We will be recognizing a man today who would have been celebrating his 125th birthday had he still been alive. His name was Gottfried Adolph Telle, and he was born on August 26, 1893. He went by his middle name, Adolph, and he was baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown, Missouri.
Adolph was the son of Gottfried and Martha (Frentzel) Telle. I find two things quite interesting about the Telle couple who were Adolph’s parents. First, this Martha Frentzel was a sister to two Frentzel brothers that were the parents of Gotthilf Frentzel whose story was told in the post, Another Grocer with Perry County Roots, and Flora Frentzel, whose story was told in the previous post, A Mesker Story. That means today’s story is the third post in a row that have been about Frentzel cousins. Secondly, this Telle/Frentzel couple is just one of three such couples that were made up of three Telle siblings who married three Frentzel siblings.
Today’s character shares some of the same double set of grandparents with a whole bunch of cousins. Here are the Telle grandparents, Herman and Eva (Hemmann) Telle.
And here are the Frentzel grandparents, Carl and Amalia (Hopfer) Frentzel.
Adolph filled out his World War I draft registration in 1917.
It states that Adolph was a farmer working for his father. As near as I can tell, the land shown in the red box on this 1915 land map was the land where Adolph and his father farmed. This land was bordering Apple Creek.
What I find interesting, almost to the point of humorous, is what we see on the WWI draft registration form where it asks if there is some exemption that would keep someone from being drafted. Here is an enlargement of the form where it shows Adolph’s response.
It says “help parents – no drafting”. My calculations say that Adolph’s father was 51 years old and his mother was 47 years old at the time this form was completed. You could not claim that your parents were totally dependent on you when they were at that age, but I will say, “Nice try, Adolph.”
It may have been a nice try, but it didn’t work. Here is a form that shows Adolph’s military service during World War I.
Another record shows that Adolph was inducted into the service on June 23, 1918 and served until December 30, 1918 a total of just six months.
The top form says Adolph was part of the 162nd Depot Brigade. That unit was stationed at Camp Pike in Arkansas. Here is a photo of that military base.
Next, we will discuss a girl by the name of Esther Schaefer. She was the daughter of Benjamin and Helen (Dankenbring) Schaefer. The Schaefers were originally from Uniontown, but for a while, they went to Chicago to live. It was while they were in Illinois that Esther was born. She was born on March 6, 1899. The Schaefer family would later return to Uniontown. Esther can be seen in this photo of the Schaefer family.
Esther is standing behind her father’s left shoulder.
I included photos of Adolph’s grandparents earlier. Here is a set of Esther’s grandparents, Christian and Juliana (Bruhl) Schaefer.
Adolph Telle and Esther Schaefer were married in 1921. It’s the date on which they were married that is interesting. Adolph was going to have an easy anniversary date to remember. They were married on Christmas Day. Not only that, take a look at these records from the Grace Lutheran Church books.
Adolph and Esther were not the only couple to be married on that day. Arthur Kassel and Magdalena Oberndorfer were also married on that date. The pastor of Grace Lutheran at the time was Rev. Hueschen. What makes this even more interesting is the fact that I have previously written a story about Christmas weddings in the post, Noel Nuptials, which involved the Hueschen family.
Here is the marriage license for Adolph and Esther.
When I was giving this image a title, I discovered I already had a Telle/Schaefer marriage license in my files. It was the marriage of Tennessee Telle and Henry Schaefer. Their story was told in the post, Tennessee Telle and Her Tale.
Adolph and Esther had two children, Leora and Eugene, who can be seen in this 1930 census form.
Adolph continued to be a farmer in Uniontown throughout his life. Esther died in 1972; Adolph died in 1976. They are both buried in the Grace Lutheran Cemetery in Uniontown. Here are their gravestones. Adolph’s recognizes his military service.
I must say it is not always easy to keep what I call the “Uniontown Names” straight. This Telle/Schaefer/Frentzel/Hopfer/Hemmann story is such an example.
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