I confess. The main reason I chose today’s story is the alphabet. A Zerbst married an Amschler on this date in history, and she went from being a “Z” to an “A”. The marriage took place on April 25, 1920 in Jacob, Illinois at Christ Lutheran Church. It was the wedding of Alfred Amschler and Anna Zerbst. Here is the marriage record that we find the Christ Lutheran Church books.
We will start by looking at Anna Zerbst. She was the daughter of Heinrich and Meta (Guetersloh) Zerbst of Jacob, Illinois. Zerbst and Guetersloh are definitely Jacob, Illinois names. Anna was born on December 14, 1900 and baptized at Christ Lutheran Church. Anna was 20 years old when she married Alfred. Here is their wedding photo.
Alfred Amschler, born on February 9, 1896, was the son of Johann and Margaret (Rathjen) Amschler. Johann Amschler had his roots in Longtown, Missouri. Here is a photo of Johann Amschler in his younger days.
We have an Amschler family binder in our research library, and it is a wonderful piece of genealogical work. Here is a wedding photo of Alfred’s parents which can be found in this binder.
It appears that after Johann married Margaret, he lived in the Jacob, Illinois area. There is this photo of the Amschler home in Jacob.
It is said to also be called the “Sears House” because it was ordered from Sears and all the pre-cut pieces were then assembled in Jacob. In the Amschler binder, you can also find this fairly early photo of the Johann Amschler family which shows a young Alfred Amschler in the front row on the right.
Another photo was taken of Johann and Margaret Amschler on the occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary in 1915. Alfred, their son, would have been 19 years old at that time.
Later in their lives, another family photo was taken of the Amschlers.
You can once again see Alfred shown on the right. Alfred and Anna have four children included in our German Family Tree, all of them boys. There was a set of twins, one of which died in infancy. By the way, there is a history of twins in the Guetersloh family. In addition to the twin dying early, another of their children died in infancy.
Alfred was a farmer in the Jacob, Illinois area. In fact, if you look at Margaret Amschler’s death certificate, it indicates Alfred’s parents lived in Rattle, Illinois.
In another recent post, this photo of Rattle (or Raddle) was included.
I do not know if Alfred farmed the same land as his father, but he is also called a farmer in several census records, including this one in 1940.
Marvin is the son who was a twin. Anna died in 1961 at the age of 60. Here is a portion of her obituary.
After Anna died, Alfred married again in 1966. His second wife was Louise nee Bergmann. Louise had been married twice previously, so she could be said to be Louise (Bergmann) (Hoehn) (Guetersloh) Amschler after she married Alfred.
Alfred died in 1983 at the age of 87. Here is a portion of his obituary.
Both Alfred and his first wife, Anna, are buried together in the Christ Lutheran Cemetery in Jacob, Illinois. Here is their gravestone.
So on April 25, 1920, Anna Zerbst (A.Z.) became Anna Amschler (A.A.) and joined her husband Alfred Amschler, who was another A.A.
Correction- Vic Amschler died June 25, 2015.
Thank you for this article about my grandparents. I am the youngest daughter of Victor Amschler. My dad, the oldest son of Alfred and Anna, died June 25, 2018. His brother, Marvin, died April 23, 2011. Alfred and Anna lived at the end of the lane in the house that his parents had lived in before building the larger house at the beginning of the lane on the “hard road”. When I was a child in the 50s and 60s, Alfred’s brother, John, and his family lived in the house you have pictured. This area is not in Raddle which was along the railroad track. Alfred and Anna’s farm was on the Mississippi River, the levee actually went through their farm.