Held August 19-21, 2011, at the Stephenson County Fairgrounds.
Billed as Freeport's own Woodstock,
only a few hundred attended Freeport's CornStock!

Family & Genealogical Info & Photos

Wienand Family Photos from my grandmother's photo album.
All photos taken between 1914 & 1943.
More to come later.

Major Site Changes - 2023

January: Additions to 1850, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1890, 1901, 1903, 1905, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1915, 1920, 1938, 1942, 1948, 1950, 1953

Major Site Changes - 2021

April-May: Added maps, photos & text to 1913 based on my grandfather's 1913 Plat Book of Stephenson County.

April: Acquired 1908 Polaris, added many names and photos.

Major Site Changes - 2019

January 25: Added the Home Economics page to the Class of 1931, scan courtesy of Donna Chlupsa, Class of 1977. Donna also sent along several things which I've added to the Class of 1977.

January 25: After nearly 2-1/2 years away, I've started adding to this site again. Sometimes you just need a break! Also, I was having computer and software problems. All solved now. Haha, just kidding. Took another 2+ years off until April 2021.

Major Site Changes - 2016

June 8: Completed the Class of 2016

September 30: Completed the Class of 1955. Added a bunch of names to the Class of 1976. Completed the Class of 1977. Added a bunch of names to the Class of 1980. Finished Class of 1981. Completed the Class of 1982. Added the entire Class of 1983.

Major Site Changes - 2015

September 13: Added info about Kevin Kirkpatrick, who was nominated for an Emmy for makeup, to the Class of 1996.

August 20: Added photos and info about Frank Putnam to the Class of 1928.

April 20: Added Navy photo of Class of 1966's Tom Weaver to my Vietnam memorial.

April 17: Added photo of FDR campaigning for president in Freeport in 1932.

April 12: Updated info and freshman class photo of Buddy Carstedt, who died in service during WWII.

March 28: Added short bios to the Class of 1963 for Donna Doyle, Marcia Shirmer and Jim Bittner.

March 25: Added a photo of Ella Swain, a southern belle who married Freeport's General Smith Adkins after the Civil War. Added a short bio of David Kadarauch to the Class of 1964. Added my first grade class photo from 1954-55.

March 23: Added a copy of the Vega to 1940, Green Banner to 1960, an issue of the Pretz News to 1965, an issue of the Freeport High School News to 1931, and the cover of the Catalyst to 1967.

March 21: Added info about the Nortridge family.

March 17: Added photos of St. John Church to 1851, 1863 and 1898.

March 8: Added clipping from the Freeport Journal Standard about the Brandt, Kegel drownings to 1951. Added photos from the St. John's Church fire to 1957.

February 27: Added an issue of The Blackhawk Powwow to the Class of 1966.

February 26: Added photos of my uncle Bob Wienand, Bob Eberle and Dick Servatius to my uncle Bob Wienand's WWII memorial page. Added photos of Hazel Bender, Vale Nortridge, Nellie Nortridge, Ralph Bike, Anna Wienand, Robert Stearns, Anna Stearns, Robert Bike and Claudia Bike to a memorial page. Added a WLS Silver Dollar Survey from June 4, 1965.

February 25: Added video of photos about Freeport set to the song "Small Town" by John Cougar Mellencamp

January 28: Added story about FHS celebrating the 1915 State Championship in basketball, and linked to a story written by Dave Schmidt at Stateline Sports Hub about the celebration and mentioning this website.

January 14: Added Steven Foy to Vietnam. Thanks to Sam Veer and John Hess.

Major Site Changes - 2014

December 11: Added Vicki Schulthess to the In Memoriam to the Class of 1966.

September 17: Added Frank Wickwire to the Civil War veterans.

September 12: Added info about two Civil War casualties, Gottlieb Vollmer and W. H. Eisenhour.

September 10: Added blurb on violinist Lance Elbeck to Class of 1965, and cellist Martha Babcock to 1966.

September 2: Removed Amber Alerts from the intro page of my website because they were using the space to advertise Free Gas, Background Checks and Arrest Records!

August 7: Added Anne Weckerly to the Class of 1966 In Memoriam.

July 23-24: Added yearbook photos from various Polarises and other public domain sources to WWI Honor Roll: Charles Borgmeier, Edward Carbiener, Edward Hogan, Louis Johnson, Robert Langenstein, Donald Lynch, Henry Meysenbough, Lewis Schwarze, Vernon Sheetz, Louis Voigt, and John Ulrich, as well as various biographical details to these and other men who died in WWI.

July 22: Added yearbook photos from various Polarises to WWI Honor Roll: John Bennehoff, Herbert Biersach, and Elmo Eson, as well as various biographical details to these and other men who died in WWI.

July 21: Added yearbook photos from various Polarises to WWII Honor Roll: Kenneth Toelle, Alvin Voss, and William Young, as well as various biographical details to these and other men who died in WWII.

July 20: Added yearbook photos from various Polarises and other public domain sources to WWII Honor Roll: Robert Shafer, Eugene Russell Shannon, and Robert Speer, as well as various biographical details to these and other men who died in WWII.

July 18: Added yearbook photos from various Polarises to WWII Honor Roll: Dick Rogers and Jack Sellke, as well as various biographical details to these and other men who died in WWII.

July 17: Added yearbook photos from various Polarises to WWII Honor Roll: Russell Lamm, Lawrence Lawver, Andrew McBride, Darrell Mellen, Robert Meyers, Roy Morris, Adolph Rampenthal, and Russell Rayhorn, as well as various biographical details to these and other men who died in WWII.

July 16: Added senior photos from various Polarises to WWII Honor Roll: Donald Gallagher, Emanuel Georgalas, Robert Glaman, Jack Healy, and Paul Kempert, as well as various biographical details to these and other men who died in WWII.

July 15: Added senior photos from various Polarises to WWII Honor Roll: Robert Albert, William Barker, Dwight Belknap, Eugene Biesemeier, Ted Bunnell, Robert Crowell, Jimmy Dillon, Vernon Evans, Ronald Fickert and Wilbur Finkboner, as well as various biographical details to these and other men who died in WWII.

July 14: Added info on Class of 1932's Pat Harmon; added Mark Anthony to Freeport Famous; added Scot McKnight author info to Class of 1972; added clipping of prom toastmaster to 1962, added Leonard Lopp to WWII. Also ran a Link Checker, and found 99 broken links, out of 41,444 internal links. Fixed all 99. Additionally, there are 2578 external links, which I did not check; I have no control over them. There are 425 HTML pages on this site, plus multiple .pdf files. Including pages and photos, there are a total of 15,454 files on this site. If you spot a typo, please let me know. There are probably lots of them.

July 10: Fixed typos and edited for clarity the WWII memorial.

June 23: Added photo of Alden Niemeyer to WWII, and Gerry Minear to In Memoriam on Class of 1966.

June 22: Added Donald Alee and Paul Albrecht to WWII.

June 20: Added photo of James Dillon to WWII, courtesy of his niece, Jackie Springman.

June 9: Added Donald Katzenberger, Elmer Mitchell Jr., Smith Sommer, Kenneth Toelle, Robert Young and Arthur Zellweger to WWII, and Francis Gilbertson to Korea.

June 8: Added brothers Glenn Rice and Vernon Rice, and Joe Siedenburg to WWII.

June 7: Added Alvin Lott and Frank Moore to WWII.

June 6: Added Stanton Kreger and Herman Lisser to WWII.

June 1: Added Dale Nuss to WWII.

May 25-29: Spent Memorial Day weekend and a few more days researching and adding names and information to the various War Memorials on this site. Additions, photos or major changes: WWI — Samuel Oren, William Runyan; WWII — Norman Engle, Lawrence Francis, Frank Guiffre, Leroy Hellen, Jacob Mani, Barton McCarthy, Fred McCord, Robert Meyers, Shelly E. Morrison, Gregg Nesemeier, Walter O'Haver, Sam Pirrello, Lester Rehfeld, John Ryan, Harley Schwarz, Jack Sellke, Robert Speer, Warren Trunkhill, Alvin Wachlin; Korean War — Haldene Francis, Judd Hodgson.

May 24: Added John F Ryan to the WWII Honor Roll.

May 23: Added Joel Koester to the Vietnam War Honor Roll.

May 18: Added the graduating Seniors of the Class of 2014.

April 30: On Freeport Famous page, added entire section about various Presidents of the United States, their connections to Freeport and the assassinations or attempts thereof of said Presidents. Odd coincidences.

April 29: On Freeport Famous page, added blurbs about Emil Yde, Frank Tarbeaux, Karl Kae Knecht, Ralph Tobler, Ken Wiegand, Ida Mary Pattison. Added info about Class of 1879's Gertrude Dewalt, who was a first cousin to Ida McKinley, First Lady of the United States from 1897 until President William McKinley's assassination in 1901.

April 28: On Freeport Famous page, added blurbs about Winifred Taylor, Charissa Taylor Bass, Gustav Niebuhr, the five Saxby brothers, and Jerome Rohkar aka Gray Gordon.

April 24: Added Tiffany Thayer to the Class of 1920 and Paul Vargas to the World War One Honor Roll.

April: Updating various pages, including war memorials. Adding info as I find it.

February 1: Updated info about several 1966 classmates in the In Memoriam section.

January 9: Added info about Duane Burlingame, Class of 1975.

Major Site Changes - 2013

August 14: Started project of adding all veterans of World War I and World War II.

August 13: Added info about Civil War soldier Hiram Shippy and World War II soldier Robert Hopke, Jr., information courtesy of relative Dixie Downs Sampson.

July 31: Added the Polaris covers to 1935, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947

July 19: Added the staff of the 1915 Polaris newspaper, and three photos of the issue showing the State Championship basketball team. Added lots of photos & text from the Stella, the 1896 version of the Polaris.

July 15: Added some additional seniors of the Classes of 1986, 1987 and 1988

July 12: Added most of the seniors of the Class of 1992, some additional seniors for the Classes of 1989, 1990 and 1991.

July 11: Added most of the seniors of the Classes of 1969, 1977, 1979 and 1982.

July 10: Added most of the seniors of the Classes of 1980, 1981, 1993 and 1994.

July 9: Added faculty for some years, and most of the seniors of the Classes of 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000.

July 8: Added lots of names, some of the faculty and most of the seniors of the Classes of 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2011.

July 1: Added photo of FHS principal Patrick Hardy to principals list, completed senior names and added Polaris cover to 2011, and a photo of Arnold Lamm and more info about Freeport's links to governors of other states.

June 30: Added info about Arnold Lamm, Class of 1925, whose son Richard Lamm was governor of Colorado January 14, 1975 – January 13, 1987.

June 28: Added most of names of Classes of 2014 & 2015. Added photos from the 2012 Polaris, including the cover, the boys golf team, the girls swim team, and the cheerleaders; also the names of the faculty.

June 27: Added photo of Jane Addams' Nobel Peace Prize medallion that I took at the Hull House museum in Chicago. Added a few score names to the Class of 2012.

June 2: Added Corky Hale, musician, activist, philanthropist

May 28: Added names of the Class of 2013 who graduated Sunday, May 26, 2013. The list is from the FHS Graduation Commencement Program, typed and emailed to me from a member of the Class of 2015.

May 9: Added page about juice feasting, an amazing process that has transformed my health.

May 1: Reorganized & updated blog page.

April 12: Updated Out of My Mind from tweets.

April 9: Added Google Search boxes to this page and index page.

April 5: Added "In Memoriam" info to Class of 1966.

April 2-4: Added Polaris pages of seniors to Class of 1966.

March 30: Added photos of Dale Koertner, David Krueger, Stephen Osran, Franklin Picking, and Tom Weaver to the Vietnam War Honor Roll.

March 29: Added scans of 25 Polaris covers from 1913 to 1947. Complete now from 1904 to 2006!

March 20-28: Worked on all 170 pages of FHS graduating classes, giving a consistent look, font, font size and full navigation between pages. Whew!

March 25: Uploaded photo of my great-great-grandfather, Daniel Wagner. Until this week, I'd never seen a photo of him. My thanks to Robin Pardus of the McConnell Area Historical Society for the photo. Also checked entire site for fonts and font sizes for easier reading for us old folks.

March 24: Added Brian Patton to Iraq War Honor Roll. Thanks to Sam Veer for letting me know about him.

March 22: Worked on the 2300 external links, quite a few to sites that no longer exist. Corrected a few dozen. There are now 406 HTML pages on this site, plus numerous .pdf pages.

March 16: Checked all 15,970 links on this site, and fixed more than 600 problem links. As of now, everything works; or at least the internal links do. Added links from this page to each war's honor roll. Added David Goldy to list of WWII Honor Roll. From a different source, I had him listed as David Golby, and could not find any info on him. Goldy is the correct spelling, per a relative, Karen Fyock. Added pages for graduating classes of 2015-2019, though no info on them yet.

March 15: Separated two of the largest pages on the site, making both into three pages, making both much easier to read and load: the book about Edmund Heller's trip to China in 1916, Camps and Trails in China; and General John Schofield's book, Forty-six Years in the Army.

March 14: Cleaned up code in <head> code of every page of site. Made & posted consistent sidebars on about a third of the pages on this site.

March 13: Disabled right click to try to keep people from using images from my site without asking, and without giving me credit. While many of the images on my site are in the public domain, most are copyrighted. And even the ones in the public domain, I've spent considerable time researching, scanning and posting without charge to the public. This is meant to be an informational site. If you want to use an image, contact me. Give me a good reason why you want to use my image, and I'll get you a higher quality scan than what appears on this site. Okay, off my soapbox now.

March 1 - now: Major project of Stephenson County's Civil War participants and Civil War Honor Roll. Ongoing project, probably for the next couple of months.

March 1: Split, updated and added links to the Fulwider 1910 History of Stephenson County, in four parts: Part One - Early History, Part Two - Migration to Stephenson County, Part Three - Townships and Towns, and Part Four - Freeport. I also reproduced the last two newspaper articles written about this site, from June 29, 2012 & November 3, 2012.

February 27: Added the 1880 Tilden History of Stephenson County, Part 6 - Illustrations, complete with links from Part 5 - Biographies.

February 25: Added the 1880 Tilden History of Stephenson County, Part 3 - Freeport, Part 4 - Townships, and Part 5 - Biographies.

February 22: Added the second part of the 1880 Tilden History of Stephenson County - Early Freeport.

February 21: Added some names to Freeport Famous; added info about some other people on the same page or on their biographical pages.

February 19: Updated blog with this year's tweets.

February 18: Updated Freeport's population statistics to include recent census data. Added the first part of the 1880 Tilden History of Stephenson County - Geographical.

February 16: Added the autobiography of Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak (Black Hawk), who lived and roamed Stephenson County for decades before the white man came.

February 15: Put the 278,000 word Fulwider 1910 History of Stephenson County on a single page! (To be edited & completed later.) [Webmaster's note: on a single page it was unwieldly and difficult to work with, so it was split into four parts.]

February 11: Added first part of the Fulwider 1910 History of Stephenson County.

February 10: Added more info about the founding of Freeport High School, early teachers, administrators & students from 1910 History of Stephenson County. Established April 12, 1850 as the date of the founding of FHS.

January 6: Updated tweets from @vegansuccess. Added alias to blog. Added faculty to Class of 1965.

Major Site Changes - 2012

August 9: Added Relmon Morin, author and photographer, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes

June 28: Added Mark Hollis competing in the Pole Vault, Maggie Infeld competing in the 1500 meters, and her sister Emily Infeld competing in the 5000 meters in the 2012 Olympic Trials held in Eugene.

June 26: Added photo of Vietnam War memorial in Springfield of Richard Otte, photo courtesy of Jeff Chlupsa.

May 10: Added Tom Weaver and Dwight Kehler to the Vietnam Honor Roll. Added Arnold Glasow to Dead and Buried in Freeport.

April 27: Updated FJHS principals list and link to the Freeport Community Public School Fund (www.fcpsf.org) on the reunions page, both data courtesy of Jeanne Jeffrey Mordick.

April 3: Added the names of the Spanish-American War Honor Roll from Stephenson County.

April 2: Added the names of the 700+ Civil War Honor Roll from Stephenson County.

March 28: Added scans of diploma and commencement for FHS Class of 1962 and Freeport Community College 1964.

March 26: Added info about the Class of 1924's Richard Credicott short stories, now included in a new book, "If She Only Had a Machine Gun."

February 23: Uploaded family photos from December 1947 showing my Uncle Bob's casket being returned from Europe to his final resting place in Oakland Cemetery. He was a WWII war hero.

January 22: Fred Kluth helped with name spelling and added a few names to the Class of 1957.

January 4: Melissa Zeuger asked for scans of her great-grandmother who graduated in 1931 and a sister who graduated in 1928, and I added the scans to the respective pages. Mike Meade wrote with information about the nurses who went bowling in 1948, and I added the info.

October 29: Added first 11 photos to Wagner family (my father's mother's family). Photos courtesy of my second cousin, Lynann Mains.

September 27: Added Roger Stearns, Class of 1960, played football for Northern Illinois University and Washington Redskins.

September 20-27: Added reunion photos from Jeanne Jeffrey Mordick, Andy & Laura Jaeger Fraser, Gerry Minear, and a photo & video I took.

September 15: Added most of the senior classes of 2006, 2007, 2011 & 2012. Added a class photo from about 1900 showing Union School. Added most of the senior class from 2008 along with both the front and back covers. Added the cover of the 2004 Polaris, the 100th issue of the Polaris Annual, and the covers to the 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, & 1989 Polarises, and both the front and back covers from 1988.

September 14: Added the senior classes of 1962 and 1963. Added the cover and most of the names to 2009, and most of the names of 2010.

September 13: Added most of the senior class to 1957, and added many names to 1958, probably completing the class. Added cover and names to 1960.

September 12: Added most of senior class & cover to 1955 and 1956. Several pages illegible. Help needed here. Anyone have the 1955 or 1956 Polaris & can help with some names?

September 7: Added the names of the graduating seniors for 1879, 1880, 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, 1895. Added the covers and several names to the Classes of 1907, 1908, 1909. Added updates to graduates from 1863 to 1909.

July 24: Added photo & etching from Vietnam War Honor Roll to Richard Otte, courtesy of Jeff Chlupsa.

July 19: Added photos of Aquin HS Class of 1930, photos courtesy of Susan Servatius Schlosser.

May 28: Page counters installed on various pages to check traffic. This site averages 60,000 hits per month, peaking once at over 96,000 hits.

January 30: Frederick Douglass visit to Freeport in 1854 (info from Steve Cole).

January 28: 1872 Putnam photos, 1957 cover (scan by Fred Kluth, Class of 1959), various 1957 scans, 1958 cover (scan by Fred Kluth, Class of 1959), various 1958 scans, 1875 Budget Printing.

January 27: Added newspaper clippings from 1858, photo of Freeport's first mayor to 1855, envelope postmarked 1859, Taylor envelope postmarked 1860, Brewster House 1862 Scrip, 1863 coins, 1864 Carey tract, 1870 Guiteau checks.

January 26: Scans by Fred Kluth of Seniors of Class of 1959 added. Updated class chart on sitemap. Added photos of Tutty Baker & family to 1850. Added envelope to 1857.

January 23: Class of 1959 names added per Fred Kluth. Most of Class of 1976 added; need help with rest.

Robert Bike

Licensed Massage Therapy #5473
Eugene, Oregon

EFT-CC, EFT-ADV

Teaching Reiki Master

Life Coach

Robert Bike LMT LLC

Biblical Aromatherapy
by Robert Bike

The Graduation Classes of
Freeport High School, Freeport, Illinois
People and Events from Each Year

Family & Genealogical Info & Photos

Major Site Changes - 2023

Major Site Changes - 2021

Major Site Changes - 2019

Major Site Changes - 2016

Major Site Changes - 2015

Major Site Changes - 2014

Major Site Changes - 2013

Major Site Changes - 2012

Major Site Changes - 2011

Robert Bike

Licensed Massage Therapy #5473 Eugene, Oregon EFT-CC, EFT-ADV

Teaching Reiki Master

Life Coach

Robert Bike LMT LLC

Biblical Aromatherapy by Robert Bike

The Graduation Classes of Freeport High School, Freeport, Illinois People and Events from Each Year

Family & Genealogical Info & Photos

Major Site Changes - 2023

Major Site Changes - 2021

Major Site Changes - 2019

Major Site Changes - 2016

Major Site Changes - 2015

Major Site Changes - 2014

Major Site Changes - 2013

Major Site Changes - 2012

Major Site Changes - 2011

Licensed Massage Therapy #5473
Eugene, Oregon

EFT-CC, EFT-ADV

Biblical Aromatherapy
by Robert Bike

The Graduation Classes of
Freeport High School, Freeport, Illinois
People and Events from Each Year