The Secrets of George Urban

One of my longstanding genealogical "brick walls" has been my maternal great-great grandfather, George Urban (1842-1923).  He is the grandfather of my maternal grandfather, Paul Urban.  My family have all known that Grandad's family were devout German Lutherans and yet we also knew that his grandfather came from the Alsace region of France which has changed between French and German control over the centuries several times.  

George Urban, great-great grandfather

George Urban immigrated to the U.S. right after the U.S. Civil War on January 16, 1868 according to his U.S. Naturalization papers and we knew he primarily lived in Higginsville, Lafayette County, Missouri.  However, a review of his actual historical records show that he spent about 25 years in Missouri with a brief period spent in Oklahoma to live near his daughter, Ella (Urban) Young.  I discovered that prior to coming to central Missouri, George and his bride, Eliza Dierker, actually lived 25 years in Mount Olive, Macoupin County, Illinois right after they married.  Actually almost all of their children were born in Illinois.  Surprisingly though I learned that during that time he was a Coal Miner in the mines of south-central Illinois.  I did a little research about coal mining during this time period (1875-1900).

Coal mining was the backbone of Mount Olive’s economy, and it was grueling, dangerous work. A miner often began his day before dawn, descending into the dark, narrow shafts beneath the town. Accidents, cave-ins, and poor air quality were constant threats. The work was physically punishing, but it offered more stability than farming back in the old country—or trying to make it in the crowded cities of the East. Wages were modest, and miners often lived in small company-owned houses near the pits. Most families grew some of their own food, and wives often took on laundry, sewing, or gardening to help make ends meet.

Faith & Community

The Lutheran church was the heart of the German community in Mount Olive. Services were held in German, and the church calendar shaped daily rhythms with baptisms, confirmations, and feast days. The church also operated its own school, teaching children in both German and English, reinforcing language, faith, and tradition. Church picnics, weddings, and Christmas celebrations offered brief but joyful respites from the rigors of mining life. Singing, food, and old-country customs kept cultural ties alive.

Language & Identity

At home and in church, German was the primary language for German immigrants in Mount Olive. It was a source of identity and pride, but also a boundary. While children gradually learned English in school and through work, many older immigrants never fully adopted it. There was sometimes tension with English-speaking neighbors or authorities, especially during labor disputes.

Labor & Solidarity

As coal companies pushed workers harder, German miners—like many others—began to join unions. Lutheran values of fairness and communal responsibility found a natural outlet in the growing labor movement. In the 1890s, many local miners, including German Lutherans, supported the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA).  The cause of labor justice resonated deeply, and by the end of the century, Mount Olive was recognized as a symbol of workers’ rights. Some German miners came to see unionism as an extension of their Christian duty to protect the vulnerable and resist exploitation.

Well that was a real eye-opener considering one of two photos my family has of George is this one:

This photo is believed to have been taken in Higginsville, Missouri around 1893 and because the family is so well dressed it was odd to find that George had been a coal miner.  As a child back in the 1970's when I saw this old photograph and was told that George played the violin I envisioned he and his family as being somewhat aristocratic for the times they lived in.

George's Missouri Death Certificate states that he was born in Mietesheim, Alsace (France).  So I began my search for his roots and his parents in France.  Throughout George's life he listed Germany many times as his birthplace coupled with the known history of the region of Alsace being alternatively French and German, I was concerned that his birth record and parents may be located in French or German records.  For a decade or so I have searched for his birth record.  Fortunately, in 2024 a search revealed a George Urban having been born on December 31, 1842 in French records.  (this is why as a genealogist you need to revisit ancestors and update your research as millions of records around the world are being digitized annually across many different websites).  I located a possible French birth record, but alas it was....in French!  Time to get out my newest genealogical tools...Transkribus and ChatGPT.  

I took a screenshot of the French Birth Record and uploaded it to Transkribus where it did it's magic of transcribing the half printed-half handwritten document.  Transkribus does a pretty good job with its models but it is necessary to validate the transcription against the actual document.  Thus, line by line I read the transcribed letters/words and compared to the handwriting (the printed text was very well transcribed) because mid-19th century European handwriting can leave a little to be desired.  After completing the validation I then copied the text and pasted it into ChatGPT and requested a translation of the "1842 French birth record into English".  Voila!  Within 30 minutes I had a fully translated French birth record in English.

Now I was in business.  I have confirmed this IS almost certainly MY George Urban.  How many George Urbans born in Mietesheim, France on December 31, 1842 could there be?  This record gave me the all important details of George's parents:  Michel Urban a 28-year old farmer and his wife Barbe Reinhard 27-years old.

Next I began my search for Michel and Barbe and quickly found that George had several siblings previously unknown to the family.  I also found a sad truth while researching the family.  Infant mortality was very prevalent at this time in the world.  Michel and Barbe had at least five children in total; three of which did not survive to age 1.

1. Michel Urban
   27 August 1836 - 19 March 1837
2. Marguerithe Urban
   11 December 1837 - 13 December 1837
3. Michel Urban
   19 May 1839 - death not located
   (he DID marry and have children)
4. George Urban
   31 December 1842 - 17 April 1923
5. Jean Urban
   1 April 1847 - 12 June 1847

While further researching George's French records I discovered an even more shocking revelation. 

What's this????  George Urban got married in France?  Surely this is another George Urban and not my great-great-grandfather the devout Lutheran immigrant to America.

Actually, yes he did!  There's no denying this is MY great-great grandfather son of Michel Urban and Barbe Reinhard.  Ok so he was previously married.  I needed to dig further.  Did his wife, Adele,  die and that is why and when he came to America?  Unfortunately, the secrets of my g-g grandfather are much deeper.

I present Emma Georgette Urban daughter of George Urban and Adele Emma Woringer.

This birth record from Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, France on April 7, 1866 is evidence that George and Adele did have a family together as of 1866.  This is still almost two years before he emigrated to America.  Then I discovered another daughter - Louise Frederique Urban born two years later on April 2, 1868 in Strasbourg.  However, Louise Frederique was another statistic of infant mortality and died 2-1/2 months later on June 27, 1868.  But wait!  There's something wrong with this picture and it's not the death of George's second child.  Adele gave birth to Louise Frederique in April 1868, but George's U.S. immigration occurred in JANUARY 1868. 

George left France while Adele was 6-7 months pregnant with their second child and before their first child, Emma Georgette was even two years old!  Why?  Adele was alive,  they had a toddler child, and another soon to arrive.  Did George go to America to make a place for his family and intend to send for them to travel to America and join him after the second child was born?  Were there complications for mother and baby Louise after the delivery in April and Adele was too ill to travel?  too grief-stricken?

No amount of research to date (of which there have been countless hours on genealogy record sites both American and French) has located anything more on Adele Emma (Woringer) Urban.  I could find no death, no re-marriage, nothing.  I did locate a death record for Emma Georgette.  She lived in Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, France to the ripe age of 77 passing in July 1943.

So after almost fifteen years of researching my ancestors and trying a great deal of those years to dig up more information on great-great grandfather George Urban, I learn that there were secrets he had taken to the grave.  Did he ever tell his American bride, Eliza Dierker, about his first marriage and children?  Did he ever write to Adele or Emma Georgette in France?  Those answers will likely never come.  In the grander view of digging up my roots, however, I did locate Michel and Barbe Urban as his parents and thanks to the diligent records kept in France during the Middle Ages, it appears, I have unlocked approximately SIX more generations backward in my Urban lineage.  This search for documentary proof of these additional generations will take considerable weeks, if not months, of research.  More will surely come your way as an update in the months ahead.  Until then explore the life of George Urban through this biography of the known information (which is nearly 100% complete ... until new records come to light).

The Chocolatiest Birthday Cake Ever

Yesterday was my mother and sister's annual joint birthday party. As sister and daughter I volunteered to bake the cake. My aunt recommended Triple Layer Brownie Cake. Oh my! This is a supremely rich and decadent dessert. (You can't really call it just a cake.) Ice cream accompaniment is mandatory because it's just too rich and sweet without some ice cream to tone it down. Yes there is something sweeter than ice cream!

Triple Layer Brownie Cake

1-1/2 cups butter (NO SUBSTITUTES)

6 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate

3 cups sugar

5 eggs

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

FROSTING

2 packages ( 8ounces each) semisweet baking chocolate (16 oz total)

3 cups whipping cream

2 milk chocolate candy bars (1.55 ounces each), grated

In a microwave or double boiler, melt butter and chocolate.

Stir in sugar.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir in vanilla, flour and salt; mix well.

Pour into three greased and floured ( I also use wax paper on the bottom as just greasing and flouring doesn't prevent all sticking) 9-in round cake pans.

Bake at 350 for 20 to 23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack to cool completely. Don't be alarmed when the cake (brownie) falls apart a bit. Just stick it back together. The frosting hides all imperfections.

For frosting, melt chocolate in heavy saucepan over medium heat. Gradually stir in cream until well blended. Heat to a gentle boil; boil and stir for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and transfer to a mixing bowl. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until mixture reaches pudding-like consistency, stirring a few times. Beat until soft peaks form. Immediately spread between layers and over top and sides of cake.

Sprinkle with grated chocolate.

Store in refrigerator.

Yield 16-20 servings.

Halloween and Other Things

Backward, turn backward,
O Time, in your flight
make me a child again
just for to-night!
~Elizabeth Akers Allen



First, let's get this out of the way.....she is NOT Cinderella. She couldn't remember what she was, but got most agitated if someone referred to her as Cinderella. In actuality, her costume was called "Snow Contessa". She didn't know what a contessa was but she was thrilled to be one.

It was a rather cold Halloween this year, but at least there was no rain. It seems we have a rainy Halloween every few years and we were due. Now, of course, it got up to the mid-70's the next day, but we were bundled in our winter coats for trick-or-treating.

Patrick got a new car on Halloween Day. It's a gorgeous 2010 Nissan GT-R. At least it's the kind of "sporty car" that I like. . . something with a little muscle and some conveniences.

Unfortunately, he awoke on Sunday to buyer's remorse. That lasted about a day. When he came home from work on Monday there was no sign of the remorse of the previous day.

I have been running in relax-mode the past week; just enjoying not having to do anything by a deadline. But, my mind has been at work despite the activity hiatus and I've started making me a list for the coming month of things to do around the house. It has been much neglected in the past several months. I've turned my eye back to my living room, which I had painted last fall. Time to get back to putting finishing touches on the decorations and knick-knacks. To that end I've ordered a couple of items to add to the room this past week: a stained glass wall sconce, a set of 3 rich-colored bottles, and a new painting of roses in a vase.

Next up on the list is some deep-cleaning projects. I'd like to get these done before the holidays. Things like closet clean-outs and the like. I've also still got fall bulbs to plant and the temps are suppose to be in the mid-60's most of this week. I've got no excuse as I have Thursday and Friday wide-open on my calendar. JUST DO IT!

I'd also like to get some baking in. Cookies and some apple turnovers have been on my mind as we shift to cooler weather. Also, it's about time to start baking dog cookies again too.

My aunt Ann held a little get-together last Friday in honor of my cousin Chris' visit home in about 4 years. It was a super party and very heartwarming to attend. Lots of good food, good company and laughs were had. Ann snapped this impromptu shot of the girls and Chris.

Self Pity and Optimism

Well it's 5:38am and I've been up for almost an hour. Patrick was up at 4:30am for a 6:23am flight to San Diego this morning. It's been a week of chaos. Well, actually more than a week but who's counting.


I spent about 3 hours at the hospital ER yesterday afternoon with Matt. He's been sick for almost 2 weeks and been to the doctor twice. Both times she said he had a cold. I was certain he had H1N1; fever, cough, aches, fatigue, but I was wrong. He has mono. I was concerned about him getting pneumonia because his coughing and breathing were getting worse. They did a chest x-ray though and it looked good.

Sarah was sick mid-week and I took her on Thursday to the doctor. He narrowed her illness down to flu or strep and did a rapid strep test. No strep. He started her on Tamiflu and now 5 days later she's feeling pretty good; albeit she still has a persistent cough.

Yesterday, of course, Leah started running a fever and Patrick woke up with a sore throat and swollen lymph nodes. ::sigh::

Patrick's stirring around (okay he doesn't quite "stir" as much as "crash" around in the early morning hours) woke me up this morning at 4:45am. Well or not, he's got a business trip that needs to be taken and so he's off. I had a fitful night of sleep with a noticeable cough waking me every hour or so. Is it my turn to get sick now that Patrick is out of town? That would be my luck.


The gods thought it fitting to land in my email box today this great article from iMom. I think I needed that after the last month. It got me thinking about how I often (well, maybe a few times a year) get to thinking I'm taken for granted. The analogy to a great cathedral builder of Middle Age Europe is a great one. I think I'll take that story and a ferret it away in my memory for those days when self-pity takes over. Great words to remember: "with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees".



Patrick and I went to my sister and brother-in-law's annual Halloween costume party on Saturday night. With flu season in full swing already the turnout was lighter than usual, but we had a great time. At Patrick's urging, I switched from being Cleopatra this year to a maenad with Patrick serving as my minion. It was a take on our favorite television series: True Blood.

The Woodland Elementary Book Fair wrapped up last week. That concludes my PTO projects for the foreseeable future. Next up on my PTO plate is to get the archive binder ready to hand over to the new Secretary for this year. Mostly that involves copying some document files onto a CD and then I'm done. It will be a good transition to the next board meeting in early November. After that, my next PTO project will be to push the board to support a committee continuity idea I have.

The week ahead is a full schedule of appointments, Halloween parties and trick-or-treating. All I need to do is stay healthy.

Time Sure Flies

Wow.....where did the year go? Spring sprang and summer flew by as we waited...and waited...and waited...and waited for it to warm up. (It never did.) Rain has been plentiful this year and the weeds took over my backyard with a vengeance. I think the last day we swam in our pool was in early July right after the 4th. I never really made it out in to the yard much after early summer and admired my blooms this year from afar. But pay the price I did. I sauntered out one evening, as the days started to cool down even further, and discovered multitudes of green "soldiers" standing tall and alert in the form of tall prairie grasses and weeds. Some stood taller than I.

Quickly the months ticked by and back-to-school days were upon us. As a member of our PTO Executive Board, my school year got started early with preparation in late July for Registration at our elementary school, Woodland Elementary. The current PTO President, Scott, is in his last year as President and asked if I might be interested in running next year. Well I tried to resist....really I did, but my manic half urged me to delve a little further into what this might entail. Before I knew it I was in a full-blown manic episode and running wild with enthusiasm about volunteering in every way I could imagine at Leah's school.

While I've certainly gone overboard (as I so often do) a few good things have definitely come out of it. For starters, I created a new PTO website that I just launched last week. I won't win any cyber awards, but it sure does the trick and gives the PTO a good place to communicate with Parents and staff at Woodland.

While my official role on the PTO is as Vice President, I've filled in pretty much full-time as the Secretary and in that role I created a binder.....a quasi archive if you will. I'm collecting everything related to the PTO....meeting minutes, financial reports, committee procedures/steps/forms and volunteer lists. My hope is that it provides some continuity year to year and serves as a good foundation as the PTO moves forward. Our school was opened just last year and so it just seemed right to set the parent-teacher organization up with a framework within which it could operate efficiently. If nothing else, I'll at least have documented the first two years of the organization.

I also jumped wholeheartedly into the committees which are the heart and soul of our group. The committees are where things happen. Everything from the student name & address directory to the school carnival and fund raisers are done by committee volunteers. I knew I was going to volunteer to head up two committees this year ever since I got involved with PTO last school year. The Directory and the Book Fair were things I worked on last year to a degree and wanted to do more this year. However, because committee chairpersons were hard to find this year I ended up agreeing to take on the Book Club and Welcoming committee as well.

And that is where I find myself this month....head swimming in plans for a Book Fair that opens on October 21st, a Directory that has a targeted publish date of October 1st, and a Welcoming committee and Book Club that never got off the ground last school year. "Busy" just doesn't say it, what I have been is "buried". I say that with a smile and a strong sense of satisfaction. I've done pretty darn well.

The Directory will be ready for publication on 9/29....tomorrow. The Welcoming process and packets are ready to reproduce minus a form from the Yearbook committee. The Book Fair has a two-page time line of activities and volunteer and storyteller schedules more than halfway filled in. Book Fair volunteers have been briefed and assignments taken. We're ready to rock! Only the Book Club is somewhat stagnant and that's because the school principal is re-thinking what she wants our school's Book Club to be.

Two weeks ago a calendar reminder popped up one morning reminding me of my oldest daughter, Sarah's birthday on October 2nd. I left the reminder there each day for about a week and then sat down to compose the annual email invite to my extended family for the birthday party. After addressing the recipients on the message I came to the "Subject" field and typed in: Sarah's Sweet Sixteen. Oh dear. An idea began to brew in that hyped up, overactive brain of mine. Might I be able to pull together a somewhat passable Sweet Sixteen bash? Surely, I could.


A mere 12 days before my intended party night, October 3rd, I set about making plans. Being a Sweet Sixteen party, no ordinary birthday party would do. Wouldn't a rented space with a DJ and some of my daughter's closest 30 (or heck maybe even 50) friends be a grand way to commemorate my daughter's 16th year? First step, find a location that was available on 11 days notice. Things didn't go so well in that department and I wasted a good five days finding out that no one had space available except the local Holiday Inn and it was by far more expensive than my other locale choices. With one week left, I talked to Patrick, my husband, and got a thumbs up to go ahead with the higher expense.

Multi-tasker that I am, I didn't entirely waste those five days. I did lots of research on food and DJs and with 7 days left booked the DJ even though I hadn't been able to reserve the ballroom at the Holiday Inn before the weekend and the event manager only works Monday through Friday. Bright and early today (Monday) I booked the room and spent an hour and a half with the event manager planning our big night. A bit of research on Google over the weekend gave me three good leads for a cake source. By mid-morning today, I had a beautiful 2-tier hot pink and black Sweet Sixteen cake ordered. The girls and I squeezed in a Saturday shopping trip for some fall clothes and party decorations.

So I sit here tonight quite smug. Not only have I managed to stay on top of all the school activities, keep up with doing all the bookkeeping for my online gardening coop group, AND plan a Sweet Sixteen bash like none seen so far in my extended family, but I've also managed in the last month to:

1) deal with a dog that needed surgery (three vet visits and $500 poorer),
2) fret and worry and visit a mother that was hospitalized with a blood clot that went from her calf to her navel,
3) hold down the fort single-handedly while the hubby was away in China for 7 days,
4) see my daughter off to her first Homecoming dance,

My daughter, Sarah (left), her best friend, River (right)

5) been to or taken family or dogs to 11 appointments,
6) attended 12 meetings,
7) helped sort out over 300 pieces of clothing of "spirit wear" at Woodland
8) volunteered and walked at the Woodland Walk-a-thon
9) taken my family to Olathe's annual Old Settlers fall festival/carnival

and last, but hardly the least. . . .

10) stayed sane the entire time

......well mostly.

The Hopeful Days of Winter

The weather is warming up a bit each week; or so it seems. I know we've definitely had some jacketless-days. I did a tour of the yard this past week and life springs forth. I guess that's why they call it Spring. The garlic I planted last fall is coming up. I have a few of each of the four varieties I planted. Snowdrops are blooming now and the daffodils and tulips along the front walk are poking their noses through the mulch. It won't be long now. Did Puxatawney Phil see his shadow this year? I think it's going to be an early one.

Time to start thinking through the veggie garden this year. I need to get Patrick to finish building my three other raised beds. I have the landscape company working on a design to put pea gravel walkways between the four veggie beds. Potatoes and onions need to go in in mid March so I'll start looking for seed potatoes. Onion sets are already ordered from Dixondale Farms and due to ship March 23rd.

I'll start setting up the basement for seed-starting in the next week or two. Tomato, Peppers, and some herbs are needing to get started now so they can be planted out in May and be a good-size. I haven't started any perennial seed this year and failed to do winter-sowing as well. Best laid plans as they say. I just haven't had the itch yet this year but wonder if I might be able to put out some winter-sown seeds still in late February. Guess it's worth a try and wouldn't do any harm but put me out a few seeds.

I also need to get back to working on my gardening journal that I started at MyFolia.com. It's really a much better tool than I have on DavesGarden, but it's daunting entering all the plant info to get me caught up to present day. Most winters I spend entering data on all the previous growing season's happenings. I make nearly daily notes in a spiral notepad all year long and then transcribe it during the bleek days of winter. I haven't done a lick of 2008's entries as I had been spending winter working on the MyFolia journal. I got away from it in mid-December (the holiday season I guess) and haven't made it back to finishing it up.

Thoughts of pool season keep coming to me each day as I look out over the backyard. I can't wait for June and July. Hope springs eternal.

Here's a shot of Leah's birthday cake we had this past Sunday. We did February birthdays late this year (closer to Ally's birthday) as we were traveling the weekend of Leah's actual day.

Leah 'Groucho' Marx

Just had to share this one with my dear readers. Leah has been digging around in a bag of Halloween costume stuff that Sarah bought this year and has been quite entertaining the last few days. At Matt's birthday party yesterday she donned this one to share with our guests. We all got a good chuckle at this one.

My Baby Turned 19!

Today my oldest baby celebrated his 19th birthday. Hard to believe he is that old now. I don't want to even think about how old I am. The party included my sister and my aunts and mother. It was a quiet celebration (which is what a 19 yr old guy wants when family is involved).

After the party ended we feasted on a delectable smoked turkey breast that my step-dad smoked for me. It was the moistest turkey I've ever eaten in my life and I'm not sure if I can eat turkey any other way now. Matt really enjoyed it.

After I rested a bit (my feet were killin' me by this time), Leah and I proceeded to pull our sugar cookie dough out of the fridge and rolled out and cut-out our Christmas cookies. We got them all baked. . . .about 40 cookies total. . . . and we'll decorate them Monday after school.

Today started off at 59°, but by late morning we had a 20° drop to 38°!!! It was a crazy weather day and not conducive to smoking a turkey I understand.