- Johannn (John) Samuel Krentz was born 19 May 1891 in Reynolds, White County, Indiana. He left home and moved to North Dakota in his teens, eventually marrying and settling near Lisbon to farm and raise his family, which included my father. He died there 27 August 1978. John's parents came from Germany.
- Margreta (Gertie) Tjode Hedwig Buss was born 13 April 1896 in Shenford Township, Ransom County, North Dakota. She married John on 11 February 1914 and had nine children with him, seven of whom grew to adulthood. My father was the middle child. Gertie's parents also came from Germany.
- Rosmer Pettis Kerr was born 30 September 1892 in Mercer, Pennsylvania. His father died when he was three years old, and his mother, a teacher and an artist, did not remarry. After attending the business college at Valparaiso, Rosmer settled in Detroit, Michigan, where he married and raised his family, which included my mother. He died there 9 February 1969. Rosmer's ancestors were mostly from the United Kingdom (a few arrived on the Mayflower), but his grandmother Efner was either Dutch or German.
- Evelyn Elvina Hauer was born 1 April 1894 in Detroit, Michigan. Her father died of tuberculosis when she was three. She herself had tuberculosis of the bone as a very young child which caused the deformity of her spine. Evelyn married Rosmer on 12 June 1916 and had three daughters with him, two of whom lived to adulthood. My mother was the last-born child. Evelyn's mother was German; it appears her father had Dutch roots.
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Before My Time has two companion blogs where I store materials pertaining to posts written here:
- My Ancestors in Books - a virtual library embedded with books, many of them left open to the very page I want to show you. For the sake of my readers who are on dial-up, I usually put them there rather than here.
- The Vertical File - a virtual cabinet full of files you may want to view or download.
It's impossible for me to claim that everything herein is written in stone; therefore it is up to you, the reader, to use this information as a basis for your own research rather than depend upon it as if it were gospel. Please know that I strive to be correct but admit that I am imperfect. If you are able to shed any light upon subjects written about here, the Comments feature is enabled so you can add your thoughts.
Speaking of Comments, I review them before publishing; I screen out any comment that is irrelevant, smells like spam, or is in a language other than English (with the possible exception of German, assuming I am able to get a usable translation).
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