Eilt (Ed) Post was born October 19, 1864, the son of Johann Post and Geshia Janssen Post in Ardorf, Germany, a small village near the North Sea. He had two full brothers, Ricklef (Richard) and Folkert, and one half-brother, Theodor, and a half-sister, Gesina. Eilt's mother died when he was young and his father then married Bekka Janssen, a sister to Geshia. He was baptized in infancy in the Ardorf Lutheran Church and was confirmed into the church when he was fourteen years old. Eilt served four years in the German Army and was discharged in 1886. In March 1887, he came to America. He was a naturalized citizen of the United States and took his oath of citizenship in Livingston County, Pontiac, Illinois on September 14, 1892. In 1901 he moved to Moundville, Missouri, where he made his home with his brother, Ricklef Post, until his marriage. On July 24, 1908, he married Anna Alvina "Winnie" Kuhlman. They were members of the Moundville St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church. Anna Alvina "Winnie" Kuhlman, was born June 3, 1886. She was the oldest child of August Kuhlman and Caroline Mische Kuhlman. She had two sisters and two brothers: Emma, who never married; Amanda Fengler; George Kuhlman; and Albert Kuhlman. One brother died in infancy. They built a log house and cleared land for farming and gave a portion of the cleared area to build a schoolhouse. When Winnie was thirteen years old, she went to the Lutheran Confirmation class and the minister taught the Catechism in German. There were many German emigrant families in the Moundville area and the minister would hold two services, one in English, the other in German. On May 1, 1935 the area north of Moundville was struck with a tornado. It uprooted all the maple trees that lined both sides of the Post driveway and it blew Ricklef's barn down. Eilt worked all day dragging trees from the driveway and helping his brother salvage some of the stored grain from the barn. Later that day, Eilt was at the barn doing chores. He had been out for some time when Winnie sent their daughter, Lucille, to check on him. Lucille found him lying on the hay wagon gasping for breath. He died May 2, 1935 at 8:15 p.m. Winnie died in a Fort Scott nursing home on September 18, 1972. They are buried in the north part of Welborn Cemetery.
Eilt and Winnie were the parents of: Caroline (Lena Martin), Anna Emma Amanda (Seitz), John Edward, August Richard, Diana Lucille (Pettibon Butner), and Elmer Carl Post.
Reference: This information is based on "They Way it Was" by the late Lucille Post Pettibon Butner, 2002.
Photo to upper left: Eilt Post visiting the Jann Saathoff family near Charlotte, Illinois.
Obituary is from the May 8, 1935 Bronaugh Journal.
Debra Post Zoglmann shared the photo below of Bekka was a sister to Johann's first wife, Geshia Jannsen.
Johann and Bekka Jannsen Post
