In the process of looking for a story today, I found two.  The two stories have such similar characteristics and settings that I have decided to tell both of them.  However, I also choose to tell them over two days so the blog post doesn’t get too long.  So today, you will get Part 1, and tomorrow you will get Part 2.

I have found two men who were born on January 10th.  The primary thing they have in common is that they both ended up in Longtown, Missouri, even though they were born elsewhere.  They both married into families that can be considered old-time Longtown surnames.  They also both eventually became different types of shopkeepers in that village.

I will start with the oldest of the two, who was born on January 10, 1872.  His name was Huldreich Gottwerth Telle, who our German Family Tree describes as Child #9 in the family of Casper Herman and Eva (Hemmann) Telle.  Gottwerth was baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown, Missouri.  Below is his baptism record.

On December 5, 1875, Clara Barbara Funke was born.  She was likely baptized at the Lutheran church in Friedenberg, but I believe the Funke family was already living in Longtown by that time.  Since the Friedenberg records were burned up in a fire, I cannot show you an image of her baptism record.  Her parents were Herman and Elizabeth (Ochs) Funke.  When Zion Lutheran Church was organized in in Longtown in July of 1897, Herman Funke was one of the charter members.

Earlier in 1897, on January 17th, Gottwerth married Clara.  This marriage came close to being the first marriage at Zion Lutheran Church, but Zion had not officially begun yet.  Rev. Guemmer from the Friedenberg church performed the wedding.  Below is their marriage license.

The first census in which we find this couple is the 1900 census, and we find them living in Longtown.  Gottwerth was operating a hardware store in town.

There is an Oscar Funke listed as a boarder on this census entry.  I believe this is actually Oswald Funke, Clara’s younger brother. Gottwerth and Clara would not have any children.  Their 1910 census from Longtown is shown below.

Once again we find someone else living in their household.  This time it is Elsie Bultmann.  Elsie was the daughter of Gottwerth’s sister, Martha, so Elsie was his niece.  Next, we will take a look at the 1920 census.

This time, I have included some surrounding names in the census.  We know there was a Hacker/Funke Store located in Uniontown at one time.  This census shows Gottwerth’s entry surrounded by Hacker’s and Funke’s.  I am guessing that the Telle Hardware Store was located near the Hacker/Funke Store.  I wish I had photographs of these businesses, but photos of old-time Longtown are pretty rare.

On August 16, 1924, Clara died at the age of 48.  This is her death certificate.

The 1930 census shows an interesting situation.

Living with the widower, Gottwerth Telle, was a widow just two years younger than him, by the name of Anna Heinbecher.  Anna’s husband, Gustav, had died in 1911.  This may look like a somewhat inappropriate situation, but it is not when you discover that Anna’s maiden name was Hemmann.  Remember, Gottwerth’s mother’s maiden name was Hemmann.  Therefore, Gottwerth and Anna were cousins.  When we look at the 1940 census, we find Gottwerth and Anna still living in the same household, but we also see one of Anna’s children living with them.

Gottwerth died on March 13, 1946 at the age of 74.  This is his death certificate.

Gottwerth and Clara are both buried in the Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Longtown.

Gottwerth ended up spending most of his life in the little village Longtown located on Highway 61 between Perryville and Uniontown.  That is because he found his bride there.  His marriage also resulted in him being part of a merchant family in that village.  He himself became the proprietor of a business of his own on Main Street in Longtown.  However, because this couple was childless, we find no descendants from them.  However, there are plenty of descendants that come out of the Telle and Funke families.

Tomorrow……..Part 2.