I did a search on what the acronym, B/W, could mean. It had several possibilities. It could mean black and white, and I have referred to black and white wedding dresses in the past. It could mean “be with”. Or it could mean “between” or “better or worse”. I suppose all of these could somehow apply to today’s story, but the real reason I chose today’s title is because I will be telling the story of a Braeuner marrying a Walther.
The story starts with a December 7th birthday. Clara Amanda Walther was born on this day in 1905. She was the daughter of Herman and Maria (Hesse) Walther and baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Herman and Maria’s story was told in the post shown below. It told the story about Henry’s general store located south of Altenburg.
Here is a photo of Clara’s parents.
One of the amazing facts about this story is that on another December 7th in 1888, another child had been born into the Walther family. Her name was also Clara. That Clara died not long after her 8th birthday in 1896. So today’s Clara Walther may have been named after her older sister, especially since she was born on the same day, December 7.
A few years before Clara was born, Alvin Martin Braeuner was born on September 4, 1901. He, too, was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Alvin was the son of Herman and Elizabeth (Leine) Braeuner. I previously wrote a story about Alvin’s grandparents, Herman and Caroline (Winter) Braeuner. You can click on the link below to read it.
Winter Comes to the Braeuner Home
Alvin’s parents had a farm on part of The Ridge near the Mississippi River, as seen in the map below.
The census in 1920 shows Alvin and Clara still living with their parents as single people.
Alvin was the oldest child in his family. Next, we look at Clara.
Clara was the youngest in her family. Not only was she the youngest, she was eleven years younger than her next-oldest sibling.
On April 27, 1927, Alvin and Clara were married at Trinity Lutheran in Altenburg. This is their marriage license.
The 1930 census shows Alvin and Clara living with Alvin’s parents, and Alvin was a farmer. They had one child at that time, a son named Raymond, and would have another in that year the census was taken.
Alvin and Clara would have three children. The 1940 census shows that this family had moved. They were then living with Clara’s mother, Maria Walther, who was a widow.
The location of the Walther Store and home is shown on this 1915 map. I think this is where Alvin and Clara were living in 1940. In addition to the farmland shown by the red arrow, a small red box shows where the Walther Store and home were located.
The land shown in the box is now occupied by a Braeuner family. I think the wedding between Alvin and Clara is the reason why this land moved from the Walther family to the Braeuner family.
According to information found in Mary Dillon’s Altenburg book, Alvin went on to work at George Oehlert’s garage in Altenburg, which was later called Midwest Auto Parts.
Below is a picture of George Oehlert standing inside his garage.
In the photo below, we see Alvin standing in front of this business. The woman is not Clara. It is Alvin’s youngest sister, Elizabeth Braeuner.
Alvin died in 1974; his wife, Clara died in 1994. They are both buried in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg.
I know many other folks that live here already knew how the Braeuners ended up living where the Walther Store was located, but I did not. At least, this is what I think happened.
When Clara was celebrating her 36th birthday, Pearl Harbor was being attacked. Her youngest son, Clinton Braeuner, was just 6 years old.
The garage in this article was my grandpa oehlert garage my dad Norman oehlert stayed across the road spent many days in the garage even after the forums took it over