The Extended Batke Family with Link neighbors

The Extended Batke Family with Link neighbors
Pictured in the photo: (Back row, standing, left to right) Herman Fredrick, Anna Batke, Henry Batke, Sr., Selma Batke, Henry Robert Batke, William Batke and Arthur Engler. (Front row/sitting, left to right) Donald Fredrick, Robert Fredrick, Katherine Batke Fredrick, Ruth Batke, Edwin Batke, Katherine Reck Batke, Jerald Batke, Edna Kwiatkowski Batke, Mary Batke Engler and Elaine Engler. Taken c1940, possibly to celebrate Henry and Katherine’s 30th wedding anniversary, October 22, 1940. Photo courtesy: Don Fredrick.

About Henry Batke and Katherine Reck

Heinrich Batke, the son of Martin Batke (c1848-b1912) and Anna Lock (1848-1939) was born in Chortitza, Russia on September 7, 1877. Also in Russia, Catharina Reck was born on October 14, 1890. Her parents were John Reck and Renata Shirk. Henry and Katherine married in Russia on September 22, 1910. On July 13, 1912, Henry, his wife and seven month old daughter, Katherine, sailed from the Port of Bremen, Germany on the ship Pallanza. They traveled to Quebec City, Canada arriving on July 28, 1912. They immediately left on a special Canadian Pacific Railroad train to Saskatchewan, Canada. The Batkes homesteaded in Lydiard, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan between 1913 and 1918. On October 3, 1917 Henry Batke became a citizen of Canada. Due to England's sovereignty over Canada, he became a British citizen. Finding farming in Canada difficult, on December 7, 1921 the Batke family, now also including Mary, William and Selma, left for Yellow Pine, Alabama. After the birth of Anna and much hardship in Alabama, the family moved to St. Joseph, Michigan where children Henry, Ruth and Edwin were born. Henry, a furniture maker in Russia, became a machine operator at the 1900 Corporation, a fore-runner of Whirlpool, in St. Joseph. After Henry's death on April 7, 1949, Katherine Reck Batke married Gustav Schmeichel in 1959. Katherine Reck Batke Schmeichel died at the Claremont Nursing Home in Benton, Michigan on October 28, 1979.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Maria and Jacob Link Obituaries (1929 & 1970)

Maria Link is Taken by Death

Mrs. Maria Link, 34, mother of five children, died at noon today at her home, 622 Vine street.  She was the wife of Jacob Link, an employee of the Auto Specialties Manufacturing company.

Frieda Link, the oldest of the five children is ill. The other children are Frederick, William, Raymond and Jacob, Jr.

Besides her husband and children, Mrs. Link leaves her mother, two sisters and two brothers, all of whom reside in Germany.

Mrs. Link had been in ill health for some time, her condition becoming serious on Sunday.

She was a member of Trinity Lutheran church and services will be held from that church Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock after prayers at the home on Vine street at 1:30.  The Rev. Louis Nuechterlein will officiate.

Mr. and Mrs. Link moved to St. Joseph from Canada six years ago and had come to Canada from Russia in 1912.

Mrs. Link was born in Russia on May 19, 1894.

St. Joseph Herald Press, St. Joseph, MI, January 10, 1929, p. 4, col. 2.


Jacob Link Obituary

Jacob Link, 81, 626 Vine street, St. Joseph, died at 3 p.m. yesterday in the Shoreham Terrace nursing home.

Mr. Link was born June 5, 1888, in Russia.

His wife, the former Mary Phillips, preceded him in death in 1929.  On June 4, 1965, in St. Joseph, he was married to Clara Lee who survives.

Also surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Walter (Frieda) Byron of Allegan; four sons, Fred of Coloma, William of St. Joseph, Raymond of San Diego, Calif., and Jacob of South Bend; 11 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held Friday at 2 p.m. in the Trinity Lutheran church with the Rev. Albert Knoll, associate pastor of the church, officiating.

Burial will follow in Riverview cemetery.

Friends may call at the Kerlikowske and Starks funeral home.

The News Palladium, Benton Harbor, MI, January 15, 1970, p. 16, col. 6.

Note: Jacob and Maria Link were neighbors of the Batkes in Canada, traveled with them to Alabama and eventually to St. Joseph, Michigan where both families lived on Vine street.
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