Maybelle’s Knighthawks [Update: The name of the group was Stoltz Blues Chasers. No one seems to know where the Nighthawks name came from.] How can this photo not make your weekend just a little better? This is my grandaunt Maybelle Margarete Stoltz with Maybelle’s Nighthawks, according to family lore the first band in El Paso led by… Read More
A Luján House of Love Last week I visited family in El Paso, and one of the things I did with my dad and some cousins was to see historic San Elizario, just outside El Paso. Aside from checking out the historic presidio chapel, founded 1789, where my ancestors were baptized, married and buried, I was curious to see the… Read More
From this Valley They Say You Are Going From this valley they say you are going. We will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile, For they say you are taking the sunshine That has brightened our pathway a while. So come sit by my side if you love me. Do not hasten to bid me adieu. Just remember the Red River Valley,… Read More
The Forgotten Twins We all knew about the eight children my great-grandparents Ludwig Josef “Louis” Stolz (1866-1958) and Apolonia Luján (1872-1929) raised in El Paso. One of these children, Louis Gustave Stoltz, died in 1928 at the age of 30. The other seven are the progenitors of the California and Texas branch of the Stoltz family, while my… Read More
Ending a Great War As has been noted elsewhere on this blog, my great-great-grandfather Seth Dunham came to California from Maine during the Gold Rush. His parents, James Dunham (b. abt 1788 in Orland, Hancock, Maine) and Elizabeth “Betsy” Gilpatrick (b. 27 May 1795 In Orland) had 10 other children besides Seth. So while I’ve paid much attention to… Read More
El Paso’s Oldest Bowler Plans for 91st Birthday The following article from the El Paso Times of March 16, 1957 is a profile of my great-grandfather Ludwig “Louis” Stoltz, born 18 May 1866 in Delano, Wright, Minnesota. He was the son of Peter Stoltz (1836-1921) and Apollonia Stricker (1831-1896). Louis was the first generation of his family born in the United States; his… Read More
A World-Wide Web of Cousins I am constantly amazed at the family connections to be made when undertaking family history research on the Internet. Not only has this blog enabled me to learn things from cousins I know, but it has also unearthed cousins I did not know about. All are so helpful and willing to share what they know.… Read More
The Building, Destruction and Rebuilding of St. Bartholomew Church The first church in Berg, the ancestral village of the Stoltz family in the Pfalz region of today’s Germany, was built in 1608. It was quite small, most likely a chapel. It had room for only about 65 people. Over the years the village continued to grow. In 1733 Berg became a parish, with its… Read More
A Woman "Armed with Common Sense" in Early North Dakota The following is an account by Adeline (Klinger) McCarthy that illustrates daily life on the American Frontier. This story is courtesy of Cheryl Moore, Adeline’s granddaughter. Cheryl writes that “It was written in pencil, on faded yellow lined paper, held together with string. It’s missing the ending, but very insightful.” Adeline married my first cousin… Read More
The Amorous Ghost of San Elizario This delightful folk tale is taken from Mexican-American Folklore: Legends, Songs, Festivals, Proverbs, Crafts, Tales of Saints, of Revolutionaries, and More, by John O. West (August House, Little Rock, 1988), and concerns my great-great-granduncle José Mauro Luján of San Elizario. His father, Don Jesús Luján (~1813-1871), built an adobe house just off the Plaza in… Read More