Today’s main character has been mentioned on this blog on many occasions, mainly because he is the pastor with the distinction of serving Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg for the most years. His name has appeared on a bunch of marriage licenses that have been displayed in previous stories.

August Adolph Vogel was born on October 4, 1878, so today would be his 145th birthday. He would be called Adolph during his life. Later, he would be called Rev. Vogel, and even later, Rev. Dr. Vogel. Adolph was the son of Salomo and Helene (Schmidt) Vogel. A previous post was written about his parents, Salomo and Schmidt. Adolph was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. His baptism record is pictured here. Yesterday, I republished a story about the fire that destroyed the house that once belonged to Dr. Theodore Estel. Theodore was one of Adolph’s sponsors.

Adolph is found at the age of 1 in the 1880 census. His father was a cooper in Frohna. Perhaps he worked at the Weinhold brothers’ Frohna Flour Mill.

In 1892, Adolph was confirmed at Concordia, Frohna. I found this photo in a Vogel binder we have in our library that is not identified, but I have reason to believe that it is Adolph’s confirmation photo.

Since we cannot view the 1890 census, Adolph would be in his 20’s before we find him in the 1900 census. He was no longer living with his parents. He was a student at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis where he was studying to become a Lutheran pastor. Prior to attending Concordia Seminary, Adolph had attended high school at St. Paul’s, Concordia, Missouri and college at Concordia, Ft. Wayne.

A rather humorous tale is told about Adolph when he was at Ft. Wayne when he was struggling with learning the languages required to become a pastor. A professor asked him why he wanted to be a pastor. Perhaps this was just a tall tale.

In 1901, Adolph was home in Frohna when his family had a photo taken. He had graduated that year. Adolph is sitting on the porch in a straw hat, holding a dog.

In July of 1901, Adolph applied for a passport. The application form says he was headed to Brazil to become a missionary. He was one of the first missionaries to be sent to that country by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Adolph returned to the States in 1904 and got married, so we will turn our attention to the woman who would become his bride. Her name was Fredericka Magdalena Spilker. We have to be really careful when we talk about a woman named Magdalena Spilker. In a previous post, we found out that another famous pastor to come out of Frohna, Rev. T. A. Weinhold, was married to Magdalena Spilker. Today’s Magdalena was born on July 5, 1881, the daughter of William and Caroline (Henges) Spilker. Magdalena was like another character who I wrote about recently who was called Lenchen…which I assume is pronounced “lean-chen”. She was the only child in her family. We are only able to see Magdalena in one census entry prior to her marriage…the one taken in 1900. She was 18 years old, and her father was a grocer in St. Louis. In a biography of Rev. Adolph Vogel we have in our research library that was written by his son, Curt, it says that William and Caroline Spilker were sponsors for Pastor Vogel when he attended the Seminary.

Pastor Vogel was in St. Louis in 1904 when the World’s Fair was taking place. He had proposed to Magdalena Spilker by mail from Brazil. On June 8, 1904, Adolph Vogel married Magdalena Spilker at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in St. Louis. About the only documentation I located for this wedding is this information found in a newspaper from St. Louis. Bethlehem Lutheran Church is located at Florissant and Salisbury.

A photograph was taken after Adolph and Magdalena’s wedding as people celebrated. I actually think the bride and groom are not in this photo, but I could be wrong. It appears that people were enjoying themselves.

Rev. Vogel took his new bride to Brazil where he continued to be a missionary. In those days, the mission was to reach German immigrants who had settled in that country. As time went by, Adolph learned to speak Portuguese. Two children were born to the Vogel’s while they were in Brazil. Then, in 1913, Rev. Vogel got quite ill and required surgery. He chose to have that surgery in the United States. We find the Vogel’s on the passenger list for the ship, Verdi which is shown here.

Adolph’s recovery took some time, and after that recovery he accepted a call to become the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg in 1914. Two more children were born in Altenburg, one a stillborn. Since the Vogel’s were in Brazil in 1910, we cannot see them in that year’s census. In 1918, Adolph had his World War I draft registration completed.

We have a wonderful binder in our research library that contains a collection of photographs of Rev. Vogel’s confirmation classes over the years. The first photo in that collection is of the 1918 class. Confirmation certificates were quite large back in those days.

Below is a list of the students in that class. My Uncle Ossie (Oscar) Schlimpert was in that class. I think he is the last boy on the right standing in the back. I’ll let my Schlimpert relatives tell me if I am wrong.

The 1920 census shows the Vogel family living in Altenburg. You can see that the first two children are said to have been born in Brazil.

I think this photo of Adolph’s parents and siblings was taken in 1925. Adolph is the son in the back wearing the bow tie.

Next, we find the Vogel family in the 1930 census. Just their youngest child, Curt, lived in their household.

The 1940 census shows Adolph and Lenchen with an empty nest. I could not resist showing their neighbor, Bertha Schmidt, who was my grandma.

In 1942, Adolph was required to complete a World War II draft card despite the fact that he was already 63 years old.

Pastor Vogel retired in 1949 from the ministry. His last confirmation class from that year is displayed below.

Here is a list of the students in that class. I have 2 cousins in this list, Melvin Schilling and Marie Schlimpert. I find it very interesting that Oscar Schlimpert is in the first confirmation photo and his daughter, Marie, is in the last one.

In 1950, the census entry for the Vogel’s says Pastor Vogel was still doing pastoral duties.

Magdalena “Lenchen” Vogel died in 1960 at the age of 79. We can take a look at her death certificate.

In 1972, Rev. Vogel attended a special service at Trinity, Altenburg celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Ladies Aid, which Adolph had helped to establish. Gerard Fiehler told me this morning that he remembers helping get him and his wheelchair up the steps into church that day. He smiled as he heard the church bells ring marking the beginning of that service. Later that week, Pastor Vogel died at the age of 93. We can also view his death certificate.

An obituary for Adolph is displayed below in 2 images.

His obituary indicates that in 1963, he had been conferred a doctor’s degree by the Seminary that he had helped establish in Brazil. Rev. Dr. Adolph and Magdalena Vogel are buried together in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg.

In preparation for our upcoming immigration conference which will have the theme, “Work of Our Fathers”, a display has been put together to tell the story of the work of the clergy. In that display are two items from Rev. Vogel. One is the robe that he once wore as pastor. The other is a set of communion ware that he used when making visits to the homes of his members.

If you get to the museum these days, make sure to take a look at this display. You could also ask to view the binder full of confirmation photos that we have. In the front of that binder, we find this photo of Pastor Vogel. I figure he must have had a liking for straw hats.