THE FAMILY OF AMBROSE AND PEGGY (SMITH) HAKE

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Ambrose Herman Hake and Peggy Smith-Warman were married February 17, 1981.

Ambrose was born at Marys Home on October 18, 1927, a son of Conrad Antone Hake, born 26 Dec 1897 at Marys Home, and Ida Veronica Volmert, born 24 Sept 1900 at St. Elizabeth.

Peggy was born August 10, 1935 at Iberia, daughter of Gene Oliver Smith, born 11 Nov 1914, and Verlie Alberta Wyrick, born 25 Oct 1914, both natives of the Iberia community.

The ancestors of Ambrose Hake were German immigrants who came from Germany in the 1840s. The Hake family came from Ruhlertwist, Germany and the Volmert family was natives of Leisborn, Prussia. When they first came to America, the families settled in Osage County---the Hakes at Westphalia and the Volmert ancestors settled near Rich Fountain. Later the families moved to the 'Osage River country' of northeastern Miller County where the Hakes settled near Marys Home and the Volmerts lived in the St. Elizabeth vicinity. Other ancestral names in Ambrose's lineage were the families of Buechter, Weissling, Williams, and Evers.

The ancestors of Peggy were early settlers of Miller County. The Smiths were from Tennessee and later moved to Crawford County, MO before finally settling in Miller County. The Wyrick family came to Miller County in the early 1840s from Grainger County, Tennessee. Peggy's early ancestral lines originated in England, France, the Rhineland in Germany, and she is also descended from the Cherokee Indian tribes of early America.

The paternal grandparents of Ambrose were Herman Henry Hake, born 9 Aug 1869 at Westphalia (Osage County) and Sophia Elizabeth Evers, born 7 Feb 1871 in Osage Co., MO. His maternal grandparents were John Volmert, born 1 Aug 1855 at Rich Fountain (Osage County) and Elizabeth Buechter, born 5 July 1863 at Westphalia (Osage County).

The paternal grandparents of Peggy were Henry Franklin Smith, born 20 Jun 1884, and Sarah Eliza Boyd, born 9 July 1888, both natives of Miller County, born in Richwoods Township. Her maternal grandparents were Chesley S. Wyrick, born 26 Jan 1892 near Ulman, and Amanda Elizabeth Whittle, born near Iberia on 4 Sept 1896.

As a young man, Ambrose enlisted in the U.S. Army and is a Korean War veteran. During the war he spent almost 2 years in Korea. He was in the Medics Corps where he worked with ambulances bringing the injured from the front lines to MASH units in the field. He was discharged from the U.S. military and returned to Miller County in 1952.

Ambrose spent many years employed at Ft. Leonard Wood where he worked as a machinist and mechanic for Allied Trades and the Director of Maintenance. He retired in 1987 and raised cattle for awhile on the Hake family farm located a few miles south of St. Elizabeth. He also was engaged in custom bush-hogging for several years, but is fully retired today where he and Peggy enjoy living in the Big Tavern valley on their farm called "Whispering Hills".

Peggy worked for several years in the banking business in the Kansas City area before she returned to her hometown in 1979. She also served as an elected official of Miller County, serving as county judge and commissioner.

Note from Kelly: Ambrose Herman Hake died on August 10, 2009. Peggy Lee (Smith) Warman Hake died on June 25, 2013. They are buried in the Iberia Cemetery in Miller County, Missouri.