Information sought on Highland veterans

First, I’d like to talk about the veterans kiosk memorial Project at Dennis Rinderer Park, then back to the Johannes Steiner families.

The kiosk has been built and the rest of the project is back to full steam ahead. It’s a joint effort by Highland American Legion Post 439, VFW Post 5694 and city of Highland to have the dedication on July 4, 2018. The area in front of the kiosk will be for memorial pavers. They are asking for veterans who have an honorable discharge, and first responders, to purchase for themselves, or for a relative or friend to purchase a memorial brick paver if the one to be remembered has passed away.

A donation of $100 is for a 4-by-8-inch engraved brick paver that contains three lines, each with up to 13 characters per line; $135 for a 8-by-8-inch brick that contains six lines, each with up to 13 characters per line; or $300 for a 12-by-12-inch engraved granite slab that contains nine lines, each with up to 19 characters per line. To have your brick or granite paver there for the dedication, orders needs to be in by Jan. 31. There will be additional orders up to April 1, or until the 300-square-foot area is filled.

We are extending this invitation to our Highland area citizens, businesses and all others interested in donating and participating for veterans who don’t have relatives living in the Highland area to purchase a paver. We hope you will join us in honoring and memorializing those veterans and first-responders with this memorial.

For more information and forms to be filled out with the paver order, contact the American Legion commander Bill Halcomb at 618-651-3440 or 618-334-4897. Your completed form and check should be mailed to American Legion, 1130 New Trenton Road, Highland, IL 62249. Thanks.

Our cabinet of war veterans’ information Highland Home Museum is also growing quite rapidly. We will be honoring veterans from each war with a separate book, or books, containing information on veterans of each conflict, and they will be in this new cabinet, courtesy of Jim Ranken of Family Care Medical Equipment Co. Inc. We will have all the photos of the veterans who were killed in battle that now appear on banners on the light posts along Veterans Honor Parkway, courtesy of the city of Highland and Mayor Joe Michaelis. Each veteran of the Highland area who served during war time is eligible to have up to a page of information, front an back, placed in the cabinet at the museum. Please bring these photos or information to the Highland Home Museum, but be sure to call for an appointment. We will make copies, so you can have your photos, etc., returned the same day. Or send these photos and other information and a large, self-addressed envelope, or you can pickup on a later date. We would appreciate at least a $5 donation for the expenses of this veterans project.

At the present time, we have information on three Revolutionary War soldiers who came to this area to live after the war: William Biggs, Michael Deck and William McAdams. Do you have additional veterans’ information for the Revolutionary War, The War of 1812, the Black Hawk War of 1831-32, Mexican War or Civil War? There is much information but only a few names are covered in the History of Madison County of 1882, Pages 217-265. Many of those covered don’t have the addresses included. Can you help?

Much local Civil War information is from “Centennial History of Highland;” the centennial book about the Missouri 15th Infantry, which 40 area men enlisted in; and Ed Gerling’s book, “117th Illinois Infantry;” and his son Robert Gerling’s book. We will be using these books, information and photos. The 1898 Spanish-American War veterans’ information is in very short supply. Can you help with these war veterans’ information? Please call me at 618-303-0082. Thanks.

I have the World War I book, “Pass in Review,” by Allan C. Huber. This 95-page book about local soldiers in the WWI is very good, but there are many more local area veterans who are not in his book.

For World War II, we have Jules Spindler’s “With the Colors,” and original photos and information from the Louis Latzer Memorial Public Library. I have very little information but do have some photos about the Korean War and Vietnam War and the conflicts and wars since the Vietnam War. The above sources, are a big start, but we need your information. Please call for an appointment, then please bring your stuff in. Please start on this information as soon as possible, as we hope to have the “Veterans Cabinet” dedicated in July 2018. Thanks, again.

Johannes Steiner families

Now, back to the Johannes Steiner families, with genealogy by Jeff Menz, of Highland; Betty Steiner-Jenne Greenwood, of Chatham; and an update by Roy Worstell.

Johannes (later John) Steiner (1816-1874) of Ringgenberg, Canton Bern, Switzerland, came in 1848 and may not be related to the other two Steiner families. Johannes married Anna Roll of Uetendorf, Canton Bern, Switzerland, in St. Louis.

A John Steiner (Is this our Johannes?) purchased the Timothy Grauz Store, started in Sebastopol in 1848, in 1862. John Jr. would have only been 13 at that time. I have a photo of John Jr. (Or is he J.C. Steiner?) dressed in a nice suit, and the back of the photo reads: “Owns Steiner Store in Sebastopol.” But the photo isn’t signed, so I’m not positive.

Johannes (John) and Anna Steiner had at least seven children. The oldest six were born in Sebastopol, in Madison County, and only the youngest, Adolph Steiner (1863-1907) was born in St. Rose Township, Clinton County, where the Steiner family later lived, on the St. Rose intersection, which is now called, “Grapperhaus Curve.”

Adolph Steiner’s oldest daughter, Louise Steiner (1852-1920), married Samuel Jenny Sr. They also had at least seven children and later lived on the Johannes Steiner farm on the St. Rose intersection, east of Highland.

I have information for their third daughter, Elise Steiner (Stuart) Drum, who started the Drum Café in the Mannhard Building at 806 Broadway in the 1930s. Also, the third son, Samuel Jenny Jr., had the new car agency at 906 Broadway in the early 1920s. Sam Jenny Jr. became a famous trap shooter, winning eight national championships. We have his 1926 championship trophy and a photo of their farmhouse on the Grapperhaus Curve in the Highland Home Museum Art Hall, courtesy of Sam’s son, Samuel Jenny III.

Other great-grandsons were attorney Frederick Habbegger, and Eldridge Steiner, who had Steiner’s Cleaners, then Steiner’s Mens Wear on Main Street, Albert & Edward Steiners Grocery Store on Broadway.

See many additional Steiners in my next column. Do you have additional information? Photos? Thanks.

This story was originally published January 4, 2018 at 8:37 AM with the headline "Information sought on Highland veterans."