Today’s post will be a simple one, but I assure you it is from the heart. I took the time to find all the Valentines that show up in the German Family Tree, and I will list them here. The German Family Tree is a large document that we have here at our museum which is a compilation of all the birth, baptism, marriage, confirmation, and death records for people that have lived in this area in the past. Almost all of them have some connection to one of the Lutheran churches in Perry County (and a few from just across the border in north Cape Girardeau County). Lynn Degenhardt is the author of this amazing document which now amounts to about 2000 pages of material.
I am going to include in this list anyone who has a first or middle name which is either Valentine or Valentin. If I know the birth and death date, I will include that, as well as the congregation where that person’s records can primarily be found. The list is alphabetical by last name.
- John Valentine Bergmann 1866-1928 Friedenberg
- Valentine Bergmann 1836-1885 Friedenberg
- Johann Otto Valentin Blanken 1885- Frohna
- Erwin Valentin Bodenschatz 1903- Trinity Altenburg
- Valentin Fiedler ??? New Wells
- Valentin Froebel 1819-1868 Frohna
- Rudolph Albert Valentine Hoehn 1897-1986 Friedenberg
- Valentine Otto Hoehn 1866-1936 Friedenberg
- Valentine O. Hoehn 1837-1905 Friedenberg
- John Valentine Hoehn 1864-1942 Friedenberg
- Albert Valentine Hoehn 1892-1975 Friedenberg
- Herman Valentin Alwin Leine 1882- New Wells
- Valentin Meister 1830-1897 Uniontown
- Karl Friedrich Valentin Meister 1890-1891 Uniontown
- Valentin Mueller ??? Frohna
- Paul Theodore Valentin Noennig 1885- Frohna
- Johann Andreas Valentin Schenck 1894- Perryville
- Christian Friedrich Valentin Wachter 1832-1883 Trinity Altenburg
- Valentine Weibrecht 1876-1946 Friedenberg
- Benjamin Valentine Weith 1890-1892 Perryville
I am going to include a photo of one of these Valentines. It is a wedding photo of the marriage between Valentine Otto Hoehn (the one born in 1866) and Mary Fassel which took place on May 26, 1890.
I also found a Melvin Valentine Hennemann in the zionrootsgenealogy.org site who married Emma Boxdorfer. Emma was probably a Lutheran from Friedenberg, but Melvin was a Catholic, and their marriage took place in a Catholic church, so it doesn’t show up in the German Family Tree. What makes Melvin special is that today is also his birthday, and I am guessing he got his middle name because of that fact.
If you base your judgment upon how many Valentines come from a congregation, the Friedenberg congregation has to be given the title of Most Romantic Congregation. Since I did not find any Valentines at Immanuel in Altenburg or Salem in Farrar, I suppose one could suggest that they are not romantic congregations. However, I will not be accused of making such a claim.
I hope you enjoy our Valentines as you celebrate with yours.
You apparently did not read the attachment to the email that I recently sent to Carolyn Schirmer and copied to you. Hermann Valentin Koenig was one of the founders of Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar. Valentin was one of his multiple middle names. It apparently did not make it to any of the church records. He may not have liked the name and chose to not use it.