Alfred Samuel Shull: The final years

(Above) Longhorn Cattle graze on the property where the Shull Family lived south of Strafford, Missouri. Nearly two years ago I wrote about Civil War Veteran, Alfred Samuel Shull: Kansas Jayhawker. Click the link to read about Alfred’s life in Bloody Kansas, an area so volatile, it became a flashpoint for the Civil War. Last month I was excited to journey to the area of Southwest Missouri where Alfred and the Shull children settled after his first wife, Elizabeth, died....

Tales of House Stark Part I: Stark Lineage

House Stark Sigil by Bruno Alberto In honor of the Game of Thrones final season, the month of May will be dedicated to tales about our own House Stark. This Stark line, who our Stookey ancestors descend from, arrived in the American Colonies during the same generation as the Pilgrims. These Starks were pioneers, warriors, and scoundrels—some more in line with the worst of House Targaryen. This family begins with Aaron Stark, one of the grittiest characters in our family...

Jung/Young Family Roots Part 1: German or French?

Above: Battle of Trafalgar by William Lionel Wyllie A Family Mystery: German or French? In 1948 Samuel (S.A.M.) Young wrote a letter addressed to the postmaster in Saulheim, Germany (a small town about an hour Southwest of Frankfurt) hoping to connect with distant cousins and learn more about his ancestry. One of the ongoing questions within the Young family was whether they descended from a German or French family. Samuel’s German father, Johann Adam Jung (changed to Young when he...

Grandpre Roots Part 1: Huguenot Diaspora

The Siege of La Rochelle, 1628 Pierre Duteau was born into the eye of a storm; the brief lull in the midst of a religious war. His hometown of La Rochelle, France, an important seaside trading port for regional wine, cheese, and salt, became a stronghold for Huguenots, like himself, during the early 16th century. The conversion of French citizens to the “Huguenot” protestant beliefs of John Calvin, spurred conflicts with the Jesuit Catholic majority from 1562-1598. Pierre was born in...

Honoring Our Family Veterans Part 2: Marvin Leo Gregoire

Marvin Gregoire in his Army Air Force uniform. early years Marvin “Marv” Leo Gregoire was born in Marshall, Minnesota to Robert and Lillian (Grandpre) Gregoire, both of French Canadian descent. For more stories about this French Canadian family click here. Growing up on the Gregoire farm taught Marvin hard work and at the age of 17, he left school for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). This New Deal program established by President Roosevelt offered employment to young men who struggled...

Honoring our Family Veterans Part 1: Leslie Wendell Stierwalt

Army Air Force recruiting poster 1943-1946. Early years Leslie Wendell Stierwalt, known as”Wendell”, was born in 1924 and raised with 9 siblings and numerous cousins on the Cherokee Reservation near Nowata, Oklahoma. HIs mother, Nina Sequichie’s Cherokee family can be traced back to Georgia before the Trail of Tears and father, Claud Stierwalt’s family immigrated to the US from Germany in the early 1700’s. “Winnie” as he was known as a child, didn’t enjoy school and stopped attending after 8th grade, but his...

The Storied Life and Death of Jacob Stookey : Nouegehaw

“When an Indian Child has been brought up among us, taught our language and habituated to our Customs, yet if he goes to see his relations and make one Indian Ramble with them, there is no perswading him ever to return, and that this is not natural [to them] merely as Indians, but as men, is plain from this, that when white persons of either sex have been taken prisoners young by the Indians, and lived a while among them, tho’...