Sheboygan County Historical Research Center

05/09/2026

Join us tomorrow morning at 9:30 for Second Saturdays – Settled in Stone: Luxembourgish.

Caitlin Armstrong presents a program that will uncover the mystery of Luxembourg stone house architecture, investigate a few local stone houses, and learn what life was like for these early settlers. This presentation is free of charge and open to the public at the Plymouth Arts Center.

05/08/2026

05/08/2026

In 1932, Hugo Samse opened a filling and service station at the corner of Eastern Ave. and Fairview Dr. with the Pure Oil Co. providing petroleum. Pure Oil was founded in 1914, opening its first service station in 1918. The stations were known for its distinctive English cottage-style gas stations. Above the center door of Hugo's building can be seen a windmill with cottage-style windows flanking each side of the door. In the 1930’s Pure adopted the slogan, “Be Sure with Pure”. In 1961 the bright red Firebird logo premiered which coincided with Pure’s sponsorship as the official fuel of NASCAR. In 1965, Union Oil Co. purchased Pure Oil whose brand was phased out by 1970. The remaining service stations became known as Union 76. Subsequent brands were Phillips 66 and Sunoco. Plymouth’s filling station changed hands in 1946 when Bill Kellner and Arden Larson opened Bill & Bob's providing gasoline, auto repair, and boat and trailer sales. The windmill was replaced with a neon clock. The service station was in operation until about 1981. Today it is known as Back Door Bike Shop. This photograph is not dated nor are the four men identified. The three men may be wearing Pure jackets while the man to the right is wearing a three-piece suit. Two of the gasoline pumps have a calibrated glass cylinder on top. The desired amount of fuel was pumped up into the cylinder and was then let into the customers’ tank by gravity. A Pure Co. fuel truck is parked on the left. An air hose is present left of the garage service door. The house behind the garage had a connection to the Week’s family and stood vacant for many years. It was torn down in 1960’s.

05/07/2026

Sunday, May 17, 2026, from 12-3, Plymouth Historical Society and SCHRC together will celebrate the history found in your own back yard. Don't miss the Union Cemetery Walk and Gravestone Cleaning at this beautiful Plymouth cemetery.

Free and open to the public.

Fred Berrens
Birth
17 May 1882
Chilton, Calumet County, Wisconsin, USA
Death
23 Jun 1907 (aged 25)
Plymouth, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, USA
Burial
May 17, 2026 at Noon

May 17, 2026 at Noon
Union Cemetery
Plymouth, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin

The Plymouth Review of Friday last contained the following account of an accident in which a Chilton young man was the victim:
Fred Berrens was seriously if not fatally injured Thursday afternoon at the factory of P. Wolf. He was working at a machine, when a board few and hit his right hand, tearing it so badly that it had to be sewed up. The board after hitting his hand struck him in the abdomen, penetrating the peritoneum, so that a larger incision had to be made to replace the intestines, after which the rent was sewed up. Drs. Nut and Deicher were called to attend the case.
A telegram was received in this city by the parents of the young man bringing the news of his death, which took place at ten o’clock on Sunday night.

Fred Berrens, who was the second son of Mr. and Mrs. Theo. Berrens, was born in this city April 17, 1882. Some nine years ago he left here and secured employment at Plymouth, where he made his home until his death. Four years ago he was married to Minnie Borts, who survives him. He leaves his parents, five brothers and four sisters to mourn his sudden death.

All attended the funeral which took place on Wednesday afternoon. The N.F.L. and Hook and Ladder Company, of which Mr. Berrens was a member, attended the funeral.
Chilton Times - June 29, 1907

05/07/2026

What do you do when you encounter a genealogy "find" in a foreign language with which you have absolutely no experience? Have fun. Be adventurous.

We chose Google Translate to tackle the attached document. We assumed this was Polish given what we knew about the lady in question. Given the date, we assumed this might be an obituary. And we were correct. After a few minutes we had a reasonable translation. Obits are easy because they tend to follow a template. Use what you know and take a guess if something seems muddled. Embrace the puzzle.

To use a translator, you can type or paste the text you want to translate into the designated area of the translation tool, select the source and target languages, and then click to see the translation. Many translators also offer features like voice input, camera translation, and document uploads for added convenience.

05/06/2026

From our friends at the Sheboygan County Museum. Beautiful images. Thanks.

05/06/2026

Genealogy Hint:
Be Open to Name Variations for Your Ancestors
Always keep a lookout for an ancestor’s name variation. Spelling was not standardized until well into the 1900’s, and names can be found with both common and uncommon variations. Keep a eye out for anglicized names possibly adopted by an immigrant ancestor.

Be aware transcription errors may result various spellings in search results. I like to keep a running list of name variations to make sure I am not missing my ancestors in the records. Even common names can have many variations.

Example: 1850 US Federal Census for the Town of Scott, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, Taken 6 Sep 1850 by Abner Sutton.

Find the entries for Louis Riley. #1 This family lived in the Town of Mitchell. So search all reasonable sources.
#2 The entry should be for the Lawrence Reilly or O'Reilly family.
#3 This should be Martha not Johanna.
#4 This is Michael not Newell.

Mistakes abound. Keep an open mind.

05/06/2026

The County News building was built by Col. Silas Stedman and was first known as Stedman Hall. It was a community hall for the mill hands who worked in the Stedman sawmill across the street, and for many years, a popular meeting place. It was built about 1840. The building was the home of the Sheboygan County News – a weekly newspaper – from 1878 to 1957 when publication ceased.
In addition to the “News”, at one time or another it housed a bank, the Dairyman’s Bank originated here, and a small library. It was a meeting place for entertainments. There was a stage at the rear of the second floor. For many years there were family living quarters on the second floor at the front.

The last tenant on the main floor was the Continental Leather Goods.

This building faced the first bridge across the river in 1841, the first railroad through the village in 1859 and in more recent years the State Highway 28. (It was located on the east side of the river at the east approach west of Water Street, north side of street.)

It was vacant from 1970 and razed in April, 1974.

05/05/2026

From our neighbors at St. Nazianz Area Historical Society.

Employees (and dog) pictured at John Koenig’s St. Nazianz Meat Market, 207 S. Fourth Avenue, c. 1910. L to R: Richard Stiefvater, Peter Ketter, Jr., Ben Stiefvater and Mathew Burkard. I’ll bet that lucky pup enjoyed his fair share of meat scraps.