The first thing that attracted me to today’s story was a name.  The name was Emma Eva End.  Add to that the fact that Emma married an Emil, and you have a lot of E’s.  Emma and Emil were married on June 29, 1890.  Their story, as it turns out, has many interesting details.

Emma Eva End was the daughter of Gabriel and Barbara (Houseman) End of Perryville.  She was born on February 4, 1868 and baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville.  She was the second of eight children born into that family.  We have this photo of Emma which was probably taken before she was married.

Before I go on, I want to state that there is evidence that there was once and End Photography Studio in Perryville.  Someone in this family was involved in that trade, and that is probably one of the reasons you will be seeing quite a few photographs in this post.  The photo above is attributed to that studio.

Emil was the son of Nicholas and Henrietta (Karling) Guth.  Nicholas was once a sheriff in Perryville.  Emil was born on December 15, 1866 and baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville.   I was able to find one fact about Emil before his marriage.  In 1888, he became a partner with William Shoults and Lawrence Leibler in a business that manufactured “soda water, sasparilla, buffalo meat, ginger ale, and eider”.

That leads us up to 1890 when Emma became Emma Guth and was no longer an End.  Here is the marriage license for Emil Guth and Emma End.  They were married at Immanuel.

Here is this couple’s wedding photo.

A child by the name of Albert Guth was born in 1891, but he only lived about 4 months.  In 1894, a second child was born by the name of Arthur Guth.  In 1900, the photo below was taken of Emma, Emil, and Arthur in front of their home which was located at 128 S. Walnut Street in Perryville.  Their home was about two blocks away from the courthouse.

The 1900 census says that Emil was a bartender when this photo was taken.

The photo below shows the same house.  The picture was taken on Arthur’s 9th birthday, which would have been on February 1, 1903.

Arthur is standing in the middle wearing a dark suit and tie holding his hands in front of him.  If this was a birthday party, Arthur had a lot of friends.

When Emma was 37 years old, she gave birth to a set of identical twins.  They were born on August 13, 1905 and baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church.  Their names were Laura Myrtle and Lena Myrtha Guth.  When they were still very young, this photo was taken of them with their grandmother, Barbara End.

When Laura and Lena were confirmed, they had their picture taken together.

I am going to return to Arthur for a moment.  Here is the form that was filled out when he registered for the draft during World War I.

Arthur did enter the military, and we have this photo of him in his uniform.

Arthur married Anna Koenig from Pocahontas, Missouri in 1919, and when the 1910 census was taken, it appears that he was living in the house on Walnut Street with his parents and sisters.  In that census, it says that he was a photographer.  When his wife applied for a military headstone for Arthur’s grave, we find information about his military service.  Here is that application.

In 1923, we find these photos of the Guth twins in their yearbook from Perryville High School.

Tragically, not long after these high school photos were taken, each of the twins contracted tuberculosis.  The efforts their parents made to help them with this disease is yet another interesting aspect of this story.  Eventually both of them died of this disease, but they died in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.  That leads us to the story of the Wheat Ridge Sanitarium.

Apparently, one of the schools of thought about people battling tuberculosis had to do with getting them to a place with more sunshine.  One such place was Colorado.  Quite a few people were finding their way to that state in an attempt to get healed.  A group of Lutherans in Wheat Ridge, Colorado decided to set up a place where these ill people could live and be treated.  Here is a brief description of what became known for a while as the Wheat Ridge Sanitarium.

This effort was taking place in the early 1900’s, and as the article states, a Tent City was established.  Here are some photos of that Tent City.

Even after tuberculosis was no longer a huge health issue, the Wheat Ridge organization continued to function, especially as an effort to provide medical assistance to sick people.  Maybe some of you remember getting Wheat Ridge Seals (or stamps) in the mail around Christmas time as a fund-raising effort by this organization.

Nowadays, this organization is named Wheat Ridge Ministries and is headquartered in Chicago.

Lena died in 1925; Laura died in 1927.  They are buried together in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville.

Later in their lives, this photo was taken of Emil and Emma.  It is not often that you see old photos which were taken in the snow.

Emil Guth died in 1933.  Here is his obituary.

Emma died in 1952, and here is her obituary.

Emil and Emma are both buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery.  These are their gravestones.

In conclusion, I must say that this story starts with an End.  As the tale ensues, we find that he Guth story certainly has its tragedy, but it also tells the tale about how much effort a family will put forth in order to preserve the lives of their children.  I appreciate that this story gave me the opportunity to tell the story of another Lutheran institution in a different state that has been an important part of our church’s history.