My research journey began today with the fact that George Doering and Amalia Theresa Schlimpert were married in Perry County on May 16, 1849.  Here I must interject that this marriage is not recorded in the church books in Altenburg.  This was that time period right before Rev. Gotthold Loeber’s death and the church records are sketchy.  The marriage is recorded in the Perry County Missouri Marriage Records.

This is where I veered off on a tangent.  I noticed that one of the many children from this couple spent some time living in Battle Creek, Nebraska.  Since I am somewhat familiar with Battle Creek, this drew my attention.  Martin Gottfried Doering was the eighth child of George and Amalia.  He became a Lutheran school teacher and was serving in Battle Creek when he returned to Altenburg to get married to Clara Beyer, the daughter of George Michael and Sarah (Kramer) Beyer.  G.M. Beyer was a Lutheran teacher here in Altenburg.  You can find our blog post of the triple wedding including the Beyers by clicking here.

The Doering family spent the rest of their lives in Battle Creek with Martin serving as a teacher at St. John’s Lutheran Church.  Clara died in 1930, and Martin died in 1949.  They are buried in the St. John’s cemetery.

Here is a photo of the present church sanctuary in Battle Creek.

Being a retired Lutheran school teacher myself, I also got great pleasure out of seeing that two of the teacher friends I made over the years are presently serving on the staff at St. John’s Lutheran School…..Jim Hardt and Bruce Mertens.  I am guessing that those two guys probably do not know about their school’s connection to Perry County.