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about them, having never seen them, and furthermore, never hearing about them except his mother's father who apparently died in Texas. He was exceedingly unhappy, when a child, about not having any grandparents who he "could get a cookie from"-like other kids did. My 13 year later research identified that his Freeman grandparents died long before he was born: Grandfather Stephen Freeman in the spring of 1883, and grandmother Helen Louisa (Willson) in July 1880.

Having completed 2½ years of high school, and not getting along very well with a strict father, he left home in Newton, Kansas. But before he left home, he had worked as a motion picture operator in the Star Theatre in Newton, Kansas. This led him, after leaving home, to travel throughout Iowa, Kansas and Illinois earning his living selling and installing motion picture machines in theatres.

He met his future (first) wife in Chicago. Theresa Zapfel, the daughter of Tobias and Theresa Zapfel (nee Schaden), and he were married there in January 29, 1921. Although I do not have proof of this, the grandparents were members of and also original members of the St Paul Lutheran Church at 4855 W Homer Street, just 1/2 mile from their home at 2240 N Kilpatrick Avenue. This church is no longer in operation. It was one that held two Sunday Services; one in German and the other in English. The congregation composition changed dramatically over the years; hence, the attrition in membership until the church was no more.

They were married on January 29, 1921, almost exactly 11 months before I was born on December 30, 1921. And their marriage continued until the day that wife Theresa died in Chicago at Weiss Memorial Hospital after the final one of many heart failures-one of the characteristics of the Zapfel family. She was buried in Montrose Cemetery adjacent to the Zapfel Family plots.

Theresa Freeman (nee Zapfel) was born on December 27, 1898 in Rodony Hungary (since the 1920 plebiscite, known as Riedlingsdorf, Austria). The home she was born in was built by her grandfather in 1863; her father Tobias Zapfel was born in it on December 13, 1871 (the town was then known as Rodony, Hungary); his daughter, Theresa, on December 27, 1898. Correspondence that Tobias and Theresa Zapfel received from Rodony, Hungary at the inception of World War I speaks of the property they owned there: house #31, the house they lived in. It is in their possession. The house was sold to the parents of my cousin, Resi Schmaus, who now lives in this house with her husband, Leopold. My second wife. Nancy Jean, and I visited this cousin and this home during a European trip in June 1992. House # 31 then is now known as Riedlingsdorf 130, Oberanger 5, Burgenland Austria.

My research has proven that the roots of the Zapfels extend back to the 1790's in Rodony, Hungary. It was difficult research to perform since the records were variously in German, Hungarian, and Latin. So there may be much earlier information than the 1790's on this family that I was unable to uncover.