Blessing Parish

With this post, I’m inaugurating a new portion of the website – “Places“.

Certainly our Genealogy is defined by our ancestors and descendants – the people of our families.   But it is also defined by the places where we grew up, live and where our ancestors came from.     I’ll try to talk about some of these special places in blog posts and on this website.

The first one of these is Blessing Church near Hudson Iowa.  It is a Roman Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Dubuque, and Schriers have been members since the early 1900s.   The parish was founded in 1875 and closed in 2006, but the Church building still stands and the cemetery is active, with John Schrier as sexton.

Amazingly, the name “Blessing” has no special religious significance.  The formal name of the parish is “Immaculate Conception – Blessing”, named for James Blessington, who founded the small village which once surrounded the Church.

Much more information is in the Places article on Blessing here, and in an article published about the history of the parish, which is in the Documents section or you can view it by clicking on the Church image above.

by Bill Schrier

Maria Solil (Srajer) Schrier

Maria Solil was Bill Schrier’s great grandmother.   She emigrated from Bohemia in 1884 and married Frank Srajer in 1890.  The photo at right is probably her wedding picture.

Frank and Maria lived in Traer (Iowa), Kansas, Lake Park (Iowa) and Winter Park (Florida) among other places.   Their last profession was buying the Schrier Family farm near Traer, Iowa, in 1900.  That Schrier Family Farm remains in the family today.

Learn more about Maria’s story on her page here.

Joyce Smith’s Story

Joyce Smith married Ted Smith on November 18, 1966.   Ted Smith was the son of Phil and Verna Viehmeyer Smith of Vancouver, Washington.  Verna was sister to Ethel Viehmeyer Thorson.   Joyce’s step-sons are Mike Smith of Bellingham and Steve Smith of Vancouver, Washington.

Joyce was born in Dursley, England, but lived much of her life in Alaska, and passed away in Anchorage on June 27, 2012, shortly after Ted Smith passed away, on January 1, 2012.   More information on Joyce’s life is in the People section of this website here.

by Bill Schrier

Oramel K. Kreuger’s Story

Oramel Kenneth Krueger was known as “O.K.” or sometimes “Unc” as he was uncle to many of his relatives in Seattle.  O.K. married Jessie Viehmeyer and was Kathy Thorson Schrier’s uncle.

Oramel was a social worker for the Veteran’s Administration, and published at least one article about three farming communities in Nebraska.  That article was published in the Social Service Review of the University of Chicago in 1930.

Jessie and O. K. married during the Depression.   O.K. was a lieutenant in the Army Quartermaster Corps during the war.

O.K.’s real passion was trolling for salmon, and was the subject of a photo essay in the Seattle Times on May 1, 1974.

More information about O.K. is on his page on this website.

by Bill Schrier

Ted G. Smith’s Story

Theodore George “Ted” Smith was born in Nebraska and raised in Vancouver, Washington State, but spent most of his life living and working in Alaska.   He was the State Forester, head of the State Parks Department, and a State Legislator.   Ted passed away on January 1, 2012, and his wife Joyce passed away on June 27, 2012.

I’ve put Ted’s story  in the People section of this website.  One of his most vivid legacies is a video he made as a TV advertisement when he was running for election in 1974.   It’s only 44 seconds long but pretty funny for a politician running for office.  You can view it here but it is also found on the Albums section of the website.

by Bill Schrier

Frank Joseph Schrier (Srajer)

Frank Joseph Srajer was born in Bohemia in 1864, probably served in the Prussian Army, emigrated to the United States in 1884, and married Maria Solil. He lived in various places in Iowa and Kansas, finally, in 1900, purchasing the Schrier family farm near Buckingham, Iowa, which remains in the family to this day.   He also changed the spelling of his name twice, to Schreier and finally Schrier.  According to family lore that’s because he was tired of having people mispronounce it.   A number of Srajer family relatives retained the name and still live in Kansas and elsewhere.

I’ve posted Frank’s story on the people section of the website here, and posted his obituary in the obituary section here.

by Bill Schrier

Alice Zaloudek Life Story

Alice Srajer Zaloudek passed away on March 1, 2011, at 105 years of age.   Her father, John Srajer, was brother to Frank Schrier (Srajer) who emmigrated from Bohemia in 1884.  Alice lived in Kansas and Oklahoma and went through a great slice of the history of those areas.   I’ve posted an excerpt of her life story on the Stories section of this website.   Her obituary which has more of that story and photos is on the obituaries page of this website and also  online at the Enid News here.

by Bill Schrier

Mary Boyle Griffin

Mary Boyle Griffin is Bill Schrier’s great-grandmother.   She grew up with the Boyle Family on Inch Island, County Donegal.   She met James Griffin and they were married in St. Eugene’s Cathedral, Derry.   They emigrated to the United States, had four daughters and a son.

Mary’s obituaries are on the Obituary Page of this website, and I’ve created a page for her under the “People” section with some of the facts and family lore.

by Bill Schrier

Harvey Tom Thorson

Tom Thorson was the father of Kathy Thorson Schrier and Becky Thorson Cox. Today I created a page to start a chronicle of his life (view it here).  The photo at right was taken at Becky and Charlie Cox’s home about 1980.

I’ll add more information about Tom as I (re)discover it or someone tells me about it.

by Bill Schrier

Artifacts Page and Mary Alice Schrier Yuska

Today I added a page which will link to artifacts I catalog – books, victrola’s, ancient toys, gravestones etc.

I also added a page for Mary Alice (Schrier) Yuska.   I added her simply because as I was searching for information about Frank Schrier on the web, her name came up along with a photograph of her gravestone from St. Wenceslas Cemetery in Clutier.

by Bill Schrier