Ella Lydia Koenig was born on December 11, 1892, so today would have been her 126th birthday.  Her parents were Emanuel and Clara (Weinhold) Koenig.  She was the sister of John Koenig, whose story was written in the post shown below.

A Koenig-Lorenz Couple

Lydia was baptized at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar, Missouri.  This is her baptism record.

A dozen years before Lydia was born, a boy by the name of Siegmund Claus Oswald was born.  His birthday was October 16, 1880.  He also was baptized at Salem Lutheran Church.  He was the son of Christian and Margaretha (Droege) Oswald.  This is his baptism record.

We find both Siegmund and Lydia in the 1900 census for Perry County.  Lydia was still living with her parents in Salem Township.  That 1900 Salem Township census record is notorious for being almost impossible to read.  Siegmund was living with a Meyer family in Central Township as a farm laborer.

Siegmund was back living with his parents in Union Township in the 1910 census.

This photograph of the Oswald family shows Siegmund sitting on the right, next to his father.  I am thinking this photograph was taken in front of the August Lueders home in Frohna, near where his son, Paul Lueders, had a photo studio.

Siegmund and Lydia were married on May 26, 1912 at Salem Lutheran Church.  Below is their marriage record from the church books.

This is their Perry County marriage license.

We also have this wedding photograph.

This couple’s first two children, both daughters, were born in Perry County.  Sometime after 1915, they moved to Merrill, Wisconsin where Siegmund was a market gardener.  Below is his World War I draft registration form.

Here we see them in the 1920 census from Merrill.

Their first son is shown on this census.  A 1930 city directory shows Siegmund as a market gardener.  Merrill is located not far from Wausau, Wisconsin.

The 1940 census shows the Oswald family back in Missouri, but not in Perry County.  They were living in Moreau Township in Cole County, not far from Jefferson City.

The children shown here bring their total number to five.  Siegmund was listed as being a farmer. When Siegmund was 61 years old, he filled out a World War II draft card.

Siegmund’s address is given as Lohman, Missouri.  Also, according to this form, Lydia was still living, but that would not remain the case for very long.  On September 6, 1942, she died.  She was just 49 years old.  This is her death certificate.

If you look closely, Lydia was buried in a place known as Stringtown.  There is a Lutheran church in Stringtown with a cemetery.  It is located in a rural area outside Lohman, Missouri.

Siegmund died on July 6, 1952 at the age of 71.  This is his death certificate.

We also have this obituary for Siegmund.

A gravestone for both Siegmund and Lydia can be found in the St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery in Stringtown, Missouri.  For some reason, Siegmund’s birth date and his death date was never inscribed on the stone.

I had never heard of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Stringtown before.  I discovered that in 2017, they celebrated their 150th anniversary.  Their church started during the same year that the Trinity Lutheran church sanctuary was being built in Altenburg.  Here is a photo of the interior of the Stringtown church.