Arthur George Seibel was born on August 7, 1896, making today his 127th birthday. Arthur was the son of George Gottlob and Anna Amalia (Vogel) Seibel. A prior post, G.G. and A.A. Seibel, told the story of Arthur’s parents. In that post, it was documented that a Vogel family and a Seibel man moved to the Fountain Bluff Township of Jackson County, Illinois in the 1880’s. Another post was written about Arthur’s identical twin brothers, Otto and Martin, who were born in 1897. That article was titled, Selfsame Seibels. Arthur and his twin brothers were baptized at Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob, Illinois. Arthur’s baptism record is shown below in two images.

The first census in which we find Arthur was the one compiled in 1900. At that time, Arthur was 3 years old, and his twin brothers were 2. Their father was a blacksmith in the Fountain Bluff Township.

It was not long after that census was taken that the Seibel family made a move. The rest of the census entries for the Seibel’s in this story are found in the Somerset Township, also in Jackson County. Somerset Township is located just outside Murphysboro. The map below illustrates the proximity of that township to Murphysboro and Jacob.

By the time of the 1910 census, Arthur had become a teenager, and his father had become a farmer.

Arthur Seibel had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918. This document gives him a rural Murphysboro address, and it says Arthur’s employer was August Fick. In the course of researching for this story, I ran across the fact that August Fick was the chairman of the Immanuel Lutheran Church congregation in Murphysboro for a time.

I located this photo of Arthur Seibel on Ancestry.com. Perhaps this was taken prior to his marriage.

Arthur would get married before the 1920 census, so we will turn our attention to the woman that would become his bride. Her name was Ethel Pearl Hunter, who was born on January 3, 1899. Ethel was the daughter of Samuel and Lavinia (Wigham) Hunter. I located this photograph of Ethel’s parents.

Ethel is found in the 1900 census at the age of 1. Her father was a day laborer in Murphysboro.

When the 1910 census was taken, Ethel’s family had moved to the Somerset Township where her father was a miner. Ethel, like Arthur Seibel, was the oldest child in her family. At the time of this census, Ethel was 11 years old.

Arthur Seibel married Ethel Hunter on August 7, 1919, which was also Arthur’s 23rd birthday. The only place where I found this date was in an article that was published in a newspaper when Arthur and Ethel celebrated their 50th anniversary. I will display that article later. A wedding photo of Arthur and Ethel I found on Ancestry.com is shown below.

It appears that this Seibel couple had 5 children. In the 1920 census, this couple had not yet had their first child, although that child would be born later that year, and they were living with Arthur’s parents and siblings. It looks like it says that Arthur was a core maker for an automobile company, but I have no idea what that means.

By the time of the 1930 census, there were 3 children in their family. Another child had been born in 1927, but died right away. This time, Arthur was called a farmer.

Another daughter was born in the 1930’s, so when the 1940 census was taken, we find 4 children in the Seibel household.

The last census the public can view is the one taken in 1950. I have included the household of Otto Seibel, one of Arthur’s twin brothers, which is found right below that of Arthur. Perhaps Arthur and Otto were farming together.

In 1969, Arthur and Ethel Seibel celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, and an article about it was published in a local newspaper. It says that they were married by Rev. F.J. Schneider, who was the pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Murphysboro, on August 7, 1919. It also states their son, Walter, was killed the previous year in a mine explosion.

Ethel Seibel died in 1972 at the age of 73; Arthur Seibel died in 1983 at the age of 86. Both Arthur and Ethel are buried in the Mardale Garden of Memories in Murphysboro, but neither one of them have a gravestone photo on Findagrave.com.

There are plenty of Seibel’s to be found over the years living in Perry County. Beginning with Arthur’s father, we find evidence in this story how the Seibel surname began appearing across the river in Jackson County, Illinois.