I have been receiving some very interesting input on the last few posts about photographs and photography.  You are getting another installment today.  This post will discuss Paul Lueders, the photographer….all four of them!

First, there was the Paul Lueders from Frohna, Missouri, the youngest son of August and Mary Lueders, who was born in 1879.  August Lueders was the main character in the post, Frohna Entrepreneur.  Paul was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna.  This is his baptism record.

Later in his life, Paul chose photography as his occupation.  It appears that he chose that career sometime between 1900 and 1910.  The 1910 census is the first one that indicates he was a photographer.

The photo below was shown in a previous post.  It shows the building in which Paul had his photography studio.

A skylight like the one on the side of the building was probably very essential to photography in the days before electricity arrived in East Perry County.

One of Paul Lueder’s famous photographs, at least for folks around here, is the one he was asked to do after the 1922 train robbery in Wittenberg.  The two dead criminals were transported to Paul’s studio where they propped up the two bodies and had Paul take a photograph of them (bullet holes and all).  I have decided (at least for today) that I will not show you that photograph.

Other photographers came out of the August Lueders family.  They came from another son by the name of Ludwig (Louis) Lueders.   We see Louis as an older brother of Paul in this 1880 census for Frohna.

Louis himself became a watch maker who operated a jewelry business in Frohna.  Here we see him in the 1900 Frohna census.

The oldest son in the above census record is the one we are going to follow.  His name was Herbert Lueders, and he became a photographer who worked in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  This 1940 census shows the Herbert Lueders family and indicated his photography business.

Herbert’s oldest son was named Paul, so now we have the second Paul Lueders.  Paul followed in his father’s footsteps and became a photographer.  In fact, he became a rather notable photographer in the Cape Girardeau region.  I am going to put a few links on here to lead you to some stories that have been published on the internet about this Paul Lueders.  First, here is an article put together by Fred Lynch, another notable photographer/journalist from Cape Girardeau.

https://www.semissourian.com/blogs/flynch/entry/70245

Another story was put together by our museum’s friend who is another photographer/journalist who spent many years in Cape Girardeaus.  His name is Ken Steinhoff.  I’m not going to say that he is notable because he may get a big head about it.  I must also issue a disclaimer about this link.  You will have to look at some Lueders photographs that include Ken.  Sorry about that.  This link will show you a picture of the building that was the home of the Paul Lueders Studio in Cape Girardeau.

http://www.capecentralhigh.com/cape-photos/broadway/lueders-studio-427-broadway/

This Paul Lueders would have called the first Paul Lueders his great uncle.

Yet another Paul Lueders comes from the William Lueders branch of the Lueders family.  I call them the Wittenberg Lueders.  This third Paul Lueders is William Lueders’ great grandson.  William had a son named Otto, who had a son named Alfred, who had a son named Paul.  A daughter of this Paul Lueders, Tami Mills, sent me a photo of her father and the Cape Girardeau Paul Lueders that was taken when these two distant cousins managed to meet one another.

Although this third Paul Lueders was not a professional photographer, his hobby was photography.  I’m sure these two men, if they had the time, could have spent many hours discussing photographic techniques.

As if all this isn’t enough, I found a fourth Paul Lueders who is a photographer.  If you do an internet search on “Paul Lueders photography” you will get many results for another Paul Lueders who lives in Wisconsin and does wildlife photography.  I will put a link here for you to find his Facebook page.  This page displays many of his wildlife shots which are really magnificent.

https://www.facebook.com/PaulLuedersPhotography?fref=ts

I have absolutely no idea if that Paul Lueders has any family connections to the East Perry County Lueders folks.  I guess if anyone else that has the surname Lueders and has a son, if you want that son to be a photographer, name him Paul.