walhus.com is a family history site tracing the Walhus and Frauenthal families from their origins in Norway and Bavaria to America. It is the research foundation for an upcoming biography.
The Walhus family came from Hadeland, Norway in the mid-1800s, part of the great Norwegian migration that brought 800,000 people to America. Mikkel Larson Dahl Walhus (1830–1907) settled in Spring Grove, Minnesota — the first Norwegian settlement in the state. His wife Ingeborg lived to 94. They raised nine children in the Norwegian Lutheran tradition.
The family produced merchants, farmers, and professionals across the Upper Midwest. Dr. Martin J. Walhus (1889–1978) practiced dentistry in Spring Grove for 50 years after graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1911.
Max Frauenthal (1836–1914) emigrated from Bavaria, fought at Spotsylvania in the Civil War, and founded the town of Heber Springs, Arkansas. He built the first brick building in Conway, served in the legislature, and is known as the "Father of Heber Springs and Cleburne County."
Dr. Henry Frauenthal (1862–1927) survived the sinking of the Titanic in Lifeboat No. 5 and founded the Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York (now part of NYU Langone).
Barney W. Frauenthal (1869–1933) managed the Bureau of Information at St. Louis Union Station and wrote the city guidebooks for the 1904 World's Fair.
The two families connected in St. Louis through marriage. Paul Walhus carries both bloodlines — Norwegian immigrants on one side, Bavarian-Jewish pioneers on the other. The thread that runs through both families is the same: build something, put your name on it, make it last.
This site is one of three planned family history projects:
Paul Terry Walhus — born December 2, 1944 in St. Louis, Missouri. Bayless High School, Affton. Quarter-miler. Web pioneer since 1996 (spring.com BBS). Now in Austin, Texas, running the WholeTech Network.
Questions, corrections, or family memories to share: info@walhus.com