Blees-Müller Marriage

Exactly one year ago, I wrote a blog post about the marriage of Albert Blees and Katherine Müller.

After discussing why I chose the topic, I related my theory of how the couple met (through Katherine’s family). Then I looked at my two pieces of source evidence, which had conflicting dates.

First, I chastised myself for not looking in the obvious third place: the church. But, a quick email garnered a transcription of the parish marriage record, confirming family tradition that Albert and Katherine married on February 1, 1921.

The Board for Certification of Genealogist (BCG) has a Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) which calls for “reasonably exhaustive research.” If I’ve collected data from:

• County Marriage Records
• Church Records
• Family Records

Is that enough to qualify as “reasonably exhaustive research?”
No, I need to do a bit more.

Newspaper Research

In this digital age, there are many sources of digitized newspapers. There are several subscription-based services. The Library of Congress has a vast collection of historic newspapers available to search for free at Chronicling America.

Unfortunately, at this time, there are no digitized Mankato, MN newspapers. So, in order to look for a newspaper clipping about the marriage of Albert and Katherine, I needed to visit the Minnesota Historical Society Library, aka My Happy Place.

Author at the Hubbs Microfilm Room, 2023

Marriage Announcement

Miller – Bless [sic] Marriage announcement¹Society Affairs. Mankato (MN) Free Press, February 1, 1921, page 5, col 2. Miller-Bless Marriage.

How does this newspaper clip contribute/compare to what we know about the Marriage?

• Miller: In the previous post, we learned that Katherine Müller’s brothers adopted the Americanized surname Miller and so did she.
• Bless: This is a common mis-spelling of Blees. The groom’s full name is spelled correctly, but the surname for his brother Nicholas A. Blees (1895-1947) is mis-spelled as Bless.
• Theresca Beck: Probably Katherine’s first cousin Teresa/Teresia Beck (1895-1993) who married Bernard Schepers.
• According to the newspaper, the wedding was performed in the morning at St. Peter and Paul’s church. This lines up with the parish record.
• Uncle Adam Miller (1881-1971) provided the wedding breakfast. [Remember: Roman Catholic believers are required to fast before communion. So they may have preferred to have an early wedding mass and then celebrate with breakfast.]

Conclusions

The county record with the February 2nd date is incorrect. The church record, family tradition and the newspaper record give the same marriage date.

Katherine Müller (1889-1979) and Albert Blees (1889-1974) married on February 1, 1921 in Mankato, Minnesota.

SOURCES

• 1
  Society Affairs. Mankato (MN) Free Press, February 1, 1921, page 5, col 2. Miller-Bless Marriage.