The bride and groom that make up today’s highlighted couple are ones who spent their lives from cradle to grave in Frohna and members of Concordia Lutheran Church. It’s the kind of life story that is not often found in today’s day and age.

The birthday girl for today’s tale is Juliane Alma Lueders, who was born on July 16, 1898, making today her 125th birthday. It also means that she was born just one day after yesterday’s character, Arthur Gerler, who was born in Jacob, Illinois. Juliane was the last of 10 children born to Charles and Susanna (Palisch) Lueders. That also qualifies her to be the granddaughter of August and Anna (Roth) Lueders, who established the Lueders Store in Frohna. A post was written about Juliane’s grandparents called Frohna Entrepreneur. Another post was written about Juliane’s parents titled, Lueders/Palisch: Marriage or Competition?. Juliane was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. Her baptism record is displayed below.

Juliane was just one year old when she is found in the 1900 census. Her father, like his father, was a merchant in Frohna at the Lueders Store.

When Juliane was quite young, her Lueders family had a photograph taken. I think you can figure out which one in the photo is Juliane since she was the youngest.

Next, we find Juliane in the 1910 census at the age of 11. The Lueders household had gotten much smaller as her older siblings got married and moved away.

That would be the last census in which we find Juliane as a single woman, so we will now take a look at the man who would become her husband. Rudolph Ferdinand Hellwege was born on February 13, 1895 or on February 14, 1895. Rudolph, often called Rudy, was the son of Ferdinand and Amalia (Ross) Hellwege, who lived in Frohna. That means he was also the grandson of the original Hellwege to settle in Perry County, Johann Peter Hellwege, who is rather well-known for having 4 wives and plenty of children. His story was told in the post, The Fourth Marriage. Also, the story of Rudy’s parents was told in the story, So Many Births; So Few Heirs, which described how that couple had 12 children, but only 5 of them lived well into adulthood. Rudy was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. His baptism record is pictured here. This document is the only one that I found that says he was born on Valentine’s Day, February 14th.

Rudy was just 5 years old when he is found in his first census entry. His father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township.

Rudy was a teenager when the 1910 census was taken. This would be the last census in which we find Rudy as a single man.

In 1911, on the occasion of his parents’ 25th anniversary, Rudy’s parents had a family photo taken. Rudy is the only son in the picture.

The 1915 plat maps for Perry County show the location of the Hellwege farm.

In 1918, Rudy had his World War I draft registration completed. This form gives his date of birth as February 13th.

On October 26, 1919, Rudy Hellwege married Juliane Lueders. As you might expect, this couple was married at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. The church record for this wedding is pictured below.

We can also view this couple’s marriage license.

A photo was taken of the entire wedding party for this occasion. You can find the names of the others in the photo by looking at the church record displayed earlier.

We find these newlyweds in the 1920 census. At that point in time, they had no children.

The German Family Tree says Rudy and Juliane had 2 children, but one of them was stillborn. Their only other child was a girl named Bernice. We find this small family in the 1930 census. Rudy was a farmer who had a teenage helper named Victor Schuessler.

The 1940 census shows this trio of Hellwege’s along with another teenage farm helper named Marvin Vogel.

Rudy had a World War II draft card completed in 1942. This is another document that gives February 13th as his date of birth.

Finally, we find the Hellwege’s in the 1950 census. Their daughter had married Marvin Burroughs in 1941. In this entry, it appears that Marvin was called Marvin Hellwege, but he was definitely Marvin Burroughs.

It was probably about this time that the photo below was taken of Rudy and Juliane with a grandchild.

Juliane Hellwege died in 1990 at the age of 91; Rudy Hellwege died in 1994 at the age of 99. They are each buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in Frohna.

A few days ago, I re-blogged the post, A Nebraska Builder. I introduced that blog by saying that I found John Mueller in the 1950 census for Seward, Nebraska, one page away from the names of Fuerbringer and Hellwege. Those names are on the census entry shown below.

Alfred Fuerbringer was the president of Concordia Teachers College, and Walter Hellwege was a geography teacher at that college. Walter was Rudy’s cousin. Walter was also the football coach at Concordia. Not long ago, Courtney Meyer, another former football coach at Concordia as well as a Frohna native, gave me a book about the history of Concordia football.

There is a chapter in that book titled, Walter Hellwege Era.

There is also a chapter in that book called, Courtney Meyer Era. I visited with Courtney this past week while we were in Seward, and yesterday, Courtney and his wife visited our museum in Altenburg on a day that my wife and I were volunteering. As if this was not enough coincidences connected to today’s story, let me add that Rev. John Hellwege, another descendant from today’s Hellwege family tree, was installed as the pastor of Salem, Farrar and Zion, Crosstown just a few weeks ago. The tendrils of the German Family Tree spread far and wide, and yet sometimes they come back to visit and serve.