On This Day - April 4, 1907

On This Day, April 4, 1907, my grandmother, Florence Sybil Koch was born in Billings, Yellowstone, Montana.  She was the daughter of  Charles Edward Koch and Anna Sybilla Steingruber. Flo grew up in Billings and in 1925 the family went to Casper, Natrona, Wyoming where she attended high school. After graduating high school she went to college in Laramie, Wyoming. She was a teacher in Casper, Wyoming. She married William George "Bill" Wickenkamp in 1930 and in 1934 she had a daughter,my mother, Jerry Lynn Wickenkamp.  In the 1941, the family relocated to Lincoln, Placer county, California and in 1951 they moved to Valley, Stevens county, Washington.

Happy Birthday Grandma Flo, I love you and I miss you.

I love this picture, Grandma Flo and a wicked sense of humor, she loved to play practical jokes on people.

Grandma Flo was a great cook and a marvelous baker.  She always had a freezer full of treats when we would visit. She also won many a blue ribbon at fairs for her baked goods. You say you don't like fruitcake, well you never had her fruitcake!

Those Places Thursday - Montana State Hospital - Margaret (Bauer) Koch

My 2x great grandmother, Margaret (Bauer) Koch was a patient her.  She was admitted December 12, 1897 at the age of 62. She was a patient here until her death in September 23, 1900.  Margaret had a daughter, Catherine Gardiner in Billings; a daughter, Ella Koch Butte; and a son Charles Koch (my great grandfather) of Billings. She is not buried on the premises. I need to find out where she is buried either in Butte or Billings since she had children in both places.

The Montana State Hospital is located in Warm Springs, Deer Lodge county, Montana right along Interstate 90.  

This summer I was on my way to Yellowstone National Park with family and I was able to stop here and see the hospital. 

Wordless Wednesday-Charles and Sybilla Koch at home in Billings, Montana

My Greatgrand parents, Charles Edward and Sybilla Koch with daughters, Florence (my grandmother) and Frances.

Surname Saturday - KOCH, Henry

Henry Koch

Henry Koch was born March 6, 1837 in Hesse-Kassel (Prussia) Germany, to Henry Koch and Mina Winker.  he left Germany from the port of Bremen on the ship Meta and arrived in New  York on September 29, 1956. His destination was Philadelphia. I think I found him in 1860 living in Harmony, Beaver, Pennsylvania.  On August 4, 1862, at he age of 25,  Henry Koch enlisted as a private into CO K  52nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served until he mustered out on June 3, 1865 at Washington D.C. As a result of serving his adopted country, he was granted citizenship November 5, 1872.

Henry Koch married Margarethe Bauer I have not been able to find a marriage record.  Henry and Margarethe had three children. Henry J. (Harry) born about 1869, Charles Edward born November 28, 1871 and Ella born May 1873.  In 1870 Henry and Margarethe were living in Cuyahoga Falls, Summit, Ohio. Margarethe had two daughters from a previous marriage to Henry Wehrle. Mary and Katherine. They are listed on the 1870 census along with Henry J. (Harry). By 1880 Henry and Margarethe were separated or divorced. Again I can find no record of this either. Henry was living with Harry in a boarding house in Cuyahoga Falls. Margarethe moved to Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio with her daughters, Katherine and Ella and son Charles.  On November 17, 1894 Henry was admitted to the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home in Sandusky (Perkins Township), Erie County, Ohio were he lived until his death October 14, 1917.