Biopic of Henry John Menke

Dr Dave Menke's maternal grandfather was Oscar A Menke. And Oscar's father was Henry John Menke (1854-1911), who was born as Johann Heinrich Mencke, Jr, the son of Johann Heinrich Mencke (1820-1885) and Louise Lohman (1830-1905), in Kirkwood, Missouri (a suburb of St Louis, Missouri), in 1854. The photo here is of Henry John Menke in 1890.

Johann Heinrich and his wife had emigrated to the United States in 1852 to begin a new life. Their first child was Johann Heinrich Mencke, Jr.

The younger Johann Heinrich had "issues" with his father and mother, and moved to Illinois to work on a farm. He then changed his name to an American type name of Henry John Menke, dropping the "c" in the name. While Johann Heinrich Menke had several livery stables in the St Louis area, Henry John Menke worked as a driver (teamster) for Lemp's Brewery in St Louis.

Henry John met and married a lady and they had a daughter, Matilda Menke, born in 1878. But he divorced her and when to work on a farm in Troy, Illinois, where he met, and married, the farmer's daughter, Philippina Ottwein.

Henry John Menke and his wife, Philippina, had seven children. Six of the children lived to adulthood: George, Fred, Oscar, Lillian, Walter, and Harry. Only Augusta did not live past age two.

Henry John became an alcoholic and eventually died of cirrosis of the liver in 1911.