First of all, a Perry County pronunciation lesson.  Around here, the name Oehlert is pronounced Ay-lert.

June 8, 1856 was the occasion of a double wedding at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg.  The pastor of Trinity at the time was Rev. Georg Schieferdecker.  Here are the marriage records you find in the Trinity, Altenburg church books.

Tobias Oehlert, the younger of the two brothers, married Christiane Haarnagel.  Christiane was the daughter of Johann Heinrich Haarnagel, who by the time of the wedding had already died.  Here are photos of Tobias and Christiane.

Johann Gottlieb Oehlert married Wilhelmina Krause.  Wilhelmina was the daughter of Karl Friedrich and Christiane Susanne (Prager) Krause.  Both of her parents had died before this wedding took place.  Here is a photo of Gottlieb and Wilhelmina.

The two Oehlert brothers were sons of Johann Gottfried and Marie Rosine Oehlert.  Marie Rosine had died in 1854, and in 1855, Johann Gottfried married the widow, Theresia Kranawetter.  In fact, these two were married just six days after another brother of Tobias and Gottlieb got married.

It was just one year after the double wedding of June 8, 1856, that Rev. Georg Schieferdecker would break away from Trinity to form Immanuel Lutheran Church on the other side of Altenburg.  One interesting fact that comes out of this story is that Tobias remained at Trinity, but Gottlieb followed Pastor Schieferdecker to Immanuel.

There were five brothers in the family of Johann Gottfried and Marie Rosine.  Of those five, Gottlieb was the only one to not serve in the Union Army during the Civil War.  Tobias served from 1862 until 1864.  Here is a form that shows his service.

One of Tobias’s sons was born after he went to war in 1862.  After the war, Tobias bought a farm in Jarvis, Missouri, which is located in Jefferson County near Festus.  That is where he and Christiane are buried.  This couple had eight children.

Gottlieb is listed in Perry County censuses as being a farmer, but he has also been described as being a carpenter.  Wilhelmina gave birth to thirteen children, but only seven of them lived to adulthood.  Five of these children are shown in this photo.

The two ladies in front are Rosalie Heise on the left and Mathilde Schade on the right.  In the back, left to right are Wilhelm, Joseph, and Gustav Oehlert.

Another family photo shows this Oehlert family with Gottlieb and Wilhelmina sitting in front.  It also includes the spouses of the Oehlert children.

I just have to show you this photo that includes Joseph (second from left) and his sons (on the right) holding up some rather sizable carp that they caught on a pond on their farm.

There are so many aspects of this picture that fascinate me:  the hats, the suspenders (braces), the overalls, the fish, the surroundings, the fishing pole, the pipe, the huge hands, …..

And we have this photo which has Gottlieb and Wilhelmina and daughter Rosalie standing in front of their home.

Gottlieb died in 1912.  Here is his death certificate.

It is signed by Dr. Johann Neumueller, who was married to Wilhelmina Oehlert, his niece, who was a daughter of his brother Tobias.

Gottlieb and Wilhelmina are buried together in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg.

We know there are plenty of Oehlert descendents out and about the country because every once in a while, some of them will stop by our museum for a visit.