Guest Book from Grandpa Yeager's Funeral

My Great Grandfather Andrew Yeager died on April 14, 1958. Recently I came across the guest book from his funeral.



















Grandpa Yeager's funeral was held in Huron, Ohio on April 17, 1958, at Zion Lutheran Church, with Rev. R.G. Trygstad and Rev. W.R. Lucht officiating. The Dutt Funeral Home handled the arrangements.



















The pallbearers were: Richard Camp, Paul Orshoski, Richard Grams, Andrew Yeager, William Orshoski, and Dennis Kurtz. Paul Orshoski, Andrew Yeager, and William Orshoski were all grandsons of Andrew Yeager, and Richard Camp, Richard Grams, and Dennis Kurtz were married to Grandpa Yeager's granddaughters.



















The guest book contained several pages of the names of the individuals who called at the funeral home. My parents' names appear on the page pictured below.



















Many relatives from both Grandpa and Grandma Yeager's sides of the family paid their respects. The surnames Yeager and Schweighart were from Grandpa's side of the family, and the surnames Hemminger, Wargowsky, and Genzman were from Grandma's extended family. Both of my great grandparents were of German descent. Two of Grandpa and Grandma Yeager's daughters married brothers with the last name Orshoski, so the Hungarian surname Orshoski (originally Orczaczky) is found several times in the guest book.



















Even Grandma Yeager signed the guest book.



















A funeral guest book serves as a "snapshot" of the people who were most important to a person. Names found include family, friends, church members, and others from the community who knew the person who recently died. If you run across a guest book from any of your ancestors, look through it carefully, and you may glean new details about that person by reading the names of those who called at the funeral home.

Note: A cousin alerted me that the Lena Yeager who signed the guest book may have been Grandpa Yeager's sister in law. Grandpa Yeager and his brother Frank both married someone named Lena.

Rev. Theodore J.C. Stellhorn

Rev. Theodore Julius Christian Stellhorn was born in Watertown, Wisconsin. He was the son (and later would be the father of) a Lutheran minister. The Stellhorn family moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where the father of the family was a professor at Concordia College. Next, the Stellhorns moved to Columbus, Ohio, where Rev. Theodore J.C. Stellhorn attended Capital University. He graduated in 1889, and three years later he became a graduate of the Divinity School at Capital.

In June of 1892 Rev. Stellhorn became the pastor of a newly organized church in Fort Wayne. He came to Sandusky in November, 1897, to become an assistant to his brother in law, Dr. August Dornbirer. In 1907, Rev. Theodore J.C. Stellhorn was called to become the pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Sandusky.























Rev. Stellhorn helped to organize Lutheran churches in Castalia, Huron, and Venice, Ohio. From 1928 ti 1948, Dr. Theodore J.C. Stellhorn and Rev. Theodore Stellhorn, Jr. worked together at Zion Lutheran Church, the being the assistant pastor, and the elder Rev. Stellhorn serving as the head pastor. In 1948, Dr. Theodore J.C. Stellhorn was advised by his doctors not to preach at public worship services any longer, so the senior paster visited the sick and shut-ins of the community, and continued to serve on several church committees.

On February 18, 1955, Rev. Theodore J.C. Stellhorn died at at the age of 83. He was buried at Oakland Cemetery with his wife Katherine. Officiating at the funeral of Dr. Stellhorn was: Rev. Maurice White, of Lima; Rev. David Wolber, assistant pastor at Zion; Rev. J.A. Griffith, of St. Paul's Lutheran Church; and Rev. John Braun, pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church in Port Clinton, and formerly of Trinity Lutheran at Venice.

An obituary for Rev. Stellhorn appeared on the front page of the February 18, 1955 issue of the Sandusky Register Star News. The article reported that Dr. Stellhorn was one of the most able leaders of Lutherans on the Sandusky area. Rev. Stellhorn was survived by his son, Rev. Theodore Stellhorn, Jr., two daughters, and several grandchildren and great grandchildren. One son, Luther, had died in 1954, and his wife, the former Katherine Dornbirer died in 1951.