Mike Brenner, pictured on left side of the photo, and Mike Brenner, right, visited in the Winterset, IA, Mike and Vicky Brenner home on August 25th. He plans to visit again during Thanksgiving and Christmas, at which time the two Mikes may get a trip to the Danbury and Mapleton areas. The visiting Brenner (the Mike on the right) lives in Lippach, Germany, but he is currently interning with a German manufacturer in Detroit, Michigan, for 6 months.
The Brenner boys are related in more than just name; they are also cousins. The Iowa Brenner visited Germany on business in 1998 and 1999 and was able to find some Brenner relatives. During his visit in 1999, he was able to trace the Brenner and Uhl side of the family to the 1700's using the actual Catholic Church wedding and birth records with the help of Andrea Illetschko, a cousin in Lippach. The records to the year 1800 were in the German language. Records dating into the 1700's and earlier were in Latin. He was able to determine that Michael's great-great grandfather and his great-great grandfather were brothers.
Lippach is the village that the Brenner descendants and Uhl descendants came from during the late 1800's to settle in the Mapleton area. According to the Iowa Mike, his great grandmother was Kathrina (Uhl) Brenner. Her husband, Johanness Brenner died in Germany the year before she and her children came to Iowa. Her son and Mike's grandfather was Isadore Brenner who died in 1957. Mike's father was Norman Brenner who died in 1969. Mike's aunts and uncles were Lucy Oberreuter, Bernice Boyle, John Brenner, Raymond Brenner, Vince Brenner and Loren Brenner. Ruth (Brenner) Martin is the only surviving daughter of Isadore Brenner.
Photo submitted by Mike Brenner. Thanks, Mike!