Fergen Family of the Black Forest

By Mary Fairchild
Reichstag Building.

LINK TO FERGEN FAMILY PHOTOS HERE

The term Reichstag dates back to the Holy Roman Empire.  The building was built for the Diet of the German Empire, which was succeeded by the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic.  The latter would become the Reichstag of Nazi Germany, which left the building (and ceased to act as a parliament) after the 1933 fire and never returned.

The German Empire was a unified German monarchy existing from 1871 to 1918. Its official name was the German Reich, or German Realm, designating Germany from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor from 1871 to 1918 when it became a federal republic after World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.  It consisted of 27 constituent territories that were mostly ruled by royal families.

Most people were generally segregated into their own religious worlds, living in rural districts or city neighborhoods that were overwhelmingly of the same religion, and sending their children to separate public schools where their religion was taught.  In 1870, the Catholics formed their own political party, the Centre Party, which generally supported unification and most of Bismarck’s policies. A powerful intellectual force of the time was anti-Catholicism, led by the liberal intellectuals who formed a vital part of Bismarck’s coalition. They saw the Catholic Church as a powerful force of reaction and anti-modernity, especially after the proclamation of papal infallibility in 1870, and the tightening control of the Vatican over the local bishops.

The Kulturkampf launched by Bismarck 1871–1880 affected Prussia; although there were similar movements in Baden and Hesse, the rest of Germany was not affected. According to the new imperial constitution, the states were in charge of religious and educational affairs; they funded the Protestant and Catholic schools. In July 1871 Bismarck abolished the Catholic section of the Prussian Ministry of ecclesiastical and educational affairs, depriving Catholics of their voice at the highest level. The system of strict government supervision of schools was applied only in Catholic areas; the Protestant schools were left alone.

Much more serious were the May laws of 1873. One made the appointment of any priest dependent on his attendance at a German university, as opposed to the seminaries that the Catholics typically used. Furthermore, all candidates for the ministry had to pass an examination in German culture before a state board which weeded out intransigent Catholics. Another provision gave the government a veto power over most church activities. A second law abolished the jurisdiction of the Vatican over the Catholic Church in Prussia; its authority was transferred to a government body controlled by Protestants.

Nearly all German bishops, clergy, and laymen rejected the legality of the new laws, and were defiant in the face of heavier and heavier penalties and imprisonments imposed by Bismarck’s government. By 1876, all the Prussian bishops were imprisoned or in exile, and a third of the Catholic parishes were without a priest. In the face of systematic defiance, the Bismarck government increased the penalties and its attacks, and were challenged in 1875 when a papal encyclical declared the whole ecclesiastical legislation of Prussia was invalid, and threatened to excommunicate any Catholic who obeyed.

In the long run, the most significant result was the mobilization of the Catholic voters, and their insistence on protecting their religious identity. In the elections of 1874, the Centre party doubled its popular vote, and became the second-largest party in the national parliament—and remained a powerful force for the next 60 years, so that after Bismarck it became difficult to form a government without their support.

Having learned from the failure of Bismarck’s Kulturkampf, Wilhelm II maintained good relations with the Roman Catholic Church and concentrated on opposing socialism. This policy failed when the Social Democrats won ⅓ of the votes in the 1912 elections to the Reichstag, and became the largest political party in Germany. The government remained in the hands of a succession of conservative coalitions supported by right-wing liberals or Catholic clerics and heavily dependent on the Kaiser’s favor. The rising militarism under Wilhelm II caused many Germans to emigrate to the U.S. and the British colonies to escape mandatory military service.

Marie and Ellen Fergen. (daughters of Caroline (Heeg) 

Immigration to America:  Although resources were strained, the immigrant’s lives were better in America than in the countries from which they had come. Jobs became plentiful and wages increased and Americans worked hard to provide for their families and looked to God for strength and guidance. In time, many were drawn from the farms to the cities, where they joined thousands of immigrants in search for work. As immigrant families settled in the cities, they often formed ethnic neighborhoods with others from their native land. (15)

At crucial points in the past, military prowess has established the role of the United States as a world power, but the character of its society has been even more important in defining its influence. Since the 19th century the United States has attracted immigrants from the Old World. The millions who passed through Ellis Island in New York anticipated that in “the land of the free and the home of the brave” they would enjoy opportunities not available in Europe. Asians immigrating to the western United States were equally hopeful.

Chicago: Fergen and Schimel families.

For millions of other men and women who remained in their own countries, America has served as an important example of political and economic freedom. Sukamo, the leader of the Indonesian independence movement, made a dramatic testimony to America’s influence during a visit to Hollywood, California. People in his country had seen American films and from them gotten the notion that common men and women could live free and prosperous lives. In the 1990s, however, the United States wrestled with a question fundamental to its identity as a nation: it sought to define the proper scope for government action and personal initiative in such matters as poverty and health care. Its people also faced the challenge of finding a constructive balance between ethnic uniqueness and national identity. (37)

Timeline Chicago:

• 1803–Fort Dearborn is erected in Chicago. Hostility with the Indians who were angered by continuing takeover of their lands was brutally seen in the war of 1812 when a group of soldiers and settlers, who had been ordered to evaluate Fort Dearborn in order to contact the Western military perimeter against the British, was ambushed by the Indians.
• 1816–Fort Dearborn was reestablished following peace between Great Britain and the United States. Large scale settlement began after the conclusion of the Black Hawk War of 1812. The treaty with the Indians provided for their relocation west of the Mississippi in return for certain payments in cash and goods. About 800 Indians joined in the last defiant dance of farewell before crossing the bridge of the South Branch of the Chicago River and heading westward until Chicago saw them no more.
• 1833—Black bear were still being killed on the fringes of what is now the Chicago Loop.
• 1837—Chicago is incorporated as a city with over 4,000 people.
• 1850—Chicago’s population is about 30,000.
• 1861—Civil War begins at Fort Sumter, South Carolina.
• 1862–The Homestead Act offers free government land and draws many settlers to the Great Plains. Many were not successful or did not survive the elements.
• 1863–Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery in Pennsylvania.
• 1821-1912– During the Civil War Clara Barton helped the wounded on the battlefields. In 1881 she founded the Red Cross.
• 1862-1935–Billy Sunday leaves a promising career with the Chicago White Sox to win people to Christ as an evangelist.
• 1865–Slavery is abolished. Lincoln is assassinated.
• 1865—The United States becomes a world power.
• 1869—The first railroad linking the east with the west coasts of the United States is completed.
• 1870–Congress passes the 15th amendment granting the right to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
• 1876—Alexander Graham Bell is granted the first U.S. patent for the telephone.
• 1876–The Battle of Little Big Horn. The Sioux Indians, led by chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, defeat General Custer and the Seventh Calvary.
• 1877—The phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison.
• 1885—The Washington Monument is dedicated in Washington, DC.
• 1886—The Statue of Liberty was unveiled in New York Harbor.
• 1886—Coca-Cola appears on the market in Atlanta, GA and is advertised as a remedy for fatigue.
• 1891—Basketball is first played in North America as the success of industry brought more time for leisure. Proper rules for football and baseball were also introduced.
• 1903—Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully fly a powered airplane in Kitty Hawk, NC.
• 1905—Albert Einstein formulates the theory of relativity with the equation E=mc21908—Henry Ford manufactures the first Model T automobile.
• 1909—Lincoln-head penny is issued. On the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth the Philadelphia mint replaces the Indian-head penny.
• 1910—Hailey’s Comet is observed.
• 1912—The Titanic sinks. The unsinkable luxury liner making its maiden voyage from England to the United States, collides with an iceberg and sinks, killing 1,513 people.
• 1920—During the economic boom of the “Roaring Twenties,” the traditional values of rural America were challenged by the Jazz Age, symbolized by women smoking, drinking and wearing short skirts. The average American was busy buying automobiles and buying household appliances “on credit,” and speculating in the stock market.Congress passes the 19th amendment guaranteeing woman suffrage.

Helen, Marie, and Honey Fergen pictured celebrating the women’s vote.

In the 1800s middle class women were expected to marry and obey their husbands. They had to know how to manage their servants so the house was run properly. They could not take a job because it was not considered respectable. The beginning of the battle of the sexes began in the garden when Eve took the forbidden fruit. God had ordained hierarchy of man being the head, but it was ordained without sin. It worked perfectly in love and sin is what has polluted it. Because of sin women have been mistreated through the centuries. There is still a hierarchy of headship in the church and the family, but when done in the love of Christ it is not abusive.

The term “fascism” was adopted in Italy during the 1920s by followers of Benito Mussolini. Later it was applied to Adolf Hitler of Germany. This political doctrine glorifies the state at the expense of the individual. It embraces and authoritarian leader, who embodies the state, and often involves racist ideologies, exalting one group at the expense of another. Unlike communism, under which all property is owned by the state, fascism encourages industrial and financial magnates. Like communism, it oversees individual and business activity, employing secret police to insure compliance with the state.

In 1922, Mussolini came to power with the help of a private army of thugs who beat up rival political candidates.  Heetat and established himself as II Duce, the leader. Fascism only appeal was it ability to provide order. Adolf Hitler won a following with a similar promise. He charged that the unpatriotic leaders has sold out his country at the Versailles conference. Germany had surrendered to the Allies in WWI while German troops still occupied France.

The Nazi Party was founded in 1919. In 1923 Hitler tried to seize the Bavarian state government. After his revolt failed, he decided to gain power by lawful means by attracting voters by promising to make German people prosperous, to ignore the Treaty of Versailles, and to rebuild Germany’s armed forces. By 1933 Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor and he soon overthrew the constitution and began to create a dictatorship. He permitted only one political party—the Nazi Party. Hitler and Mussolini supported another dictator, Francisco Franco, in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s. They were also attracted to Japan, an authoritarian power, then in the process of occupying China.

• 1927—Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr. flies nonstop from New York to Paris.
• 1929—“Black Tuesday.” Over 16 million shares are dumped for whatever they could bring, causing the stock market to crash and ushering The Great Depression. It spread from the United States to the rest of the world, lasting from the end of 1929 until the early 1940s. More than 15 million Americans became unemployed. President Herbert Hoover, a strong believer in rugged individualism, did not think the federal government should offer relief. Focusing on a trickle-down economic program to help finance businesses and banks, Hoover met with resistance from the business executives who preferred to lay off workers. Most Americans were able to provide for themselves, and others received help from family, friends, and private charities. Certain leaders, however, began to convince people that the government should solve their financial problems. As the government interfered with the American economy, many people began to depend on it for their financial needs. By 1932, the Depression was at its worst, and many people were open to socialistic ideas of government control and economic planning. (15)

When Franklin D. Roosevelt took the oath of office the Great Depression had reached its lowest depths. In the proposals that FDR made to congress, he followed the advice of a group of close advisors, mostly college professors, who came to be known as the “Brain Trust.” They urged the adoption of untried and unproven economic theories of John Maynard Keynes. Keynes was a British left-wing economic theoretician who advocated central planning and massive economic and social intervention on the part of government in order to bring a nation out of economic recession or depression. Keynesian economics and New Deal legislation were aimed at “priming the pump” and “spending the nation into prosperity.” (15)

New Deal policies substituted economic security for economic freedom. Roosevelt and his “Brain Trust” reinterpreted the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to mean that the federal government should not only create the conditions for happiness and prosperity, but now should actually create happiness and prosperity by providing federally guaranteed jobs, housing, income, and old age pensions. Many have said that under the New Deal, the United States took a large step away from a constitutional republic based upon law toward a socialist democracy based upon total “equality” for the masses. Roosevelt’s relief measures set a precedent for direct government intervention and involvement in the lives and property of the American people. Since Roosevelt’s day, many people have looked to Washington to meet nearly every need moving a long way from Thomas Jefferson’s dictum, “That government is best which governs least.” (15)

On April 19, 1933, Roosevelt took the country off the gold standard. All privately held gold was to be turned into the Federal Reserve banks in exchange for paper money. Taking the country of the gold standard shook the public confidence in the U.S. monetary system. In addition, the abandonment of the gold standard helped create a “managed currency” in the United States. In 1934, in an attempt t stimulate the economy by creating inflation, the federal government reduced the gold value of the dollar to 59.06 cents, or 59.06 percent of its former value. Now paper currency, which was already unredeemable, was only partially backed by gold. The American tradition of free enterprise and individual initiative, which had made the country great, was being replaced by an ever-expanding paternalistic federal bureaucracy. The staggering cost and long-term inefficiency of the New Deal also brought it much criticism. The national debt soared and unemployment remained a problem. (15)

For about six months after Robert Schimel Sr. lost his job. His mother tried to help them keep their home by making their payments. The bank had their money and closed its doors leaving everyone standing outside. With no job or money he decided to move his family in with his parents. They lived together for a few years. Then he got a job at the Chicago World’s Fair, which allowed the family to get their own apartment. They lived about five miles from Lake Michigan and Aunt Bell used to love to take Dolores and her brothers there just to sit on the rocks and look out over the lake. They’d stop for ice-cream on the way home. One of the neighbors used to tie up their little Scotty dog to the alley apartment fence during the day and Dolores would stop and talk to him. Soon she began dog sitting for them. Some of her friends went to matinee shows on Saturdays, which were set up for kids with cowboy shows, etc. From 5 to 6pm the kids were allowed to listen to the radio shows: “Little Orphan Annie,” Captain Midnight,” and “Jack Armstrong the All American Boy.” Then it was suppertime when her dad listened to his radio show. They often played baseball in the vacant lot down the street. Since the apartment was very small they played outside a lot. They played “Three Feet Off” where you have to make it from one curb to the other side without being caught by the called. Dolores had three close friends, Wilma, Lorraine, and Joyce. They often played paper dolls together.

Chicago’s Riverview Amusement Park was only 2 cents/day. Dolores Schimel’s favorite ride was the Silverstreak. Riverview was located in the heart of Chicago, at Western and Belmont Avenues. At the entrance on Western, that was the east side, on the west end they had a picnic area and the branch of the river, hence the name “Riverview.” North of the park was Lane Tech High School where Peter Turuc went to school. On the opposite side on Belmont Avenue, they had a roller rink. By 1967, the land on which Riverview was located became more valuable than the business itself.

Pete Turuc and Dolores Schimel met at the Aragon. Pete asked Dolores to dance. Then she invited him to a picnic in Virgil. The Aragon ballroom had instructor night on Tuesday night. The club was called the 400 club. Honey Fergen was there too. Members came to help beginners learn how to dance. Honey was a demonstrator. Members had free admittance to two ballrooms. Pete’s number was 476 to prove he was a member which involved taking a test. The “Jitter Bug” was not allowed. A big bouncer would shake his finger if you attempted to dance that way. They tried to keep a refined dance place. The Aragon Ballroom was Chicago’s famous North side night spot. It opened in 1926 with the “King of Jazz”, Paul Whiteman and his orchestra. The Aragon Ballroom along with its sister operation, the Trianon, on the south side, was extremely popular with dancers during the thirties and forties. Although the Trianon and its organ did not survive, the Aragon and its WurliTzer organ remain virtually unchanged today even though its main floor has not seen dance couples except for a few isolated special occasions in years. Used mainly now as an exhibition hall for sporting events and private parties. For years Hal Pearl reigned supreme at the 3/10 WurliTzer console and was very popular with the dancers.

Another popular spot was the Cuban village which was across the street from Vine Gardens in Chicago. It had Latin dancing and floor shows. Pete took Peppie and Estel, the instructors, over to the Frank Morgan Dance Studio, where he was teaching at the time, and they gave a Latin dance demo. At the Frank Morgan Dance Studio Pete did a dance demo for Fred Astaire. He got to meet him while he was there looking for a place to open his own studio. Frank Morgan was trying to interest him in a deal. Pete’s first dance job was at Arthur Murry Dance Studio on 64 E. Jackson Blvd. At that time Frank Morgan was teaching alongside him. Shortly after he opened his own studio and Pete worked there. Pete worked at a bakery while in high school. Then he worked at the Buick Motor division’s air craft engine manufacture in Melrose Park. He worked at the Douglas Air Craft assembly plant at O’Hare Field assembling air craft and sheet metal for a time and then, when the war started, he started working at dance studios when jobs were scarce. He returned to the bakery for awhile and then did state operating engineer work for the next 40 years. In December of 1986 he tore his rotator cuff and could not go back to work.

• 1948—Israel The search for peace in the Middle East continued with Israel signing an accord with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in September 1993 and a peace treaty with Jordan in October 1994. The accord with the PLO called for a five-year period of limited Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip and the town of Jericho on the West Bank. By December 1994 the Palestine National Authority (PNA) controlled education, health, social welfare, taxation, and tourism in these areas. Negotiations continued despite outbreaks of violence by both Arabs and Israelis who oppose the accord. July 1, 1995, was set as the deadline for an agreement on elections and expanded self-rule. (36)

The Jordanian treaty ended the state of war between Israel and Jordan. In the treaty, the two nations promised to address territorial boundaries, economic relations, and to improve security. Both Syria and a minority of Islamic activists opposed the treaty, believing that it would undermine the Palestinian claim on Jerusalem. (36)

CATHERINE (GRAEBNER) HEEG (c. 1839-1899/1903) and JOHANN HEEG (c. 1838-1922).

LINK TO FAMILY PHOTOS HERE

Johann was born 15 Aug 1838 in Hohl, Mombris, Germany. He was the son of JACOB HEEG and BARBARA WISSEL. He died in Platte Center, Platte, Nebraska, and was cremated in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Platte Center, Nebraska. He married Catherine Graebner whose parents are not known. She died 1899/1903, and was cremated in St. Bonatice, Chicago, Illinois. They had 11 children.

1. THERESA HEEG was born 14 Feb 1860 in Carsback on Hyon, Bavaria, Germany. She married John Alexander Boston in Chicago, Illinois. They had one child. John was born 1 Jan 1854 in Belfast, Ireland. His parents are not known. John died 25 Aug 1931 in Mobile, Alabama. Theresa died 5 Nov 1952 n Mobile, Alabama.
2. SUSANNA HEEG was born 10 Sep 1861 in Carsback, Bavaria, Germany. She married Mike Brust. They had six children. Mike was born 18 June 1861 in Karsback, Bavaria, Germany. His parents are not known. Mike died 3 Nov 1929 in Chicago, Illinois, and was buried in River Grove. Susanna died 4 Jan 1939.
3. CONRAD HEEG was born 14 Jan 1863 in Roesell Kolb, Pommern, Germany. He immigrated to USA in 1883-84 at the age of 21. From Ellis Island he went to Chicago, Illinois. He went to Wood County in 1898, and bought an 80-acre farm in Auburndale township. In the winter of 1900-1901 he began lumbering for the Upham Company of Marshfield continuing until 1909 he traded the farm for a hotel which was a brick structure of 14 rooms, steam heated and electrically lighted. He served as a member of the village board, a supervisor of his township. In politics he was a republican and his family were members of St. Mary’s Catholic Church of Auburndale(History of Wood County). He married Augusta Wilhema Schroeder in Chicago, Illinois. They had 11 children. Augusta was born 26 Dec 1872 in Rosell Kolb, Pommern, Germany. Her parents are not known. Augusta died 24 Aug 1934 in Auburndale, Wisconsin. Conrad died 4 Sep 1953 in Nekoosa, Wisconsin.
4. CHARLES SEBASTIAN HEEG was born 22 Apr 1864 in Aschaffenburg County, Germany. He came to USA in 1882 and was employed in the Chicago area by the Remington Typewriter Company for about 9 years. About 1891, Charles and his wife purchased and operated a summer resort hotel at Montague, Michigan on White Lake. Subsequent to this Conrad was a postmaster at Bradyville, Michigan for two years. In 1897 they purchased an 80-acre farm near Bradyville and subsequently purchased 165 acres near Martinsville, Ohio. In 1914 they moved to Howell, Michigan and purchased 210-acre farm on the Byron Road. They engaged in the Holstein Cattle business with the honor and distinction of winning the cup (full age class) in Livingston County for three consecutive years, also winning state and national honors (1938 newspaper article reporting on their 50th wedding anniversary). He married Bertha Clara Breitzka 1 Mar 1888 in Chicago, Illinois. They had 9 children. Bertha was born 17 Nov 1864 in Bromberg, Germany. Her parents are not known. Bertha died 16 Jan 1946 in Lansing, Michigan, and was buried in Howell, Michigan. Charles died 24 Jul 1943 in Howell, Michigan.
5. HENRY DAMIAN HEEG was born 10 Nov 1868 in Hohl, Mombris, Germany. He declared his mention to become a US citizen on 9 Jul 1890 and became a naturalized citizen 1 Apr 1895 in Chicago, Illinois. He was a construction worker in Chicago. He married Grace Carroll. They had 7 children. “John and Martin Heeg were born in Chicago in 1894 and 1897 while Gertrude was born at Marshalltown, Wisconsin in 1899, and Mary was born at Petersburg, Nebraska in 1902.

The family moved to 2927 N. Francisco Avenue, Chicago, where Agnes was born in 1904 and Leona in 1907. Aloysius was born in Sydney, Nebraska in 1909. Johann Heeg lived across the street from the school and church the family attended. One of Johann’s granddaughters wrote ‘he looks like Santa Claus to me.’ Martin and Gertrude were running a farm in Wisconsin around while the rest of the family had moved to Shelby, Nebraska. Summer of 1920 the family started remodeling a house in Sydney, Nebraska—according to a letter from Grace Caroll to Adolph and family. In 1921 the family is operating a hotel in Platte Center, Nebraska; while there, Henry’s brother Conrad came to visit. A picture postcard reads H.D. Heeg Prop. Clother Hotel. Around 1920 Johan Heeg came to live until his death in 1928; as one family member said, ‘finally settling down.’ The family moved to Sydney, Nebraska in 1928.” (letters by Grace C. Heeg 14 Nov 1920 and 30 Aug 1921 to Adolf Heeg family; information sent to James A Herbert of Omaha, Nebraska by Jerry Bennet of Tempe AZ, 1999). Grace (wife) was born 25 Aug 1869. Her parents are not known. Grace died 10 Apr 1930 in Sidney, Nebraska, and was buried in Sidney, Nebraska. Henry died 26 Jul 1959 in Sidney, Cheyenne, Nebraska, and was buried 30 Jul 1959 in Sidney, Nebraska.

6. ELIZABETH HEEG was born 6 Oct 1869 in Karsback, Bavaria, Germany. She married John Louis Emmert 27 Oct 1889 in Chicago, Illinois. They had 11 children. John was born 23 Aug 1858 in Bavaria County, Germany. His parents are not known. John died 23 Dec 1928 in Chicago, Illinois, and was buried in River Grove, Illinois.

7. ROSE HEEG was born 4 Apr 1871. She married Peter Wirtz. His parents are not known. Rose married Fritz Bilstein. They had 3 children. His parents are not known. Fritz died, and was buried in Chicago. Rose died 29 May 1943.

8. CAROLINE KATHERINE HEEG was born 24 Jan 1873 in Carsbach, Bavaria, Germany. She married Julius John Fergen 7 Jul 1895 in Chicago, Illinois. JULIUS JOHN FERGEN (c. 1872-1954) was born in Breussen, Heimbach, Weiss, Germany. Julius and Caroline had 6 children. Julius was born 24 Sep 1872 in Breussen, Heimbach, Weiss, Germany. His parents are not known. Julius died 5 Apr 1954 in Chicago, Illinois, and is buried in River Grove. Caroline died 19 Dec 1969, and was buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, River Grove, Illinois.

9. ADOLPH HEEG was born 19 Feb 1878 in Bavaria County, Germany. He married Lena Mary Widerhold 27 Nov 1899 in Necedah, Wisconsin. They had three children. Lena was born 24 May 1877 in Dingelstadt, Germany. Her parents are not known. Lena died 11 Feb 1983 at the age of 105, 9 months and 17 days. Adolph died 9 Mar 1953 in Shelby, Michigan.

10. JOSEPH ADOLF HEEG was born 7 Feb 1882 in Bavaria County, Germany. He married Gertrude Discher 17 Jun. They had 7 children. Gertrude was born 9 Jun 1886 in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents are not known. Gertrude died 30 May 1948 in Chicago, Illinois. Joseph died 10 Feb 1964 in Chicago, Illinois, and was buried in St. Joseph Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois.

11. MARTIN HEEG: Martin accidentally shot himself when he was ABT 28 years old while hunting with his father and brothers, Charles and Henry in Wisconsin Woods. His father was on shore and when getting into the boat he noticed Martin was mishandling his gun (drag. by barrel) and the gun discharged….Per Lena Heeg, 30 Dec 1969.

THE RHINE RIVER

“When one journeys along the more beautiful portion of the Rhine, a fine old castle often comes into view, as a turn in the river course reveals an especially bold cliff. Sometimes several such reminders of the past may be seen from a single point on the river. Many of these are in ruins, but now and then one is scene that is still kept up as a residence… There are many terraced vineyards on the sloping hillsides bordering the Rhine, and likewise many a quaint village built on a narrow strip of flood-plain between the river and the cliff…wild glens on the sides, and broad, wooded valleys, which open up charming views form the river. The openings in the valley walls, where the tributaries enter, are favorite sites for towns.” (11)

THE BLACK FOREST

The Black Forest is a mountainous region with thick forests of dark fir and spruce trees. It is the scene of many old German legends and fairly tales. The region is also known for its mineral springs. (11)  Caroline Katherine (Heeg) Fergen (c. 1873-1969) loved this area and spoke of its grape vineyards and the beautiful Rhine River. Although living in Chicago at the time, from what she knew, she felt Hitler was a “great man.” During the early 1930’s the National Socialist German Workers’ Party(Nazi Party), headed by Adolf Hitler, made rapid gains in German elections. When Hindenburg died in 1934, Hitler declared himself “fuhrer (leader) of Germany. The Nazis called their government the “Third Reich” (Third Empire). The first was the Holy Roman Empire and the second was the German Empire. Many were attracted to National Socialism because it linked everything, or nearly everything, together—the workers “by brain and by hand” were no longer apart, employers and employees were no longer opponents, and town and country were merged in the nation. Romantic talk of Blut and Boden, “blood and soil,” and the simple life of the farmer…Folk dancing and the residential settlement movement…and “Strength through Joy” allowed many to join in and give them identity. Within the labyrinth of modern society the Nazi dictatorship opened up spaces where no law applied, except the Fuhrer’s command. The past meant nothing; at best it was a dark period that had to be overcome—the Hitler youth referred to old people as mere “cemetery vegetables.”

The guardian state supplied universal care, but also intrusive supervision. Concentration camps, Gestapo, block wardens and Party bigwigs all existed, but it was better to look the other way. For those with doubts, there was a defensive mechanism in the phrase: “If only the Fuhrer knew…” The Nazis seized control of the nation’s courts, industries, newspapers, police, and schools. Many children were taught to spy, even on their parents, for the Nazis. Those who opposed the Nazi dictatorship were murdered, imprisoned in concentration camps, or beaten up by Hitler’s private army of hoodlums, called storm troopers. (12)

DECENDANTS OF JULIIUS FERGEN & CAROLINE HEEG

Caroline and Julius had six children.

1. Peter Martin Fergen (c. 24 Mar 1896-24 Dec 1971).
2. Julius John Jr. Fergen (c. 4 Mar 1898-17 Feb 1974).
3. Marie Susan (May) Fergen (c. 4 Sep 1899-2 Mar 1980).
4. Ellen Caroline Fergen (c. 22 Jan 1903-10 Apr 1976).
5. Isabella Rose(Bell) Fergen (c. 24 Jun 1906-31 Dec 1979).
6. Honey Catherine (Kay) Fergen (c. 14 Mar 1913-2007).

PETER MARTIN FERGEN was born 24 Mar 1896 in Chicago, Illinois. He died 24 Dec 1971, and was buried in Arlington Heights, Illinois. He married Catherine Marie Ulman 23 Jul 1921 in Chicago. She was born 2 Dec 1898 in Chicago. Catherine died 18 Mar 1987, and was buried in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Peter and Catherine had one child:

1. Kenneth Peter Fergen was born 6 Sep 1930 in Chicago, Illinois. Kenneth died 16 June 2014.  He married Lucille Mary Regas 29 Sep 1951 in Chicago. She was born 13 Sep 1931 in Chicago. They had three children:

1)Lawrence Kenneth Fergen was born 25 May 1953 in Chicago. He married Judith A. Lachel 3 Jan 1976. She was born 12 Nov 1952. They two children:
1)Chelsea Lyra Fergen born 15 Aug 1979. 2) Ravelle Anastasia Fergen born 30 Jan 1982.  Ravelle served in Operation Iraqi Freedom serving in the Army and deployed to Iraq in 2004.  Ravelle had one daughter Chloe Annabelle Sears born 11 Sep 2005.  Ravelle remarried Josh Eddie 25 May 2013.
2)Karen Lucille Fergen born 24 Nov 1955. She married Mark A. Hansen 1 Jun 1974. He was born 26 Mar 1948. They had two children:
1)Jessica M. Hansen born 10 Apr 1980.
2)Rachel C. Hansen born 7 Jan 1987.
3)Randall Peter Fergen was born 12 Aug 1962 in McHenry, Illinois. He married Heidi Joelie Fredrick 1 Sep 1996. Heidi was born 20 Nov 1967.

JULIUS JOHN FERGEN JR. was born 4 Mar 1898 in Chicago, Illinois. Julius died 17 Feb 1974, and was buried in River Grove, Illinois. He married Mary Louisa Whitehouse 23 Oct 1926 in Chicago, Illinois. She was born 26 Feb 1908 in West Bromwich, England. Mary died 19 Nov 1994. They had two children:

1. Gloria Louise Fergen born 9 Aug 1928 and was married to David Patrick Jr. Dooley 7 Jul 1951 in Chicago, Illinois. He was born 9 Jul 1926 in Chicago, Illinois. They had six children.

MARIE SUSAN (MAY) FERGEN was born 4 Sep 1899 in Chicago, Illinois. She married James Edward Cullerton 2 Feb 1928 in Chicago, Illinois. He was born 11 Jan1899 in Chicago, Illinois. Marie died 2 Mar 1980, and was buried in River Grove, Illinois. James died 18 Aug 1965, and was buried in St Joseph’s Cemetery, River Grove, Illinois. They had two children:

1. Patricia Carol Cullerton born 6 Nov 1930, died 4 Jul 1945, and was buried in River Grove.
2. James Edward Cullerton was born 8 Aug 1933 in Chicago, died 2 Oct 1988, and was buried in River Grove, Illinois.

ELLEN CAROLINE FERGEN was born 22 Jan 1903 in Chicago, Illinois. She married Robert Anton Schimel 21 Jun 1924 in Chicago, Illinois. He was born 24 Feb 1899 in Chicago, Illinois. Ellen died 10 Apr 1976, and was buried in River Grove, Illinois. Robert died 9 Apr 1976.

Robert Schimel’s father(pictured above) lost his arm in a machine belt while working in a factory. He went back to South Harem, MI to find a job after the accident. Along with his 4 sons and his wife they tried to manage farming in order to feed the family. When the children (Joe, John, Robert) grew up they found jobs in Chicago. Robert and Tony, the youngest, once had an auto repair business. Later they got jobs at the World’s Fair 1933 where they got interested in air conditioning and refrigeration. They shoveled coal in the Navy for the furnace and boiler rooms. One became, a cousin (Charles Albright), a president of a local 399 Operating Engineers Union in Chicago—also a consulting engineer. Charles Albright is Robert’s cousin. Robert and Teeny (Charles mother and father) owned part of the Wittenmeyer & Croshell Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Builders and Engineers business. This business built equipment for the 1933 fair. Then he was chief engineer at eh Nutriene Candy Company. He was in WWI and WWII. Aunt Teenie was the sister of Robert’s father. Robert was involved with the refrigeration of the ice rink at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair.

They had three children:

1. Robert Julius Schimel born 6 Apr 1925 in Chicago, IL, died 20 Sep 1924.  Robert Julius Schimel married Dolores Cichanski 1 Aug 1949 in Chicago, Illinois. Robert and Dolores had 7 children.
2. Dolores Mary Schimel born 1 Sep 1927, died 28 Sep 2014.  Dolores Mary Schimel married Peter Paul Turuc 27 Nov 1948 in Chicago, Illinois. He was born 13 Jul 1924 in Chicago, Illinois, 28 Sep 2013. They had four children.
3. Donald James Schimel born 9 Jun 1929.  Donald James Schimel married Joan Elizabeth Guinand 29 Nov 1952 in Chicago, Illinois. Joan was born 8 Jun 1930 in Chicago, Illinois. They had five children:

ISABELLA ROSE (Bell) FERGEN was born 24 Jun 1906 in Chicago, Illinois. She died 31 Dec 1979.

HONEY CATHERINE FERGEN was born 14 Mar 1913in Chicago, Illinois. She married Andrew Stephen Garand 30 Apr 1955. Andrew was born 3 Sep 1913 and he died 12 Jan 1962. They had one child.

21ST CENTURY AMERICA

Fergen Christmas Tree

Colonials disapproved of blending Christianity and astrology and saw magic as evil and demonic. But after 1720 immigrants from Europe challenged the Protestant worldview and irrevocably changed the cultural landscape of America. People were encouraged to shape their own destinies and this optimism and emphasis on personal experience became a basic assumption underlying mid-nineteenth alternative religious movements. The reformist agenda was initiated by a transformed social and economic landscape and revivalism’s emphasis on the ability of humans to direct their own lives and to perfect the world around them. The Second Great Awakening (1800-1830) was also a time of spurred interest in many alternatives to Christianity. The “psychic highway” followed the Erie Canal through New York west of the Catskills and the Adirondack Mountains. Rochester and Utica became known as the “Burned-over District” as religious revivals spread across the district. Early Mormonism was started there as well as Spiritualism, which eventually developed in different directions. During the years from 1812-1860, a “hothouse” atmosphere surfaced for social experimentation and religious creativity. As our country moved into commercial greatness, crowded cities staged popular speakers and held demonstrations were political and religious ideas were exchanged. (10)

In the 1960s the “beat generation” opened the floodgates of overt sin in America. Drugs, sexual experimentation, rebellion against conformity to society’s norms, and a gradual dissolution of differences between men and women were all ingested. To a large degree, mass media promoted the rejection of the traditional morality that was grounded in Biblical ethic that guided the founders of this nation. A morality-free society agenda was pushed, just like the Soviet Union had done and  the destruction of America would come from “internal” corruption of the American ideals which had been predicated upon a Biblical ethic.

Although we brought down the Soviet Union, the agenda of that corrupt system is alive and well in this country’s academia, media, governments and churches. Based on the belief that individual liberty means individual license to do as one pleases, “You can’t legislate morality” is their cry, in spite of the fact that most governments that have ever existed have based their laws upon a moral framework that distinguishes between right and wrong.

With evolutionary thinking, progress soon became synonymous with the passage of time and students were segregated by age. Students were now judged to be either “ahead” or “behind” their peer group. The one-room school house had been the norm since there was no impetus to segregate based on maturity level. At the turn of the twentieth century, Granville Stanly Hall used the social applications of Darwin’s work in biology and suggested that individuals evolve through the same stages through which human history has evolved. Infants and toddlers were associated with pre-savage periods of human history; he counseled parents and teachers to leave their young children to Nature and encourage play which fosters motor development. Likened to the early pygmies and other savages, a crisis period of transition led to the pre-adolescent years of 8-12; these children could be drilled and disciplined in school. Then another period of crisis came at adolescence, which he deemed the most critical period in one’s life. In his greatest work, Hall developed this theory in which he called his “recapitulation theory” in a two-volume tome titled “Adolescence: its Psychology, and its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion and Education. (24)

Rebellion was actually viewed as a positive thing as Hall taught that each generation is or should be superior to the previous one, and therefore needs to break free from those which precede it. Hall’s renowned follower, John Dewey, later applied these theories to the public school system. Dewey taught a generation of teachers and school administrators through his laboratory school for progressive education at the University of Chicago. He created high schools to segregate teens from other children and from adults. Within a generation after Dewey, an adolescent sub-culture immerged. By the 1950s, teens had their own music, language, and dress. The fifties’ James Dean’s movie “Rebel Without a Cause” contained the theme that the nobility of youth suffers at the hands of an evil older generation which lacks understanding. Elvis Presely would soon promote certain hair styles, dress, and attitudes that became legendary. Then, Dustin Hoffman would deal the final blow at parental authority and respect in movie “The Graduate.” Today the youth culture is the “dominant culture.” (24)

Only 40 years ago, self-centeredness was considered a human failing, and an ugly one. Today self is at the center of most psychotherapies.  Instead of being denied, self is now loved, esteemed, and promoted. Right and wrong have lost their meaning because, according to modern psychology, none of us is responsible for anything we do. We are all victims, driven to do whatever we do by the traumas we suffered as children, traumas which have created hidden motives and urges buried in the unconscious and are thus unknown to us and beyond our control. Instead of being held accountable, therapy is given. Everything from disobedience to murder is excused as some syndrome or addiction. Before Freud, no educated adult could find a plausible reason to avoid responsibility for his actions. Left to psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychology, man has become blameless. It is not done by covering his faults, but by tracing them back to his childhood, when he was morally innocent… (24)

The Minneapolis “Star Tribune” documented that sex offenders who received the state’s psychological treatment (much of it emphasizing the building up of self-esteem) were “more likely to commit new sex crimes than those who did not receive treatment.” (24, p. 471) Numerous studies by secular psychologists and psychiatrists have demonstrated that the higher one’s self-esteem, the more likely one is to be immoral, violent, and prone to trample on the rights of others. Newsweek’s cover announced its feature article in large letters: “The Curse of Self-Esteem: What’s Wrong With the Feel Good Movement.” (Newsweek, February 17, 1992, front cover and major article).

A “Reader’s Digest” article commented: “….Sin isn’t something many people spent much time worrying about in the past 25 years. But…sin…at least offered a frame of reference for behavior. When the frame was dismantled during the sexual revolution, we lost the guide wire of personal responsibility… The United States has problems with drugs, high-school sex, AIDS and rape. None of these will go away until people in positions of responsibility come forward and explain, in frankly moral terms, that some of the things people do nowadays are wrong.” (Reader’s Digest, May 1992, reprinted from the Wall Street Journal).

In 1969, “Psychology Today” declared that we must “face our own inner experiences without the guidance of traditional…..foundation stones of Judeo-Christian experience….We are compelled to erect our own morality, arrive at our own faith and belief…” (“Psychology Today, Psychology Tomorrow, Psychology Forever,” in “Chronicles,” March 1986, p. 48).

Explanations for why people behave the way they do and how they change have concerned philosophers, theologians, cultists, and occultists throughout centuries. When it comes to behavior and attitudes, and morals and values, we are dealing with religion—either Christian faith or any one of a number of other religions. All forms of psychotherapy are religious. Both Freud and Jung led their followers in the quest for alternative understandings of mankind and alternative solutions to problems of living. In his book “The Myth of Psychotherapy,” psychiatrist Thomas Szaz says, “The basic ingredients of psychotherapy are religion, rhetoric, and repression.” (Garden City; Anchor/Doubleday, 1978, pp. 240-241)

On December 5, 1980, the United Nations General Assembly formulated the Global Education Project. Based on UN assistant secretary-general Robert Muller’s World Core Curriculum, a model for global education for every nation was set up in Costa Rica called the University for Peace. Stressing “thinking skills” rather than academics, it is designed to instill non-competitive group consciousness, critical thinking, and global citizenship. Muller is an evolutionist who believes man is about to take a quantum leap toward becoming a new species. He believes that the earth is going to be transformed into the “planet of God.” To him God is the “planetary age” or the “age of Aquarius.” He agrees with the Hindus in calling the earth God.

This is the foundation of our radical environmentalists today. They are striving for a spiritual at-one-ment with nature—a unified world system where the individual is subordinated into the whole. This World Core Curriculum promotes Eastern meditation techniques, including “guided fantasies into space,” which is also called “out-of-body travel” or “astral projection.” Muller’s concepts are actually taken from occultist Alice Bailey’s writings which were channeled the spirit guide Djwhal Kuhl, also known as the Tibetan. These channeled spirit guides are from an alleged group of evolutionary beings who have attained a high degree of evolutionary perfection which released them from bondage to the material world. This holistic view of life views the planet as interconnected, with no life form having any greater standing than any other life form. Imperfect while we are still man, our next stage is said to take us to a level that is psychologically, spiritually, and physically superior where we will be a true “planetary citizen.” (27)

Scripture tells us that man’s inward thoughts and intents of the heart are corrupt (Jeremiah 17:9). Scripture also tells us that the love of many will grow cold toward the end of the church age and that sin will abound (Matthew 24:12). Even in the Millennium Jesus and His saints will need to rule with a “rod of iron” against those who will rebel against His government (Rev. 2:27; 12;5, 19;15). God always allows evil to exist in the world to test the hearts of men so that none will be without excuse. We are not to take for ourselves what He has not ordained.

Western Civilization has largely been shaped by the esoteric philosophies of secret societies working through the influence of members in strategic political positions. Most secret societies are based on the basic philosophy of deism which is based on human reason rather than revelation (Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, Illuminsim, etc.). They all plan to establish a one-world society based on human reason and personal freedom. A democracy can be easily changed into a world society, especially if wars can be used to persuade the masses to seek safety and peace in a world federation of states.

COMPUTERS—during the 1980s, computers became progressively smaller, better, and cheaper. As the hardware became more powerful, software became more sophisticated. In 1992 the computer industry was the fastest growing industry in the world. By the year 2000, computers guided planes, controlled traffic, processed words and numbers, and kept track of appointments…. They became the heart of modern business, medical research, and academics. (39)

THE CHURCH AGE—throughout the history of the church, there are those people who come and they listen and sometimes they appreciate what’s being said ….sometimes they don’t, but they always put off coming to grips with the person of Jesus Christ and their response to Him.

Life is so uncertain. Who knows if we will see you again next Sunday….if you will be on the earth? and I speak very frankly with you. Everyone is going to have to one day bow before this person Jesus Christ Paul tells us and confess that He is Lord. And yet for those who have come to know Him as Saviour, it is not an ordeal, it is a joy. Because the difference in meeting God, whether it is meeting Him in love or in fear is whether you have responded to the provision of grace that God has made. If you respond to it and say “I accept by faith, I believe that Jesus Christ paid my penalty. I believe that He died for me—He is my Saviour. If a person believes that with saving faith, I mean you trust it—it is a certainty, then you will greet Him overjoyed, excited to see His face. As the song said, “Just to see a smile in your direction from Him will be glory for you.” But if you reject that provision, one day you will have to face Him in a horrible condition with no excuse, with no plea and with nothing to be brought forward but your sin and that will be the day you will hear the voice of the Son of God say, “Into all eternity you must go into hell.” I hope that you have considered that in your life. I hope that if you never have that you will consider it this morning. It’s the truth….simply acknowledge in your heart “it’s true.” (25; Mooberry)

HIS STORY

The Trinity, the Triune God already existed and is eternal. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1:1-3

Prior to the creation of the universe, the Word of God existed and there are indications in the Scriptures from the genealogies in Genesis 5 and 11, and the way they are written, that there is evidence to believe that creation event took place some 4, 000 years before Christ. The agent of this event is found in verse 1, “In the beginning ‘God’ created the heavens and earth.” This is the only true God; the only self-existent divine Being consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. He has always existed and was created by no one. This is who created the universe.

“Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Psalm 90:2

“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” Hebrews 11:3

Only Creation explains the difference between man and animals, it is an unbridgeable chasm. God created man altogether greater than any higher animal because we are created in His image. Only Creation explains moral nature. Every single tribe of people throughout history has had a moral value system; a distinction between right and wrong. This comes from the conscience that was planted in man’s heart. The consciousness of his moral nature is the basis of all law and sanity and of all purpose and meaning in life. This is not from a physiological transformation of any cell because we are now talking about the area of the soul.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, in Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Genesis 1:26

This is the separation between man and everything else. The Trinity is also being taught to us in this verse, too: “Let ‘Us’ make man in ‘Our’ own image.” Within the moral universe in which we live, the existence of the concept of good and evil and sin and death is only explained by the Genesis Creation account.

“For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:16,17

The whole universe did not exist prior to Genesis 1:1. Evolution believes that matter and the universe are eternal; the eternality of matter. That viewpoint is really a pagan viewpoint. The Scriptures claim it was created out of divine fiat; by the spoken word of God. God spoke and it came into existence. His eight commands explain everything in the universe. In speaking the universe into being, God was willing that it should appear and become, and it did. His thought was shaping it exactly from the least cell in Adam to the furthest star and galaxy at the same moment. For in Him all things were created and in Him all things hold together. When we look at the farthest galaxy we can see and then we look in the microscope at the smallest particle we can see and realize that one personality designed and created that. He spoke a word and things came into existence. This power is resident in the Word that we have written in the Bible as well. Hebrews 4:12 says that the Word is alive and active and powerful.

The world was created “ex nihilo,” out of nothing, by divine fiat, by the spoken word of God, and in order by days. The word for days in Genesis is “yom.” The normal meaning of “yom” is a 24 hour day and whenever “yom” occurs with a number like “the forth yom” it is always a 24 hour day. When it announces “there was a morning and an evening” we can’t mistake the fact that it is a 24 hour day. The next question is “Why six days”? The answer is in Exodus 20:9-11 in the giving of the Ten Commandments, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” God gave mankind a pattern, an example. He applied it to Israel in the strictest way of the Sabbath Day being observed, but it is nevertheless a pattern for mankind to set aside a seventh day for worship and rest in their schedule.

“Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind…” Romans 1: 19-28

In all creation, it is evident that His fingerprints are there. That man can look at what has been made, and with the reason that God has given, man can come the conclusion properly that God created this. Because man denies that is evidence of the sinfulness of man and the fallen depraved minds that we have today. Only Creation explains the intricate order of the universe. You cannot explain the degree and the depth of order in our solar system and our planetary system and in life by random chance. The geometry of nature, the construction of cells and the growth, and the efficiency of nature…. The Bible declares that man began at the top and because of sin fell to the bottom. This contradicts evolutionary social philosophers that teach that all of mankind’s social ills are a product of either hereditary or environmental problems. They are simply denying man’s depravity, man’s original sin. Legislators will not be able to create the perfect environment, and men will never obtain ultimate ideals. Genetics will not be able to reprogram and improve man to rid him of all of the evil and pain in this world. Man has already been tested under the most favorable conditions and he failed. Man’s problem today is not external, it is internal. (3; Jim Mooberry)

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sin— “ Romans 5:12

GENEALOGY
Adam: Creation to 930 years
Seth: 130 to 1042 (912 years)
Enosh: 235 to 1140 (905 years)
Kenan: 325 to 1235 (910 years)
Mahalell: 395 to 1290 (895 years)
Jared: 460 to 1422 (962 years)
Enoch: 622 to 987 (365 years)
Methuselah: 687 to 1656 (969 years)
Lamech: 874 to 1651 (777 years)
Noah: 1056 to 2006 (950 years)
Shem: 1588 to 2158 (600 years)
Arpachschad: 1659 to 2097 (438 years)
Shelah: 1694 to 2127 (433 years)
Eber: 1724 to 2188 (464 years)
Peleg: 1758 to 1997 (239 years)
Reu: 1788 to 2027 (239 years)
Serug: 1820 to 2050 (230 years)
Nahor: 1850 to 1998 (148 years)
Terah: 1879 to 2084 (205 years)
Abraham: 2009 to 2184 (175 years)
Isaac: 2109 to 2289 (180 years)
Jacob: 2169 to 2316 (147 years)
Joseph: 2260 to 2370 (110 years)

Notice the downward trend in the lifespan of the patriarchs very near the time of the flood. This strongly suggests that man’s lifestyle underwent a drastic change which contributes to our relatively short lifespan. Each of the first nine patriarchs had sons and daughters (Gen. 5) which implies that they had large families with the lifespan of Adam, Methuselah, Shem, and Abraham overlapping.

WORKS CITED
1. Richard Terrell’s “Resurrecting the Third Reich”
2. Jonathan Sarfti, “The Nazis Planned to Exterminate Christianity,” “The Holocaust And Evolution,” Creation Magazine #24, 2002.
3. “The Faithful Word: Creation Fact or Fiction,” Pastor Jim Mooberry
4. William Shirer’s “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”
5. “The Rise of the Fourth Reich: Funding the Hitler Project,” http://watch.pair.com/riech.html .
6. Judy Pinalto, “Unholy Hands On the Bible,” http://watch.pair.com/unholy.html .
7. Anthony C. Sutton, “How the Order Creates War and Revolution,” Ch. 1.
8. Psychosocial Manipulation of Human Populations: http://www.connectcorp.net/~trufax/menu/mind.html
9. Mark Burdman, “Eugenics Society: Masters of Genocide,” http://www.bosnet.org/archive/bosnet.w3archive/9407/msg00211.html
10. Sara M. Pike, “New Age and Neopagan Religions in America,” 2004.
11. World Book Encyclopedia B, 1969, “Black Forest.”
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14. Michael Sturmer, “German Century,” 1999.
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16. World Book Encyclopedia Y, 1969, “Yugoslavia.”
17. A Beka Book, “Biology: God’s Living Creation,” 1997; http://www.abeka.com/
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22. Christopher Schlect, “Critique of Modern Youth Ministry,” Canon Press, 1995.
23. Al Dager, “Allegiance: To Whom Do We Pledge?” Media Spotlight Vol. 25—NO. 3, http://www.mediaspotlight.org/
24. Dave Hunt, “Occult Invasion,” Harvest House Publishers, 1998; http://www.thebereancall.org/
25. The Aragon; http://www.catoe.org/aragon.html
26. “Fall in Yugoslavia,” God’s World News, 10/27/2000.
27. Al Dager, “Education Reform,” Media Spotlight; http://www.mediaspotlight.org/
28. “Revelation, Church History, and Things to Come,” Pensacola Christian College, 1993, http://www.abeka.com/
29. Marshall Foster & Ron Ball, “Christian Home Learning Guides,” Zane Publishing, 1997.
30. Irving Cutler, “Chicago Metropolis of the Mid-Continent 3rd ed.,” Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co, 1973.
31. “The Chicago Fire,” www.chicagohistory.org/history/fire.html
32. WTTW11, “Riverview,” http://www.wttw.com/chicagostories/riverview.html
33. Bailey, Foster, “Things to Come” (London: Lucis Press, 1974).
34. Carr, Joseph J., “The Twisted Cross” (LaFayette, La.: Huntington House, 1985).
35. Peccei, Aurelio, “One Hundred Pages For the Future” (New American Library, NY: 1981).
36. Middle East Peace Process [1993-1994],” Microsoft ® Encrata ® 96 Encyclopedia (Microsoft Corporation; 1993-1995).
37. “The United States Becomes a World Power [1865- ],” Microsoft ® Encarta ® ’96 Encyclopedia (Microsoft Corporation, 1993-1995).
38. “Soviet Union [1917-1992],” Microsoft ® Encarta ® ’96 Encyclopedia (Microsoft Corporation, 1993-1995).
39. “Birth of the Computer [1940- ],” Microsoft ® Encarta ® ’96 Encyclopedia (Microsoft Corp., 1993-1995).                         40.  Wikipedia, “German Empire.”