A marriage took place on this day, May 9th, in 1882.  I suppose it could be argued that the wedding took place in either Altenburg or Wittenberg, but my best guess would be Wittenberg.  A new school/church building had been constructed in Wittenberg on property which is said to have been donated by Joseph Weinhold and Theodosius Estel just two years earlier in 1880.  Those two gentlemen were the parents of the bride and groom participating in the marriage ceremony on that day.   I have to think that they would have used this new building in Wittenberg for their wedding.

Joseph Weinhold and Theodosius Estel were partners in a flour mill located in Wittenberg.  Here is a drawing of that mill.  You can see the church/school building in the background.

Theodosius Estel was one of the original immigrants who was part of the Gesellschaft.  Here we see the original Estel family on the passenger list of the Olbers.  That was the ship which carried the leader of the immigration, Rev. Martin Stephan.  Rev. Stephan and the Estels were from Dresden in Germany.

Theodosius was only 8 years old when he came to America.  Later, Theodosius married Henrietta Gerlach in St. Louis.  Here is their marriage record.

Their marriage took place on January 30, 1853.  This couple was married by Rev. Friedrich Wyneken, the second president of the Missouri Synod.  This couple’s first child was born in St. Louis in 1854.  The rest of the Estel children were born in Perry County, beginning with Martin Estel in 1858.  He was the groom in the May 9th wedding.  Here is Martin’s baptism record from the Trinity Lutheran church books in Altenburg.

Martin was born on April 8th and baptized on April 11th.  A new pastor at Trinity, Rev. J.P. Beyer had been installed on April 5th.  And even though Martin’s baptism was only 6 days after Rev. Beyer’s installation, Martin’s baptism was already the 3rd baptism performed by Rev. Beyer.  There was really a baby boom going on in Altenburg in those days.

The first census in which we find Martin is the 1860 census.

Theodosius and his brother, Emanuel, were likely running a general store in Wittenberg at that time.  Martin is two years old.  Just a side note:  Martin’s cousin, Anna, is also shown on this census as being two years old.  She was baptized not long after Martin in 1858, and her baptism date happens to also be today’s date, May 9th.  Here is her baptism record.

The 1870 census shows that sometime between 1860 and 1870, Theodosius Estel had become a miller.

The bride for this May 9th wedding was born on March 10, 1864.  She was the first child was born into the Joseph and Maria (Bretscher) Weinhold family.  Her name was Emilie Martha Weinhold.  She is said to be baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna, but I cannot find it in our records from that church.  Both Trinity and Concordia were in a vacancy situation at that time and the records appear to be incomplete.  The rest of the children born to Joseph and Maria were recorded in the Trinity, Altenburg church books.

Not long after Emilie Weinhold was baptized, Rev. J.F. Koestering, arrived to become the new pastor at both Trinity and Concordia congregations.  He was still there when Emilie married Martin Estel on May 9, 1882.  Here is their marriage license.

I will also show the marriage record that is in the Trinity, Altenburg books.

Like I said earlier, I think this marriage actually took place in Wittenberg, but in those days, an official congregation had not yet been established there, and the records for any official acts that occurred there were still being recorded in the Trinity church books.

Martin was employed at the flour mill in Wittenberg for many years.  I do not have a photo of Martin Estel, but we do have this one of Emilie with her parents and all of her sisters which was taken in 1913 at the occasion of her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary.

Emilie is standing on her father’s right in the front row wearing a dark dress.  All of the children who lived to adulthood in this family were girls.  A previous story about this family was titled, Surrounded by Good Lookin’ Women.

Our German Family Tree shows that 12 children were born into the family of Emilie and Martin.  Only the last one, born in 1904, was baptized at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church after it was formed in 1903.  Eight of the children were girls and four were boys.  So Martin Estel could claim having 8 girls just like his father-in-law.

Martin was still living in Wittenberg for the 1910 census, but not long after that, he must have moved his family to St. Louis.  We see his name showing up in a city directory for that city in 1913.

Martin is called a salesman in this record.  Two year later in 1915, Martin died in St. Louis at the relatively young age of 57.   Here is his death certificate.

Emilie died ten years later.  Here is her death certificate.

I think the birth year on this record is incorrect.  I think it should say March 10, 1864.  Her parents were not married until July 3, 1863.

Martin and Emilie, along with several of their children, are buried together in the Concordia Cemetery in St. Louis.  Here is their gravestone.

The Weinhold and Estel surnames were prominent names in Wittenberg for many years during that town’s heyday.  Today’s marriage must have been quite the social event back in 1882.