Easter 1942 was a very important day to Ralph and Virginia Appel. It fell on April 5th that year. There first son David had been born  a few months earlier in February and Easter was the day that he was to be Christened. The picture shows David being held by Virginia. To the left is Ralph and Antoinette Appel, Ralph's parents and to the right at Anthony and Lena Pointer, Virginia's parents. The christening would have taken place at Cote Brilliant Church 4673 Labadie Avenue (at Marcus) in north St. Louis. The picture was taken in front of their home, a flat on Elmbank. 

For Christmas Day we have my parents 1940 Christmas Card. A few year after they were married and a few years before their first child, they were able to do some car traveling . 1940 found then on the gulf coast and visiting New Orleans. This picture is from one of the courtyards in the French Quarter. The original picture was taken by Ralph and later cropped and use as their Christmas Card in 1940. The original picture is below.

Merry Christmas!

This is one of my favorite family Christmas pictures, it is on my parents first apartment on Elmbank. My guess is that it is the late 30's or early 1940. David has not been born yet but from the look of the stuff toy, they were thinking about children.   I love the large cabinet radio  and the Christmas decoration made out of a log on top of it. The table was in the house on Shireford for many years. I also remember the Cowboy boot bookend! The old fashion Christmas tree and the tinsel are great. Merry Christmas!

Among the many family pictures
that I have is this one. It is a picture of the St. Louis Metal Polisher and
Buffers Union preparing for the annual Labor Day parade. There is not a date on the picture but I would estimate it to be early to mid-1940. Don’t you love the decked out horse that will lead them and that they are all carrying fans to help with the heat that Labor Day. My grandfather Anthony Pointer was an active member and labor leader in this union in the 1940s in St. Louis. Tony helps organize the Metal Polishers Union in St. Louis and was instrumental in keeping it out of the mafia.

One of Tony's achievements as a metal polisher was being one of the metal polishers that worked on the  Doors on the Our Lady of the Snows Shrine in Bellville Illinois. He was a member of the Clifton Heights Lodge no.520 AF&AM (Mason) and Metal Polishers International Local # 13

Yes, Even the Appel Pointer family has labor roots!

Memorial Day was formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated
after the Civil War to commemorate the union and Confederate soldiers who dies in the civil war. Thought none of my ancestors dies in the civil war, I have one Great Grandfather and 3 Great grandfathers that served in the Civil War, all of  them Union.

George Washington Pointer served in the Missouri 28th Reg't Enrolled Missouri Militia during the Civil War. This was a local Osage County group formed to help combat
the rebel forces that were active in the Gasconade River area. He was ordered to active service twice August 24, 1862 to October 26, 1862 and May, 1 1863 to November 9, 1864. Most of the activity was in the area between Saint Aubert and Jefferson City Mo. He was called into active service the second time, September 25, 1864, to repel Price's invasion of Missouri. Skirmishes on Osage River took place on October 5-6.  He was relieved from active service October 31, 1864.

Charles Hallbauer enlisted in the 3rd US Reserve Corp of the Missouri Infantry. This
regiment was organized at Turner Hall in the City of St. Louis early in the year
1961 was mustered into the US Services. The regiment participated in the Capture
of Camp Jackson and the Battle of Wilson Creek. It was mustered out on August
18, 1861 and Charles was discharged August 22, 1861.

William Wuthenow enlists in the 24th Regiment, Illinois Volunteers on June 17, 1861. From pension records we know that William entered as a private of Company D 24th Regiment Illinois Volunteers and was enrolled on the 15th day of June 1861 at Alton Illinois for three years. In July 1861 it reports him as a 2nd Lieutenant Company D. The return for August 1861 reports him as a 1st Lieutenant. This company saw duty at Mulraugh Hill KY and Elizabethtown KY during this
time

John Mohrstadt served as a private in the 3rd Missouri Infantry from May 8th 1861 to August 18 1861. This regiment was organized at Turner Hall in the City of St.
Louis early in the year and was mustered into the US Services. The regiment participated in the capture of Camp Jackson. The Third and Fifth Regiments,
under command of Colonel Sigel, met a large force of the enemy ten miles north of Carthage, and, after a spirited engagement, made a successful retreat to Springfield. From January 30 1862 to October 1 1862 John was in Company K 5th Missouri Cavalry. The unit saw duty in Central District of Missouri till February, 1863. The units operations included Carroll, Ray and Livingston Counties, Grand River as well as Liberty and Sibley's Landing. From August 26 1863 to December 5th 1865 John was a Captain in 56th USC Infantry, Arkansas Volunteers, 3rd Regiment Infantry (AFRICAN DESCENT). The group was ordered to Helena, Ark, and post duty there and at Little Rock till March 1864. Expedition included from Helena up White River, and up St. Francis River. The regiment’s service included post and garrison duty at Helena, Arkansas, till February, 1865 as well as action at Indian Bay, Muffleton Lodge, Wallace's Ferry and Big Creek.


Captain John Mohrstadt was later honored as one of the white officers whose name appears on the African American Civil War Memorial, located in Washington DC. (Plaque Number: C-68)

One of the great advantages of the computer age for genealogy is
being able to locate and collaborate with distant cousins that you often meet through research. Lance is one of these distant cousins. He is descended from my great great grandparents Martin and Johanne (Johnson) Kofoed through my great
Grandmother Laura (Kofoed) Appel's sister Johanna Maria (Kofoed) Bretsnyder. We have been in communication for a couple of years and share information that we find. Recently he was going through pictures when he ran across this one. This is a picture of Martin and Johanne Kofoed ca 1860. We did have picture of Johanne from the 1910 - 1920 when she was living with the Bretsnders in St. Louis, but to now we have one of Martin (who died in 1890) and Johanne as a couple. For a genealogist this is a real score!

Living in Scottsdale Arizona in the middle of the Sonoran desert has lots of advantages and this summer I used the heat as one of them. I spent part of the summer working on a website that tells some of the story of the Appel and Pointer families.

I have been interested in family history (genealogy) since I was 12 years old and first look at the Pointer family bible in my grandparent house. I remember coping down the information and using it as my basis for my research.

Genealogy research was difficult in those days. It involved hours in libraries pouring over microfilm of old censuses and newspapers. Sometime weeks would go by without a break, but every once in a while a discovery would take you one generation further back in your family tree.

Fast forward to 2012 and how thing have changed. Computers and the
internet have made millions of records within the reach of our home office.
Websites like Ancestry and Family Search have made genealogy one of the fastest growing hobbies today. States have put entire archives of birth, marriage and death records on the web and made them accessible to researchers. And there are a dozen computer programs design to help you trace your tree.

Since I have been researching for over 40 years now I have accumulated a lot of
information, records and of course pictures that I would like to share with my
immediate family, friends and more distant kin that might alsoi  be researching these families.

Today I have published the Appel - Pointer Family History Website. It is now and the foreseeable future a work in progress. Currently it covers only three generations but I will add more as time allows. There will also be a blog where I will publish occasional stories of people, places and things that are part of the story and items I have acquired over the years while researching these families. I hope that you will take a moment to look around and learn more about these interesting people.

This is a two way street so please contact me with any questions comments or additional information. There is a form on the first page of the website.


Don Appel