You normally would not think that a Perry County native would spend much of her lifetime in Minnesota and end up in Mexico, but that is what happened with the main character of today’s story.  The story starts on August 3rd in 1889 when Agnes Tabia Albrecht was born in Farrar, Missouri.  She is what we Lutheran teachers always described as a PK……a pastor’s kid.  Her parents were Rev. Heinrich and Christiane (Koehler) Albrecht.  Her father was the pastor at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar, Missouri.  Here is the baptism record for Agnes in the Salem books.

There were two babies born in the Farrar church on August 3rd and both baptized on August 11th.  The other was Ernst Theodor Wahlers.

Pastor Albrecht came from a family full of Lutheran pastors, most of which spent much of their ministries in Minnesota.  In 1876, he married Christiane Koehler in Maple Grove, Minnesota.  Before coming to Missouri, Rev. Albrecht was serving a congregation in Zumbro Township in the southeast part of that state.  Pastor Albrecht served Salem from 1883 until 1891, when he died at the very early age of 37.  Here is his gravestone in the Salem Lutheran Cemetery in Farrar.

After her husband died, Christiane moved her family back to Minnesota, which is where she was born.  She probably moved back to her parents’ farm near Maple Grove, Minnesota.  Her parents were Gottlieb and Gottlieben Koehler.  Here is a photo of this couple.

These two were charter members of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Corcoran, Minnesota, right down the road from their farm.  This congregation recently celebrated their 150th anniversary.  The first cemetery of this congregation was even located on their property and was called the Koehler cemetery.  We can see this cemetery on this land map from 1914.

As a side note, I will mention that St. John’s Lutheran was started as a result of missionary work done by Rev. Sievers from Frankenlust, Michigan, who happens to have family connections with both the Loeber and Buenger families from Perry County.

Here is a photo which is supposed to have been taken around 1880 of the Koehler farm.

Christiane remarried in 1894.  Her second husband was a widower by the name of Julius Bursch.  Julius ran a store a little west of the Koehler farm.  That little spot where that store once stood is even called Burschville to this day.  Here is a current map.

Here is the Bursch store which probably was located where Highways 10 and 19 intersected.  I am guessing that Chrisitane is in this photo.

It appears that a home is right next to this store, and it is my guess that this was the home that Agnes spent most of her childhood.

The 1900 census for Corcoran, Minnesota shows Agnes as Agnes Bursch, the stepdaughter of Julius.

Sometime between 1910 and 1915, Agnes married George Matthieson, who was a farmer in Corcoran.  This is their wedding photo.

Here is another photo of Agnes (Albrecht) Matthieson.

According to census records, the Matthiesons had six children.  As near as I can tell, George and Agnes moved their family to Audrain County, Missouri in 1937, where he continued to farm.  Agnes died in 1954.  Here is her death certificate.

One of the reasons I placed this death certificate in this post is because of the fact that there was another Agnes Matthiesen who lived in the Minneapolis area that has apparently confused some people on Ancestry.com.  The other Agnes was born in 1888 and died in 1971.  The two Agnes Matthiesens were born around the same time and lived for many years in the same county in Minnesota.

George died in 1962.  Here is his death certificate.  It is more proof that his wife Agnes did not live until 1971.  This form says George was a widower in 1962.

And now, of course, you can see that both George and Agnes were buried in……Mexico.  Mexico, Missouri, that is.  I confess that I intended to deceive you with the title of this post.  I could not resist.