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Excerpts from e-mails from Carl Oerke, Jr., to Jerry Ferrin:

The information that I e-mailed to Kim Fowles on Thurman W. Balding, also known as Tull Balding, Skeeter Balding, Tull Baldwin and Skeeter Baldwin, was some preliminary work that I had gathered together in the course of my research, in which I learned that Tull "Skeeter" Balding is often referred to in articles and old TV shows as "Skeeter" Baldwin.

I am researching my great great aunt Auguste Bissantz of Bremen, Germany who married a George Frederick Bissantz of Wichita, Kansas. Both died in the 1940's. George was a baker and ran an ice cream parlor. They had a son Edgar, an architect, who enjoyed photography and was an acquaintance of Ansel Adams.

I am also researching the other members of the Bissantz family in Kansas including Adolph, Jacob and Louis and their families. In particular I am trying to learn if George, Adolph, Jacob and Louis were related.

I happened upon something interesting. Over the years I remember my late father telling me that we had a relative who owned the first ice cream parlor or company in one of the Kansas cattle towns. I learned that George Bissantz was a baker and owned a soda fountain called the Royal Bakery in Wichita. So I happened to type Bissantz Ice Cream in a search engine. I came upon a listing of an auction that had sold a Bissantz Ice Cream Company sign for $220. The photograph of the sign had a picture of Teddy Roosevelt on it. I started thinking about the June 24, 1903 article in the New York Times about Tull Balding's sentence being commuted by Roosevelt. I found myself wondering if it was just a coincidence or if someone in the Bissantz family had clout with President Roosevelt or other officials and petitioned to have the sentence lessened.

I am also interested in the Oerke/Crouse family of Caldwell, Kansas in Sumner County and their relatives. John and Wha. H. Oerke won land in the Cherokee Strip Land Run of 1893.

Thank you for your interest in my research. If you would like to share information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

-- Carl Oerke, Jr.

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Also see:

Balding Search results for Balding on this web site.

Bissantz Search results for Bissantz on this web site.

The following off-site pages will open in a new browser window:

"Full view" search results for Bissantz at books.google.com

"All books" search results for Bissantz at books.google.com

"Full view" search results for Bissantz + Wichita at books.google.com

"All books" search results for Bissantz +Wichita at books.google.com

Scales, Weights & Measures Condemned, July 1, 1914 to July 1, 1915, Biennial Report - Page 181, Kansas State Board of Health - 1916 "Oscar R. Bissantz, Wichita..."

Search results for Bissantz +Wichita at google.com (236 results)

Balding surname message board at RootsWeb

Baldwin surname message board at RootsWeb

Bissantz surname message board at RootsWeb

Crouse surname message board at RootsWeb

Oerke surname message board at RootsWeb

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This RootsWeb website is being created by Jerry Ferrin with the able assistance of many Contributors. Your comments, suggestions and contributions of historical information and photographs to this site are welcome. Please sign the Guest Book. This page was last updated 05 January 2008.