Our last day in Dubuque, the three of us went from Bankston to Balltown and then on to Sherrill and back to Loras College in Dubuque. At the St. Clements Cemetery in Bankston, we found William Conrad (Grandson of Catherine Konzen & Anton Meyer) & his wife Anna Loutsch (Granddaughter of Angela Susanna Konzen & Peter Hansen), Robert J Conrad (Great grandson of Catherine Konzen & Anton Meyer) & Mary Eileen Hagerty, David William Klostermann (William Conrad & Anna Loutsch’s grandson), Elmer Link (Grandson of Maria Josephine Breitbach & William Link) & his wife Irene Hoffman, Michael Wolf (His daughter Margaret Wolf married Louis Link) & his wife Mary, Carolina Breitbach (Jacob Breitbach’s daughter) & her husband Peter Wolf, Frank Schmitt & his wife Margaret (Their grandson Joseph Schmitt married Lucille Jaeger), and Clarence Schmitt (Son of Paul Schmitt & Catherine Breitbach).

William Conrad, the grandson of Catherine Konzen & Anton Meyer, married Anna Loutsch, Angela Susanna Konzen & Peter Hansen’s granddaughter.

Elmer Link, Maria Josephine Breitbach & William Link’s grandson, & his wife Irene Hoffman.

Paul Schmitt & Catherine Breitbach’s son Clarence Schmitt.

We met up with Paula, her husband, and two sons in Balltown where her Konzen ancestor Angela Susanna Konzen lived with her husband Peter Hansen. Paula and her family took us to the St. Francis Assisi Cemetery and led us around the cemetery while she told us stories about her family.

In Balltown’s cemetery not only did we find Angela Susanna Konzen & Peter Hansen, but we also found Peter P Breitbach & his wife Anna C Schmitt (Their son Benjamin Breitbach married Katherine Meyer, the granddaughter of Catherine Konzen & Anton Meyer); Jacob Breitbach & his wife Philomena Sigwarth; Rose Marie Habel (Great granddaughter of Angela Susanna Konzen & Peter Hansen); Anastasia Hansen and her brothers Anton M Hansen & Leo F Hansen (Grandchildren of Angela Susanna Konzen & Peter Hansen); Anna Maria Hansen & her sister Frances Catherine Hansen (Grandchildren of Angela Susanna Konzen & Peter Hansen); Anton Hansen (Angela Susanna Konzen & Peter Hansen’s son) & his wife Mary Theresa Neises; Clemens Hansen (Angela Susanna Konzen & Peter Hansen’s son) & his wife Elizabeth Mary Neises; Alfred Jaeger (Mathias Jaeger & Regina Meyel’s son); Eva Meyer (Daughter of Catherine Konzen & Anton Meyer), her husband John Jaeger, and his second wife Margaretha Conrad (Catherine Konzen & Anton Meyer’s granddaughter); Henry Jaeger (Nicholas Jaeger & Mary Blide’s son) & his wife Mary Meyer (Granddaughter of Catherine Konzen & Anton Meyer); William Jaeger (Son of John Jaeger & Margaretha Conrad); Andrew Link (His great granddaughter Mildred Mary Link married Anthony Jaeger); Frank J Link & his wife Catherine Mary Sigwarth (Louis Sigwarth & Catherine Hansen’s daughter, Angela Susanna Konzen & Peter Hansen’s daughter); Francis Link (William Link & Maria Breitbach’s son) & his wife Margaret Thul; Silverius Link (Son of John Link & Cecilia Hansen, Angela Susanna Konzen & Peter Hansen’s granddaughter); Matthias Loch & his wife Mary Hansen (Angela Susanna Konzen & Peter Hansen’s daughter); Francis Sigwarth & his sister Irene Sigwarth; and George Steger & his wife Mary Sigwarth (Daughter of Catherine Hansen & Louis Sigwarth).

The mysterious Angela Susanna Konzen & her husband Peter Hansen.

Anton Hansen & his wife Mary Theresa Neises had eleven children together.

Eva Meyer married John Jaeger and they had two sons together before her death.

Mathias Loch & his wife Mary Hansen had three children.

After the cemetery, we drove just down the street to Breitbach’s Country Dining restaurant (does that name sound familiar? The owners are distantly related to Paula) and had lunch together. Afterward, we took our pictures with a copy of an advertisement for Anton Hansen’s (Paula’s great grandfather) estate auction. We drove past Balltown and Paula showed us where Angela Susanna Konzen & Peter Hansen lived. Sadly, Michelle, Sandy, and I had to eventually say goodbye to Konzen cousin number four because they were only so many hours left in the day to hunt for ancestors in graveyards.

In Sherrill’s Sts. Peter & Paul Cemetery, we found Mathias Neises & his wife Maria (Their daughter Mary Theresa Neises married Anton Hansen, Angela Susanna Konzen’s son), Peter Breitbach & Caroline Sigwarth (Their son Peter Breitbach married Anna Katherine Ries) and her parents Ludwig & Dorothea Sigwarth, and Mathias Brimeyer (Great grandfather of Marie Margaret Brimeyer who married Herbert Hansen, Angela Susanna Konzen’s grandson).

Ludwig & Dorothea Sigwarth, parents of Caroline Sigwarth Breitbach.

After Sherrill, we drove back to Dubuque and went to the Loras College Library and worked for hours in the library’s obituary card catalog index and in copying microfilms of obituaries. Even with all three of us looking it was impossible to find every obituary we were looking for, but we left the library with a huge stack or two of obituaries to add to our stack of obits from Chickasaw county.

On May 6th, we left Dubuque and went back to New Hampton to search for some more obituaries and to copy some probate records. Our six days together were filled with lots of fun, genealogy, and enough good memories to last us until next time. Hunting through cemeteries, records, and libraries for information about family members with my cousins helped me understand that the more I learn about my family, the more I want to learn. And the more I understand my living family.