Kless and a friend

Kless is on the right and we don't know who his friend is on the left. Here again the original tintype is almost black. I lightened it but left the blemishes. The circumstances surrounding this photograph will never be known but they are certainly dressed up for some occasion. I would put the date of this photograph around 1893 or so.

Kless Lillig

I believe this is the oldest photograph I have of Kless. Linda Leggio contributed this one to the archive. The original of this is a tintype a little more than two inches by four inches. It is so dark that it looks almost black and it took a bit of manipulation to get a decent exposure. He looks to be about twenty years old to me. That would date this at around 1888.

S/S Waesland

An undated photo of the Waesland but we know it was before 1902 as it sunk in a collision with another ship that year.

I recently found the passenger record for the Lillig family. They departed from Antwerp, Belgium aboard the S/S Waesland, part of the Red Star line. They arrived in New York October 13, 1881. From there they went to Philadelphia briefly where a parish priest arranged for passage to the Conception Abbey, Missouri. Before long they moved to Kansas City.

The entire family made this voyage together except for their oldest son, Peter. He had made the trip sometime earlier in the 1870s first staying at his Uncle Matthias Michels (Regina's brother) farm near Ravenwood in Nodaway County Missouri before moving on to Marysville, Kansas to settle for good. Mathias had immigrated sometime in the 1860s first to Indiana and eventually to Northwest Missouri.

The ship has quite a history itself. Originally named Russia it was built in Scotland in 1867 and outfitted for first class travel, purchased by Red Star in 1880, renamed Waesland and refitted for 1500 third class passengers. It was a steam powered propeller driven vessel, the sails were for backup should a propeller break.

This print is from 1867 and inexpensive reprints are available.

Rimlingen

These are some photos from my 2005 trip to Europe. One of our stops was Rimlingen which I had learned a few years earlier is where the Lillig family originated. It is in the Saarland region of Germany about halfway between Trier and Saarbrucken. We had rented a car in Strasbourg, France and finding our way about on our own. Quite an adventure when you don't speak the language, especially in villages of this size. The population of Rimlingen is just over 1000.

I am quite sure that I was the first one from our Lillig branch to return to the village since our family left for America in 1881. It seems appropriate for this to be my first post as this is where the family research begins and ends bringing it all full circle.

This sign welcomes you to the village. You can see our little car parked just beyond.

Here you can see how the village is nestled into these beautiful pine covered hills. Beyond the hills is picturesque farm land.
This is the church where the Lilligs were married and the children were all baptised. You can see the old original part on the left and the modern expansion on the right. Unfortunately I was there on a weekday and it was all locked up. Poor planning on my part. In fact, the whole town was deserted. I suspect they all commute to work in nearby Losheim which is only three miles away and has a population of 16,000.

See the links section below for more photos of Rimlingen and information on Losheim.