A Farm Near Frohna: The Story Behind a Missouri Century Farm

A single farm outside of Frohna, Missouri, affords the opportunity to examine in detail the broad historical roots of one immigrant group-German-and the unique family trees of two representative families-Kaempfe and Koenig-through their ancestors' journeys from Europe to the United States; their acclimation to the New World in St. Louis, southeastern Missouri, and the farmlands of eastern Illinois; their expansion across the land and throughout the decades; and their slow but steady assimilation and loss of Old World ethnic identity. Biographies of the generation born from 1900 to 1930, the children of Theodor Kaempfe and Lina Koenig, complete this saga of two immigrant families traveling and taking root in new American soil. The story of the Kaempfe farm-and all the people who came and went, those who enjoyed the fruits of its soil and who grew and thrived there-that story represents real American history at its best. Also included are ancestry and descendants charts with numerous surnames: Bachmann, Burfeind, Degenhardt, Etzel, Fadler, Gemeinhardt, Hacker, Haertling, Hennecke, Hoffstetter. Hoock, Kaempfe, Koenig, Leuteritz, Lippisch, Mangels, Meyer, Meyr, Monti, Oswald, Palisch, Passmore, Reuhle, Reuschel, Reuster, Ringler, Ryan, Schade, Stueve, Tute, and Unger, among others.

Reared in St. Louis, Missouri, Mary Linda Miller graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Maryville University in 1978; worked for twenty-five years doing drafting and technical writing in the fields of civil engineering and architecture while living in St. Louis, Phoenix, and Kaneohe, HI; and traveled extensively in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. She currently resides in Orlando, Florida with her husband of over thirty years Carmelo Monti and their son Jason-both Kaempfe-Koenig descendants-and she actively participates in her church and online at www.findagrave.com and www.authonomy.com. Her writing includes poetry; a technical manual for interpreting American with Disabilities Act Design Standards for the Hawaiian State Commission on Persons with Disabilities; a technical manual for corporate civil engineering AutoCAD drafting standards written in Phoenix; two self-published books of genealogy and family history; a completed novel ＂Liminality: The Fox Woman’s Child＂, which combines Japanese mythology and religion with mid-20th-century American history; and a completed children’s early chapter book ＂Terry Trackhoe Goes Missing＂ that was illustrated by husband Carmelo Monti Works in progress include a third family history; an unfinished sequel ＂Terry Trackhoe Goes Swimming＂; and an unfinished novel that combines the Hawaiian mythological romance of Laieikawai with a modern event-Hurricane Iniki-which she experienced first-hand while living on Oahu. Hurricane Charley, which ripped through Orlando in 2004, reinforced that experience, and every hurricane season in Florida reminds her that she still has a story to tell.