This day would have been the 159th wedding anniversary for Christian Herman Braeuner and Maria Caroline Winter, who were married on November 24, 1859 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. 

Let’s start with Herman Braeuner.  He came to the United States in 1853 aboard the ship, Leontine.  this is the passenger list showing the Braeuners.

His parents were Christian and Johanna Braeuner.  Our German Family Tree lists Herman as the 8th child in this family.  We do not know his actual birthday, but it is estimated to have been around the year 1831.  The first record we find of Herman is as a baptism sponsor in 1858.  Then, in 1859, he was married.

Caroline Winter was the daughter of Christian and Maria (Sparing) Winter.  If I have this figured correctly, Caroline was the niece of the famous Teacher Winter, who was one of the original immigrants and the first teacher at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg.  The other members of the Winter family must have arrived in America at a later date.  The first record I could find for her in any church books was her marriage record.

Here is that marriage record which can be found in Trinity church books.

This is one of those records where the names of the bride and groom are done very neatly with nice caligraphy, and the rest of it is rather difficult to read.  The first census in which we find either Herman or Caroline was the 1860 census.

Herman is shown here as being a farmer.  I included the Winter family shown under Herman and Caroline.  Frederick Winter was Caroline’s brother who was married to Christina Jahn.  The story of that couple was told in the post titled, Hark! Jahn Winter Dost Woo.

Our German Family Tree shows that Herman and Caroline had eight children, the last one being born in 1874.  Here is a photograph of Herman and Caroline that must have been taken later in their lives.

Herman died in 1897; Caroline died in 1907.  I was unable to find where either of these two were buried.  Herman’s death record can be found in the Trinity, Altenburg books, and Caroline’s can be found in the St. Paul’s, Wittenberg books.

The Braeuner and Winter families, with the exception of Teacher Winter, were not part of the Gesellschaft, but arrived in Perry County not long afterward and became very important names in the early history of this area.