There are 31 pages in our German Family Tree dedicated to the surname Schuessler.  Just last month, Wayne Schuessler contributed a post to this blog that told the story of the original Schesslers who came to Perry County.  It was titled, The Bowl Makers of Perry County.  Today’s story will focus on just one of those Schuesslers.  His name was Reinhold Gerhardt Schuessler, and he was born on this day, February 26, in 1890.

The more of these stories I write, the more connections I find with previous stories.  I must have had to look at five other posts to refresh my brain about certain facts about people that are discussed in this story.  So off we go as I relate another story about which I was completely clueless before I started researching Reinhold.

Reinhold was the son of Friedrich Gotthilf and Sarah (Saalfeld) Schuessler.  That made Reinhold a grandson of the original Schuesslers that arrived in Perry County in 1839.  Many of those Schuesslers ended up living in the Frohna area, but Friedrich managed to acquire some property about halfway between Altenburg and Wittenberg.  In this 1915 land map, we see a piece of land that was said to belong to Sarah Schuessler, Reinhold’s mother.

Reinhold’s father had died in 1910.  His mother was one of the main characters in a previous story about twins titled, Twins…..Only One Survives.  Sarah happened to be from a family that had two sets of twins.  In both cases, only one of the twins survived.  Sarah was a survivor.

Reinhold was the 11th and last son in his family.  About three years before his birth, his mother had given birth to a set of twin boys in 1887.  Here is a record of their birth.

One of those boys died when he was about one month old; the other died when he was four years old.  That means that second twin died when Reinhold was only one year old.  Twins certainly ran in that family.  If you look closely at the twins date of birth, it says they were born on February 28th, just two days after Reinhold’s day of birth.

One amazing fact that comes out of this Schuessler branch is that out of 11 children, there ended up to be only one grandchild that came from F.G. and Sarah that carried on the Schuessler name, and that grandson lived most of his life in Oklahoma.  That was Walter Schuessler, born to Reinhold’s brother, Otto, who along with his wife, Laura, died at a very young age, leaving Walter to be raised by his grandparents.  His story was told in the post, A Perry County Suburb in Oklahoma.

When Reinhold was 21 years old, he married Lydia Lorenz.  Here is their marriage record from the Trinity Lutheran Church books in Altenburg.

We also have this wedding photo that was taken of Reinhold and Lydia.

Lydia was the daughter of Johann and Caroline (Mueller) Lorenz.  These two were subjects in a post titled, The Real Housewives of Perry County – 1800’s Edition.  Lydia was born on April 22, 1893 and baptized at Trinity, Altenburg.  Here is a birth record for Lydia.

Another story written recently was about her Uncle Gottfried who lived in Collinsville, Illinois titled, Gottfried’s Popcorn Stand.

Reinhold and Lydia had five children according to our German Family Tree.  The two boys died rather young.  One died at about 10 years old and the other a little less than two years old.  Here is their family shown in the 1920 census.

If you look a few entries down from the Schuesslers, you will see Lydia’s father, John A. Lorenz, which indicates he lived nearby.  Also, Reinhold’s mother, Sarah, is living with his family, too.  It was not long after St. Paul’s Lutheran Church was established in Wittenberg that you find the Schuesslers becoming members there.  All five of the Schuessler baptisms took place at that church.

Later in their lives, this photo was taken of Reinhold and Lydia.  It appears to have been taken at their farm.

Reinhold died in 1967; Lydia died in 1972.  They are both buried in the St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery in Wittenberg.  Here are their gravestones.

I find this story personally interesting because I can find links to my family through both the Schuessler  and the Lorenz surnames.