Today’s title is intended to mislead you.  To understand why, you must once again understand some more East Perry County pronunciation.  Although the name Schade looks like it ought to be a one syllable word that sounds like shades, it is not.  This name is pronounced with two syllables and is called Shaw-dee.

However, today’s story starts with the birthday of a girl named Elisabeth Brandt.  She was born in Austria on April 8, 1838.  I have reason to believe that this surname may have previously been Brand or even Bran.  In 1860, she is living in Jonesboro, Illinois and working at a hotel.  She was a 22 year old servant.

One year later, Elisabeth gave birth to an illegitimate child which was baptized by the pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells, Missouri.  Elizabeth had a sister, Theresia, who had married Gottlieb Starzinger and lived in that vicinity.  Here is that baptism record in the Immanuel, New Wells records.

The baby was born on December 18 and baptized on December 23.  The child was named Friedrich.  Gottlieb Starzinger was the lone sponsor.  By the way, our research library is named the Starzinger Family Research Library after Marjorie (Starzinger) Wills who is a descendant from this Starzinger family.

Friedrich only lived a matter of days.  He died on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1861 and was buried on New Year’s Day.  This death record is found in the Immanuel church records, but not the Immanuel in New Wells.  It is found in the Immanuel, Altenburg records.  This is also the first time we see Elisabeth’s name spelled Brandt.

Because of Friedrich’s name and the fact that his death record is in the Immanuel, Altenburg books, it is likely that the father of this child was Friedrich August Schade, who was also a member of this Immanuel.  We do not have a photo of August, but we do have one of Elisabeth.

August and Elisabeth were married in Altenburg on May 20, 1862.  Here is the record of their marriage.

The Schade family would have six children who lived to adulthood.  I will focus on just one of them.  A few of the others may be fodder for a future story or two.  In fact, in a previous post, we talked about an older brother, Oswald, who was a barber in Altenburg.  The son I will focus on was Conrad Schade.  He was born in 1869 and raised in Altenburg, but eventually he ended up in Jackson, Missouri where he ran a restaurant/tavern for many years.  Here is a photo of Conrad later in life.

In 1902, Conrad married Marie Louise Engelhardt at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pocahontas.  Here is their wedding photo.

The next picture is one of the main reasons for writing this story today.  I just had to find an excuse someday to post this photo.  It is the wedding party for the Schade-Engelhardt marriage in 1902.

I count over 80 people in this photograph.  From this family’s small…and scandalous….beginning just 40 years earlier, this family (and the Engelhardts) has grown considerably.

I also cannot resist commenting on the three beer waiters in the front of the photo holding trays of full beer glasses.  When I see these old photos with the beer glasses, the glasses are always filled with dark beer.  I wonder where that beer was procured.  My best guess is that the saloon in Altenburg operated by Gabriel Lottes might have been the source.  If that is the case, Gabriel may have gotten this beer from the brewery at which he had worked in Old Appleton in his earlier days owned by Casper Ludwig.  Here is a photo of that brewery taken shortly after a fire damaged it in 1907.

I cannot say for sure that this is the supplier of the beer in these old photos, but it is a reasonable guess.  I know of no other brewery that was operating in this area around 1900.

One more thing.  We have a regular visitor at our museum who I think resembles old Conrad Schade.  He often signs his name as Roger Abbott……or Larry Mondello…..or Max Stout.  He never signs his name as Schade, but I have this sneaking suspicion that he may come from this Schade family.  I also know that he wears cool shades.  Here is his photo alongside that of Conrad.  What do you think?