Today’s plot is one that repeated itself often in the early part of the 20th century.  A son in a large family decides that, in order to find employment and possibly land, he must move away.  One of those places that several Perry County boys found was the area around Potter, Nebraska in Cheyenne County.

Edwin Aurich was born on October 3, 1889.  He was the 6th child out of 10 in the family of Adolf and Josephine (Antonier) Aurich.  Edwin was baptized at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar, Missouri.  In the 1900 census, we see the entire Aurich family living in the same household.  Edwin is listed as Otto in this census.

Edwin was confirmed at Salem in 1903.  Here is his confirmation picture.

Edwin was not living with his parents according to the 1910 census, but I could not locate him elsewhere in that census.  The next record we have for him is his marriage in 1914.  That marriage took place in Beemer, Nebraska, which happens to be another general area where several Perry County boys settled after leaving home.  Edwin married Martha Pagels from Beemer.  Martha was the daughter of Friederich and Martha (Werbelow) Pagels.  Here are photos of Martha’s parents.

Edwin and Martha were married on December 9, 1914.  Because Martha’s father was later buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Beemer, Nebraska, I think this marriage took place at that church.  Here is the wedding photo of Edwin and Martha.

Not long after his marriage, we find Edwin and Martha living in another location in Nebraska.  It was a location considerably farther west.  Here is Edwin’s World War I draft registration form.

This form lists Edwin as living in Gurley, Nebraska.  It also indicates that a child had been born in this family by 1917 when this form was filled out.

In the 1920 census for Cheyenne County, Nebraska, we find a few other Aurichs.  Living with Edwin was his younger brother, Walter.  Also living nearby we find the August Aurich family.  Arthur, an older brother, was still having a son in Farrar, Missouri in 1917, so I am thinking he moved to Nebraska after Edwin moved there.  Another Aurich, Oscar, can be found in the 1930 census in the same area.  He had married his wife in Pilger, Nebraska in 1914.  Pilger is not that far from Beemer.  Another brother listed a Gurley, Nebraska address on his World War I draft registration form.  His name was Elmer John Aurich.  Here is that registration.

Elmer would later move to Wayne, Nebraska, which is back in that area near Beemer.

As near as I can tell, Edwin and Martha had five children.  They started with three straight daughters followed by two sons.  We have this photo of the three girls, Fern, Ada, and Lola.

Edwin was a farmer in Cheyenne County for the rest of his life.  We have this photo of Edwin and Martha when they celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1964.

Martha died in 1969; Edwin died in 1986.  They are buried together in the St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery in Potter, Nebraska.  That church is so far west in Nebraska that it is not in the Nebraska District of the LCMS.  It is in the Wyoming District.  Here is their gravestone.

Today’s story highlights two regions in Nebraska that became populated with previous Perry County residents…..what we often describe as the Potter, Nebraska area and the West Point, Nebraska area.  I have this feeling that I will write more about Perry County characters that I will find in either of these two special spots.