Toenjes Martin Jacob Schlichting would have been 131 years old today.  Almost all the documents I have seen indicate he went by the name Martin.  He was born on September 25, 1887 and baptized at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar, Misssouri.  His parents were John and Mary (Stueve) Schlichting.  This is his baptism record.

A little over a year after Martin was born in Farrar, a girl by the name of Laura Fiehler was born in Frohna.  She was the daughter of Benjamin and Bertha (Doberenz) Fiehler.  Here are photos of Laura’s parents.

Laura was born on October 1, 1888 and was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna.  This is her baptism record.

In the following photo showing Laura and her siblings, we find Laura in the back row, third from the left.

On August 29, 1912, Martin married Laura at Concordia.  This is the marriage record from the Concordia, Frohna books.

We also have this wedding photo of Martin and Laura.

Between 1913 and 1930, Martin and Laura had 5 children. A photo taken later shows this family.  The first three children were baptized at Salem, Farrar, and the last two were baptized at St. Paul’s, Wittenberg.

Early in their marriage, Martin farmed some land in the Seventy-six, Missouri area as indicated on Martin’s World War I draft registration form.

Between 1920  and 1930, Martin moved his family to a farm in Wittenberg.  The land had previously been owned by Charles Swan and can be seen on this 1915 land map.

Laura died in 1966 at the age of 77.  We have this death record from the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church books.

Martin died in 1986 at the age of 98.  This is his death record from St. Paul’s.

Martin and Laura are both buried in the St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery in Wittenberg.

There are a few people around East Perry County who are connected to this family that I’d like to mention.  First, the youngest of Martin and Laura children, Barney Schlichting, can still be seen around town.  Here is a photo of him and his military uniform that we have in our museum.

The photo below shows Barney’s older brother, Vernon, with his wife, Lucille, and son, Gary, which was found in an old Trinity Lutheran Church directory.  Lucille is still living and attends church regularly.

Another of Vernon and Lucille’s children, Eunice, is now the librarian who works at the Altenburg branch of the Riverside Regional Library.