One of yesterday’s characters was Anna Katherine Roth, who married Carl Wunderlich.  In the process of searching for a story to write for today, I came across another Anna Katherine Roth who was born on this day.  Once I found this coincidence, I could not resist writing about it.

This is not likely to be a very lengthy post.  Today’s main character lived a very short life.  She never married.  She had no children.  She even lived during that time when there is no 1890 census to document facts about her life.  She only shows up in one census entry, and even that one took a little more effort to find.  However, there are a few other situations that I consider interesting which will add to the story.

Anna Katherine Roth, the daughter of Christian and Mary (Landgraf) Roth, was born on April 24, 1873.  She was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna, Missouri.  Here is her baptism record.  This record is the only one I found that spells her middle name with a “C”.

If you would like some background information about Anna’s parents, a story has been written about them titled, An Upsetting Revelation.  I do want to add a few documents that I have found which add to Christian’s story.  Apparently, he did actually serve in the Union Army during the Civil War.  Here are two documents which show this.  One shows service done in 1862; the other shows service in 1864.

Since Anna was born in 1873, you would expect to find her in the 1880 census.  However, if you go to Ancestry.com looking for her in that census, you will not succeed.  However, during this past year, a portion of the 1880 census for Union Township in Perry County was discovered.  It was misplaced and for many years was not available.  As of this writing, those recently found pages have not been placed on Ancestry.com, but there is a place on the internet where these records can be located.  Not only do we find the Roth family in these newly-found records, but they are the very first family on the very first page.

Anna was 7 years old in this entry, and her father was a farmer.  Whereas yesterday’s Anna Katherine Roth went through life being called Katherine, this Anna Katherine Roth apparently went by the name Anna.

Another church record that we find for Anna was her confirmation entry.  She was confirmed in 1887.  Below is an image of that record.

In 1891, just a matter of days before her 18th birthday, Anna died.  We have this Perry County death record.  It is in two images.

This form says that something called “typhlitis” was the cause of death.  From what I’ve read, this is a severe inflammation of a portion of the colon.  Nowadays, it usually results when cancer patients have their immune systems affected by chemotherapy.  It might be possible that Anna had some issues with her immune system.

The death record in the Concordia Lutheran Church books say that Anna died of darmentzuendung.  That is a German term for an infection of the colon.  Here is that death record from the church records.

Anna was buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in Frohna, Missouri.  Here is a photo of her grave marker.  I may be wrong about this, but I think there was a time when Concordia made a decision to place these small markers in their cemetery to commemorate the burials of people whose deaths are found in church records, but they did not get gravestones when they were buried.  I am not sure that these markers are in the exact location where the bodies were placed.  This photo from Findagrave.com is one which shows the marker which has been partially covered with dirt.

One thing I find interesting about Anna’s life is that all of the events recorded in the church books for her indicate that those events took place in April.

• Anna was born on April 24.
• Anna was baptized on April 27.
• Anna was confirmed on April 3.
• Anna died on April 15.

I also find the Bible passages that were referenced for Anna’s confirmation and funeral to be worthy of note.  First of all, her confirmation verse is shown below.

²⁹ Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  John 20:29

Next, we see the verses used for her funeral.

¹⁰ “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.  Matthew 25:10

I find it quite meaningful that the pastor chose a verse from the Parable of the Ten Virgins to be used for the funeral of a young unmarried girl.  I have every reason to believe that Anna has entered the door to heaven and is waiting for the rest of us believers to join her.