Lenice John Gies and Lena Anna Hintz Ancestry

Welcome to my website tracing the ancestors of my grandparents, Lenice John Gies and Lena Anna Hintz.

Lenice and Lena met while Lena worked the candy counter at Woolworth's. She was smitten, saying that Lenice "looked so handsome in his uniform" as he had recently returned from serving in WWI. Their relationship was not approved of by their parents due to religious reasons, so they eloped in 1920, and went on to have 10 children, 27 grandchildren, and countless great-grandchildren.

This site will trace the direct ancestry of the Gies, Hinsperger, Hintz, and Stieler families.

~~Kristi Kopp~~

Some tips:

• Click on the small thumbnail images to open them in a larger popup
• Check out the stories link in the top menu for some interesting tidbits from our ancestry
• If you are a descendant of Lenice and Lena, make sure you read the Photo Sharing box on the right and get involved
• I love the "Interactive Tree" off the CHARTS menu. You can drag it in all directions to see further on the branch

Although I initially gathered much of my information through ancestry.com and familysearch.org, it's become obvious that alot of that research was originally completed and shared through the decades by my aunts. My aunts (with uncle assistance) have spent countless hours over many decades researching in libraries, churches, and graveyards to exhaust all avenues to get details on our ancestry. I've been lucky as I have the internet. They had dusty books and microfiche. It has been the passion of my Aunts Pat, Virginia, Judy, and Gloria to document our family history, and I am honored to pass their research on to future generations of our huge family. Special thanks to Aunt Pat who spent hours with me recently going over her bookshevles of information binders, and allowing me to scan countless numbers of pictures and documents.