THE MISSING LINK’S My Great-grandfather’s name was Hieronymus which was changed to Jerome when he arrived in the United States in 1882. I always thought it a grand and wonderful name and over the years wondered about him, his family and where the present generation of Links were living today. I wasn’t always so proud of my last name when teased by the other kids at school, “are you the missing link”? Being the only grandchild of Edmund and Theresa Link to carry on the name (until marriage, of course) I somehow thought it my responsibility to seek out and unite our family. I had listened to many stories my grandparents told when playing cards and remembered the names of most of the Aunts and Uncles. They settled in three main locations, Wisconsin, Washington and North Dakota. Because other 2nd cousins saved important copies of documents, some in English and some in German I was able to establish the core family quite easily. Hieronymus and Theresa (Bachmann) had 10 children, the 1st a set of twins dying in Eichenbuhl, Bavaria, Germany a small village of their births and marriage. Six more boys and one daughter were born in this scenic hamlet before a small pilgrimage to Miltenburg to pray for safe passage to the United States. They probably left for the same reason as most Germans: political, economical and religious. Shortly after April 1882 these parents with Joseph, August, Franz, Edmund, Maria Apollonia, Alexander, and Ludwig sailed the Atlantic. (Anna was born later in Wisconsin.) The children ranged in ages of 2 to 15. I think they may have been quite poor as I have Hieronymus’s trunk in my family-room and it is lacking in design and construction! Joe, Ed, Mary and Anna stayed in Wisconsin near the homestead land granted by President Harrison which Jerome and Theresa received ten years after arriving in this country. Frank and Lute went to Washington state and August and Alex to the wheat fields of North Dakota. By working off and on with the names of the families I was able to located all but the Washington Links and the North Dakota Links. My cousin Mary Lou and I decided that a Link Reunion was necessary and went to work booking everything possible in Black River Falls and Alma Center, Wisconsin for the weekend of June 24, and 25th in the year 2000. Both of us realizing that it would be an incomplete reunion without “our missing Links”. August 15, 1999 was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and I was remembering that if my parents were still alive we would be celebrating their 65th Wedding anniversary. I turned on the computer and entered cyberspace and found lots of Links in Washington but whenever I contacted any of them before, no connection could be established. I decided to go looking after the daughters of Frank who had married into the Dolphson and Garcea families. Since it was an unusual spelling of Garcea I started there with the computer only spelling out five Garcea’s in Washington. I made two phone calls, getting their answering machines, left messages which I’m sure sounded very stupid and went on with my day. Later. I received a call from Stephen Garcea saying “ Yup, that’s my Aunt Kate your looking for”! I was off and running and soon speaking to Jerry, Kate’s son who filled in all the void of the Link’s in Washington with a promise of more details forthcoming from his sister Barbara. At the end of this call I needed to say a quick prayer to my parents for this wonderful gift to me on their anniversary and thinking that God must indeed have a sense of humor! Mary Lou arrived last week to help me address the invitations for the Link reunion and I thought it important that the North Dakota Links had an opportunity to participate. We knew that there was no one with the last name of Link. August had married late in life a woman named Bessie Shaw who was a widow with two daughters. He died in 1947 while burning stubble in his fields. His funeral was held in Cando, ND and the Towner County North Dakota Families Vol., IV states that Lula B. Shaw, 1920 and Carry C. Shaw, 1912 were survivors with their mother Mrs. Bessie Shaw Link born 1890. It appears he did not adopt these girls and that their name did not change to Link. We have not found any descendants of these ladies. Alex had married twice, 1st Mary Marie Forest, who gave birth to “Nora”, and after her death Sally Romig. We knew from Uncle Alex’s obituary which I received in 1995 that Nora had married Lee Lyness and they had children but did not know their names. Since I received this obituary from the Benson County Farmers Press I decided to call on Sept. 30, 1999 to see if they could also send me copies of Nora’s and Lee’s obits. The lady who answered the phone that fate-filled day told us her paper had never run the death reports of these people and that they were from Fessenden. I was very proud of the fact that I could concur with that information! She continued to tell me that the Fessenden paper and records were in the hands of the Harvey Harold and proceeded to give me the phone number. Now what is one more phone call in the quest of the missing Links so I quickly dialed up their number and explained my needs to a delightful lady doing her job in North Dakota. She informed me that yes indeed they had the information that I was looking for but could produce something much better, Nora’s son-in-law Charlie who was their publisher....would I want to speak to him? ( That is what I call a polite, dumb question....I was in ecstasy!) Charlie came to the phone and off I rattled our situation and how nice his response was to my rapid speech. Did you ever try to explain a family from the late 1700’s to present in 3 paragraphs! We exchanged addresses, phone numbers and thanks to the modern technology that made this all possible, email addresses. I turned to Mary Lou and told her we needed to say a prayer, for today was the Feast day of St. Jerome! Indeed The Good Lord again proved He had a sense of humor and to our delight like little children we found THE MISSING LINKS! P.S. I guess I need to add to this history. The main quest during finding the Links was knowing on what ship they and the trunk I have arrived. Through an internet connection, still looking for August Links widows family when I came across an Anna Link who married a William Lyness in Fessenden, ND. I knew she wasn't one of "our" Links but the connection intriqued me so I sent off a letter to Mary Beth Arthur. She remembers a trip to ND and time spent with Marion Lyness Eldredge and emailed the story to both of us. In one of the emails she mentioned she helped people find ships that their German ancestors came to America on. Within seconds she had a history of our family and hope that she could find what has illuded me in a 5 year search. The next time Mary Lou was here to help with the reunion, the computer dinged and I opened the mail. There, from Mary Beth, was the answer to my prayers. The "Elbe"! This ship arrived with our family on April 24th, 1882. She soon sent me a copy with all the names on the manifest and I had it in black and white. God's having fun again....it was the feast of St. Boniface. (The Link's...all of Frank, Joseph, Alex, Edmund, Mary Apollonia, Ludwing, August, and Anna's great-great grandfather was supposed to have been canonized...his name Boniface!) Yesterday, Mary Lou and I went to Black River Falls to firm up all the arrangements and then on the Alma Center to put flowers on the graves. We did an extra special job this year. The people of Alma Center will know for sure the Links are coming to town! We then went on to drive by all the areas where the Links lived so that we could do a map for touring. I was home in late afternoon and when I went in on the computer I decided to see what I could find out about the "Elbe". After a few hours, there it was all the information and where to find a photo in a book! Yes, it was the feast day of St. Isadore....farmer! I wonder what information, on whose feast day will show up next?!! Can't wait to find out. I'm willing to bet it's a day spent with Mary Lou!