Here is some information that I have which differs from this site. I don’t know where the details of Laura Schmidt’s death, as told on this site, came from, but they are not the same details that I learned from people close to her. My sources are my dad, Herbert Schmidt, who was Laura’s younger brother; my aunt, Bertha Schmidt, who was one of Laura’s older sisters; Laura’s obituary; and the Memorial Record presented to the family by Beduhn and Goetz Funeral Home, Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Herbert was 14 and Bertha was 20 at the time of Laura’s death.

Laura Esther Schmidt was born October 18, 1912 and died on May 2, 1928. Laura was a student at Washington High School in Two Rivers at the time of her death. Herbert said that she died of appendicitis. Bertha went into more detail. She told me that Laura had not been feeling well for several days and had been having abdominal pain, which was mistaken for cramps. One day, she passed out on the steps of the high school. She was taken to the hospital, where she died of a ruptured appendix.

Her obituary says she died following the surgery for appendicitis. I have never heard of her going to Minnesota to attend school or being in Chicago to have fat removed from her legs. I haven’t seen a death certificate, but I suspect she has been confused with someone else, or the story on the website is the product of gossip that is now taken as fact.

The pictures I have of her indicate she wasn’t overweight. When asked what Laura was like, Bertha told me, “Everyone said she was the pretty one.” One of the photos I will be sending stood on my grandmother’s dresser until Grandma’s death.

Laura’s funeral was at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Two Rivers on May 5, 1928 at 2:00 p.m., Rev. Haase officiated. She is buried in the family plot in Pioneer’s Rest cemetery, Two Rivers.

In the family of Henry W. Schmidt on this site, his name first appears as Wilhemn Heinrich Schmidt. He is the son of Johann Joachim Schmidt and Dorothea Elizabeth Gartz. At the time of the death of my father, Herbert Schmidt, I found the Baptism, Confirmation, and Marriage Certificates for my grandfather, Henry. He was known by different names over his lifetime. His Baptism Certificate shows he was Arthur Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Schmidt. His Confirmation Certificate shows Heinrich Wilhelm Schmidt, and so does his Marriage certificate. During most of his adult life, as shown in his obituary, other clippings, and documents signed by him; he was known as Henry W. Schmidt. There is a website about German naming patterns that explains some of the customs and differences between how documents shows names and the names people were called by. Type in German Naming Patterns and do a search.

Henry died on November 14, 1947; not November 13.

His wife, my grandmother, was Louise Caroline Johannes. Throughout her life, many people mistkenly called her Louisa. It was just Louise. Above it reads, “Louise was born on 20 Apr 1875 and died on 13 Nov 1947 in Two Rivers at age 72.” The date of her death was probably confused with the date of Henry’s death. Louise Johannes Schmidt died December 19, 1955. That would have made her 80.

Henry and his first wife purchased the Schmidt farm on June 27, 1904. The transfers of ownership for the farm are found in the Deed Books at the Manitowoc County Courthouse. I won’t bother to site the pages and volumes here, but I can provide them for anyone who wants to look at the documents. On June 30, 1915, Henry officially named the farm Maple Grove Farm.

Here is a little information on one of Henry’s daughters, Bertha. Bertha Leona Schmidt was named after Henry’s first wife. She was boen June 10, 1908 on the farm. She never married. Bertha worked for a time at the aluminum goods in Two Rivers and then moved to Milwaukee where she worked as a medical secretary until she retired. Bertha was independent and intelligent. She traveled all over the world. After she retired, she moved to Phoenix, Arizona where she lived until 1998. When her health began to fail, she moved to Houston, Texas to be close to her grandniece, Christina White Hendricks. Bertha died of pancreatic cancer on August 16, 1998 in Missouri City, Texas. You will not find a grave marker for her. Per her wishes, her ashes were scattered at sea in a memorial ceremony performed by the U.S. Coast Guard at a specific location in the Gulf of Mexico.