First of all, I want to recognize the fact that today is the birthday of my great grandfather, Gottwerth Schmidt, who came to America as part of the Gesellschaft when he was four years old.

However, today I will be focusing on a baby Schmidt girl that was born on September 7, 1865.  Her name was Minnie Schmidt, and she is really not tied in with any of the Schmidt families that are part of East Perry County history.  However, she did marry a man who is part of our German Family Tree.

Minnie was the son of Henry and Sophie (Rasche) Schmidt who were married in Germany and came to America in 1856 aboard the ship, Hermann. We have these photos of Henry and Sophie.

This passenger list shows this couple.

The first two censuses in which we find Minnie Schmidt, she and her family were living in the Apple Creek Township in Cape Girardeau County.  Minnie’s mother, Sophie, was married twice.  She bore three children in her first marriage, all girls, including Minnie.  These two photos show Minnie’s sisters, Bertha (with her husband) and Mary.

After Henry died, Sophie married Paul Rapp, and that marriage added two sons.  This is a photograph of Sophie and her second husband.

One consequence of Sophie’s marriages is the fact that, since the Schmidt children were all girls, the Schmidt name was not passed on to the next generation.

On October 14, 1886, Minnie married Gustav Heinrich Ludwig.  Gustav was born on January 10, 1864 and baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells, Missouri.  This is his baptism record.

Gustav’s parents were Johannes and Sophia (Baunach) Ludwig.  Their story has already been told on this blog in the post titled, The New Jerusalem…Rev. 21:2.  In that post, it mentioned that the Ludwigs bought a farm near Oak Ridge, Missouri.  That may have been a factor explaining that Gustav and Minnie were married at the St. John’s Lutheran Church west of Fruitland.  This church was still a Lutheran church when these two married, but in 1890, that congregation dropped the “Lutheran” from their name.  Over the years, they had a variety of names and were members of a few different synods.  In 1964, this church became St. John’s United Church of Christ, which is what it is called to this day.  We have some transcribed records from this church in our museum.  Here is what we have with regard to Gustav and Minnie’s wedding.

Here is their marriage license.

Below is a photo of Minnie and Gustav.

All the children in this Ludwig family were baptized at St. John’s.  They had seven children, five boys and two girls.  Gustav was a farmer in Byrd Township in Cape Girardeau County, which is the same township in which we find their church.

Gustav died in 1944 at the age of 80; Minnie died in 1955 at the age of 89.  They are buried together in the St. John’s UCC Cemetery west of Fruitland, Missouri.

This story gave me the opportunity to talk a little bit about a nearby church that has a Lutheran history, but you can no longer tell that by their present-day name.  Here are a few photos of St. John’s United Church of Christ.