Today’s story tells of a family that went back and forth between Perry County and St. Louis.  When I hear the term “back and forth”, I cannot but smile as I remember how our granddaughter, Kylie, once put on Grandma’s boots as shown in this photo.

She than looked at my wife and said, “Grandma, look.  I’m going back and forth.”  Today, this got me to thinking about the term “back and forth” a little more.  I asked myself the question, “Shouldn’t it be forth and back instead of back and forth?”  After all, don’t you have to go forth first before you then go back?  Anyway, I decided to title today’s post, Forth and Back just to be ornery.  Now on to the story.

Clara Schuessler was born on September 6, 1865.  Her parents were Gottlob and Dorothea (Haarnagel) Schuessler.  Gottlob was a farmer in Altenburg, Missouri.  Here is Clara’s baptism record.

A few years earlier, Gustav Lueders was born on August 5, 1863 in New Wells, Missouri.  His parents were Wilhelm and Theresia (Lehner) Lueders.  Here is Gustav’s baptism record.

William would later become the proprietor of a store in Wittenberg, where Gustav would grow up.  Here is a photo of Gustav’s parents.

In the 1880 census, we find Gustav working as a 16 year old clerk in his dad’s store in Wittenberg.  He was the oldest child in the family.

Five years after this census, Gustav and Clara would get married.  Their marriage record is included in the Trinity Lutheran Church books, but a civil record of the wedding says they got married in Wittenberg.  They may have been married in the church/school building that was located in that town by the river where services were held, but it wasn’t an official congregation yet.

Since we do not have an 1890 census, we do not exactly know what happened to this couple, but we do know that only one child is recorded in Trinity’s books, and that child, Rosine, was born in 1886.  The 1900 census shows this family living in St. Louis, so I am guessing that not long after 1886, they moved “forth” to the big city to our north.  Many of their children were baptized at Holy Cross Lutheran Church starting in 1894.

At that time, Gustave was a cigar dealer, and the family consisted of six girls and two boys.  They would later have two more children, making a total of 10.

Sometime between 1900 and 1910, this family moved “back” to Wittenberg.  We find him in this city directory from St. Louis from the year 1908, so I assume they moved sometime after 1908.

Here we find them in the 1910 census.

Gustav was a driver for a livery stable.  I included the next entry in this census as well, showing Gustav’s younger brother, Otto, as the one who was then operating the Lueders Store in Wittenberg.  It was while the Lueders family was in Wittenberg this time that a young man by the name of Rufus Schneider came to town to become the Lutheran school teacher.  A previous post told his story…..Rufus….Herr Schneider.  Rufus would marry Gustav’s daughter, Concordia, in 1911.  I cannot help but post this adorable photo of Concordia and her first baby, Irma, who was born in 1912..

Here is a photo of Gustav and Clara with all 10 of their children.

Gustav and the remainder of his family made one more move “forth” to St. Louis before 1913 because we once again find him in a city directory from there during that year.

Here we see the Lueders family in the 1920 census.

Gustav is working in a book binding company.  On his death certificate, it indicates that the business he worked for was Concordia Publishing House.  The house where they lived was also just one block away from CPH.  You can see that several of his children were also working and bringing in paychecks.

Another photo was taken much later of just the children of Gustav and Clara.  By the time this photo was taken, the oldest son in the family had died, leaving just 9 children.

This photo must have been taken sometime later in the lives of Gustav and Clara.

Gustav died in 1926.  Here is his death certificate.

Clara died one year later in 1927.  Here is her death certificate.  Please note that her son-in-law, Rufus Schneider, was the informant.  By this time, he was teaching at Holy Cross Lutheran School, which was located very near Concordia Publishing House and the Lueders home.

Gustav and Clara are buried together in the Our Redeemer Cemetery in St. Louis.

No more going forth and back for the Lueders couple.  They are there to stay until the Lord comes to take them “forth” into heaven.