If Johann Miesner, who died in 1855 in Germany, was still alive in 1910, he may have been surprised to know that his great grandson would be marrying his granddaughter. I briefly mentioned this marriage which involved a Miesner marrying another Miesner in a post just a few days ago titled, Brought by an Angel. In that story, Engel Miesner was a major character, and she would have been another child of the Johann Miesner I just mentioned. I would add that this is yet another story that should have been written by Lori Adams, who is much more knowledgeable about this Miesner family than I am. I can guarantee that if you would start researching this family, your head would be spinning before you got it all figured out. As for me, my head is still spinning, but I will attempt to tell the tale of this Miesner/Miesner wedding as best as I am able.
I will start with the bride. Her name was Anna Margaretha Miesner. Trust me when I tell you that she is not the only Anna Miesner you find in our German Family Tree. Anna was the daughter of Claus Casper and Margaretha Anna (Ehlers) Miesner. Anna was born on this day, June 9, 1884 in Farrar, Missouri. She was baptized at Salem Lutheran Church in that town. Here is her baptism record from Salem’s church books.
In the 1900 census, we find Anna still living with her parents in Farrar.
Now we will move to the groom. His name was Heinrich Dietrich Miesner. Henry was the son of Johann Heinrich and Sophia (Imbusch) Miesner. Henry was born on September 27, 1879 and baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna, Missouri. Here is his baptism record from that church.
Please don’t get confused by the fact that there is another Anna Miesner who was one of Henry’s sponsors. Also, before I go on, let me point out that Johann Heinrich Miesner had another brother who is said to have been named Johann Heinrich Miesner. One of them went by the name, Johann, and the other (Henry’s father) went by the name, Heinrich.
In the 1900 census, we find Henry living in the Nicolaus Zerbst household in Jacob, Illinois working as a laborer on that farm.
On April 7, 1910, Heinrich Dietrich married Anna Margaretha at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar. Here is their civil marriage license.
We also have this image of their marriage record as we find it in the Salem church books.
I do not have a wedding photo, but I do have individual photos of Henry and Anna when they were fairly young.
In 1918, Henry filled out his World War I draft registration.
Henry is described as being a merchant in Jacob, Illinois on this form. The 1920 census also showed Henry in the business of being a salesman at a general store in Jacob. However, the 1930 census shows a different occupation.
Here Henry is shown as being a laborer on a boat. One of his sons, Walter, a 19 year old, had that same occupation. We also see Anna’s father, Claus, listed in this census document. We have this photo of Henry and Anna’s family which included Claus. I am guessing this photo was taken several years before this census, but the setting must have been their home in Jacob, Illinois. Henry and Anna are standing in the back.
The three children in this photograph are Walter, the oldest, Albert, and Mary. Claus would die in 1932. The photo below was reportedly taken in 1931. It appears to have been taken in front of the same home in Jacob. Anna is the only daughter in the photo along with many of her brothers. Our German Family Tree says there were 9 children born into this family. The last one born died as an infant. That leaves the 8 that you see in this photo.
Henry died in 1934 at the relatively young age of 54. Here is a transcription of his obituary.
Anna died in 1964 at the age of 80. Here is a transcription of her obituary.
Henry and Anna are buried together in the Christ Lutheran Cemetery in Jacob, Illinois. Here is their gravestone.
Miesner is another surname that can be found on both sides of the Mississippi River in these here parts. Almost all of them can trace their roots back to the Scheeβel area in Germany. Studying their families can cause some real head-shaking. I can tell you this. There are way too many Johanns, Heinrichs, Friedrichs, and Annas in that family.
As for the Anna in this story, she is one of those rare married people that wrote her name as Anna Miesner all 80 of her years on earth.
I have a vintage oval plate, white with blue design of windmills, water and trees.
The back has the saying” You may go East, you may go West, if you pass my place you pass the best.”
Henry D. Miesner
Jacob, ILL
If anyone is interested in this plate, please let me know
Henry D Miesner was my grandfather and Anna M Miesner my grandmother. Are you related to his family? I have some info on his mother Sophia Imbusch but I’m trying to find a picture of her if there is one. In fact, I’m always on the lookout for pictures of any Miesner from either side.
If you look closely at the photo of Claus Miesner sitting in the chair with his grown children standing behind him, you’ll notice that Hermann Miesner (far left) is not part of the original photo. His image was copied and pasted by whoever made the photo in the first place. The original pose of him that you see here is taken from one of him with his wife, Maria Katherine Lohmann, a photo which I also have. Hermann was the 6th of 10 children to Claus Miesner, and at the time this photo was taken, Hermann was living in Woods County, Oklahoma, which explains why he wasn’t available when this photo was taken. Grandma Fritsche (Meta nee Miesner, Claus’s granddaughter) told me that Hermann’s image was cut from a copy of the original photo taken with his wife, and then added to the one you see here. It’s funny to see the effort put into picture editing in the days when Photoshop technology didn’t exist.
We have a similar situation in the Hadler family. You may have seen in the obituary for Wallace Hadler (last week) that his daughter Sherry is the spouse of Terry Hadler. Terry is the son of Elbert Hadler of Perryville. Wallace is the son of Arthur Hadler and Elbert is the son of Henry Paul Hadler. Arthur and Henry Paul were brothers, sons of Heinrich (Henry) and Marie Stelling Hadler. (This info is also in the Hadler book which you have at the Museum.)
As you probably have observed, it gets even more convoluted if one mixes the Frohna Miesners and the Farrar Miesners. We had an uncle Heinrich Johann Miesner (always known as Henry) — as opposed to Johann Heinrich! By the way, his wife was Engel Versemann, so there is another Engel Miesner as her married name.