I have pinned the name, Mama Buenger, on Christiane Buenger, the widow who brought 8 of her children to America as part of the 1839 immigration. My book, Mama Buenger: Mother of a Synod, is a fictional account of her 10 years in the United States. So many people from her family, along with men who married her daughters, were important contributors to the establishment of the Missouri Synod. That is why the title of that book describes her as the “Mother of a Synod”. That Buenger family tree is packed full of Lutheran church workers. You will read the story of another woman in that tree who also married a Lutheran pastor.

Johanne Clementine Agnes Lehmann was born on July 19, 1873, so today is her very special 150th birthday. Agnes was the daughter of Edward and Liddy (Neumueller) Lehmann. In the post, Liddy’s Namesake, it told how Agnes’s mother, Liddy, was named after her mother’s sister, Liddy Buenger, and her husband, Rev. Friedrich Lochner. That qualified Liddy to be a granddaughter of Mama Buenger. Therefore, Agnes was Mama Buenger’s great granddaughter. You can see that Agnes carried her grandmother’s name, Clementine. Also, another one of Mama Buenger’s children was named Agnes, a woman who married Rev. Otto Herman Walther, and when he died, married Rev. Ottomar Fuerbringer. Agnes Lehmann’s father was a Lutheran pastor also. Rev. Edward Lehmann had taken a call to Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells not long before Agnes was born. Her baptism record is found in that church’s books and is displayed below.

In 1878, Pastor Lehmann took a call to Zion Lutheran Church in Hillsboro, Missouri, so when the 1880 census was taken, we find Agnes living in the Joachim Township of Jefferson County at the age of 6.

Agnes would get married before the 1900 census, so we will take a look at the man who would become her husband. His name was Arthur Wilhelm Wilk, who was born on July 3, 1871. Arthur was the son of Wilhelm and Emilie (Kohlstock) Wilk. A few family trees on Ancestry.com state that he was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. In the 1870 census, not long before Arthur was born, the Wilk family is found living in Sheboygan where his father is called a teacher, probably a Lutheran teacher. However, Arthur’s mother died in 1879, and we find Arthur living with his Ernst grandparents in Mequon, Wisconsin when the 1880 census was taken. Arthur was 8 years old at the time. I am guessing that his mother died as a result of complications with the birth of Arthur’s brother, Emil, who is an infant in this entry.

Arthur Wilk became a Lutheran pastor, and it appears that he was serving a congregation located near the small, unincorporated area of Franklin County, Missouri called Japan when he got married in 1898. Agnes’s father was serving at a congregation in Cuba, Missouri in 1898, just down the road from Japan, so that is probably how these two became acquainted. Rev. Arthur Wilk married Agnes Lehmann on February 13, 1898. We can view this couple’s Missouri marriage license. Agnes’s father was the minister who conducted the wedding.

By the way, Japan, Missouri almost changed their name after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

According to some family trees on Ancestry.com, the Wilk’s had 8 children, most of which lived to adulthood. When the 1900 census was taken, they were no longer living in Missouri. We find them living in Stuttgart, Arkansas where Arthur was a pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church. There was one young child in the family.

Below is a photo of what St. John’s Lutheran Church in Stuttgart looks like today.

When the 1910 census was taken, we find the Wilk’s living in Steeleville, Illinois where Rev. Wilk was most likely serving St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. There were 5 children in their household.

Below is a present-day photo of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Steeleville.

At some point in time in the 1910’s, the Wilk family moved to the Wanda Township in Adams County, Indiana. Rev. Wilk became the pastor at Zion Lutheran Church in Juniata, Nebraska. The 1920 census shows the Wilk household with 7 children.

I found this recent photograph of Zion, Juniata.

When the 1930 census was taken, the Wilk’s were still in Juniata. In addition, a teacher by the name of Alice Alschwede was boarding with them. I assume she was teaching at Zion’s school. Just 2 children remained in the Wilk household, both in their teens.

The 1940 census shows Arthur and Agnes with an empty nest. Arthur continued to serve as the minister of Zion, Juniata. Perhaps he is the longest-serving pastor in that congregation’s history.

When the 1950 census was taken, Rev. Wilk was well into his 70’s, and he was still a pastor. However, he had relocated to Burns, Wyoming. He was the pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church.

Here is a recent photo off Immanuel Lutheran Church in Burns, Wyoming.

Arthur Wilk died in 1956 at the age of 85. He and Agnes must have moved back to Juniata, Nebraska because there is a Nebraska death index that says he died in Adams County. Agnes died in 1967 at the age of 93. Arthur and Agnes are buried together in the Parkview Cemetery in Hastings, Nebraska.

Now you can add yet another full-time church worker to the family tree for Mama Buenger.