And Then There Was Joseph
Conrad with Murphy and Reilly Brooklyn, New York c. 1922 After a week of scrutinizing old church records at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, I have a story to tell. As the seeds of the Revolutionary War in America were being sewn, across the waters in rural Prussia, in the small villages of Hembsen and Beller, Johan Bals and Agnes Kineke were born. Hembsen and Beller are neighboring villages separated by less than a mile of farmland. It was 1764. Agnes, the youngest of five siblings, was born in the winter, on February 20. She was baptized that same day at Saint Peter’s, the Roman Catholic Church in Erkeln. Erkeln is a town 1.5 miles to the north and east of Beller. Johann, the first of 7 brothers and sisters, was born in the spring, on June 24 to be exact. Johann was baptized the day after his birth at Saint Michael’s in Brakel. Brakel is a town laying 2.5 miles to the north and west of Hembsen. While Agnes and Johann grew up in neighboring villag...