This is the obituary for Johann Michael (commonly known as "Mike") Drees from the 28 Mar 1941 edition of The Minster Post. Mike Drees was the maternal grandfather of my husband's paternal grandmother (got that?). In other words he is one of my husband's great-great-grandfathers.
As you can tell by reading the obituary, Mike was an influential man in the area and was very social. He reported for the local newspaper, which, I have to say, is great for my research of the family, because there is often a heavy bias in the newspaper on what his children and extended family members were doing from week to week. He was also a farmer, and he was not shy about mentioning his own farming accomplishments and activities in the weekly newspaper round-up.
As you can tell by reading the obituary, Mike was an influential man in the area and was very social. He reported for the local newspaper, which, I have to say, is great for my research of the family, because there is often a heavy bias in the newspaper on what his children and extended family members were doing from week to week. He was also a farmer, and he was not shy about mentioning his own farming accomplishments and activities in the weekly newspaper round-up.
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Mike Drees was a son of German Catholic immigrants, Johann Michael (also called 'Mike') Drees and Maria Catherine Wellerding. (The obituary incorrectly says 'Caroline.') His father, a blacksmith, was one of the founders of the town of Minster, Ohio, and served as the town's first mayor.
The decedent had nine children; a daughter, Katharina Bernadine Drees, with his first wife, Maria Gertrude Berning (who is not mentioned here). She passed away less than two years after her daughter was born. Shortly after her death in 1880, Mike married Mary Catherine Wilkens, with whom he had eight children. His youngest child, Frances Marie Drees, was the mother of my husband's grandmother, Naomi Grilliot Schroeder.
©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder
The decedent had nine children; a daughter, Katharina Bernadine Drees, with his first wife, Maria Gertrude Berning (who is not mentioned here). She passed away less than two years after her daughter was born. Shortly after her death in 1880, Mike married Mary Catherine Wilkens, with whom he had eight children. His youngest child, Frances Marie Drees, was the mother of my husband's grandmother, Naomi Grilliot Schroeder.
©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder
