Before I discuss today’s married couple, I need to backtrack. Today’s couple is not the first marriage between a Schuessler and a Lueders that I have written. A post was previously written about such a couple titled, Forth and Back. It highlighted the couple made up of Gustav Lueders and Clara Schuessler. Gustav Lueders came from what I call the Wittenberg Lueders’s and Clara was from a Schuessler family in Altenburg. That story was also connected to a more recent post titled, Schuessler Stogies.
In contrast, the couple in today’s post is made up of two individuals who lived in Frohna and stayed in Frohna throughout their lives. The marriage of Martin Schuessler and Susanna Lueders took place on May 17, 1903 at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna, so today would have been the 116th anniversary for these two.
Martin Schuessler was born on July 8, 1877. He was the son of Gottfried and Maria (Jahn) Schuessler and baptized at Concordia, Frohna. Below is his baptism record.
Martin was baptized in the relatively new church sanctuary that had been built by Concordia in 1874. The year 1877 was a transitional one for that congregation. They had made the decision that they needed their own pastor. Prior to this time, both Concordia, Frohna and Trinity, Altenburg had been served by Rev. J.F. Koestering. Rev. C. Hochstetter was their pastor for just one year before he accepted another call. They then called Rev. C.L. Janzow, who remained until 1883. I think Martin was baptize by Rev. Hochstetter because his is one of only four baptism records that show a certain style of handwriting between two other styles.
If you are interested in reading about the Schuessler origins in Perry County, I suggest you read Wayne Schuessler’s post titled, The Bowl Makers of Perry County. A map that was part of Wayne’s story shows where the Schuessler land was located just north of Frohna.
We find Martin in the 1880 census where we see him as the youngest child in the family, although two more children would be born later.
In 1900, we find Martin living in the August Lueders household. August happened to be his future bride’s grandfather.
Susanna Lueders was born on March 12, 1881. Contrary to Martin, Susanna was one of the oldest in her family and the oldest daughter. Her parents were Charles and Susanna (Palisch) Lueders. This child likely was named after her mother. Susanna was baptized at Concordia, Frohna. Here is her baptism record.
Susanna can be found in the 1900 census for Frohna. Her father was a merchant at the Lueders Store. I might add that her grandfather, her mother’s father, operated the Palisch Store on the other side of the street in Frohna.
Susanna is included in this photo of the Charles Lueders family. I will let you guess which girl in this photo is the oldest girl in the family. This photograph must have been taken before 1899 because Susanna’s mother died that year.
That leads us up to the marriage that took place on this day in 1903. Below is the marriage license for this wedding.
I can also show you their church record from Concordia.
I am going to take a moment to shamelessly refer to the book I recently published, Wittenberg ’03. There is a chapter in the book devoted to Sunday, May 17, 1903 which involves a relative of Susanna, Otto Lueders. It is a fictional account, and now I am thinking that Otto may not have been in Wittenberg on that day. He may have been attending this wedding in Frohna.
The 1910 census shows this family for the first time. They had three children, and also had Susanna’s sister, Linna, living with them. Martin was a driver for the flour mill in Frohna, which was owned by two Weinhold brothers.
In 1918, Martin filled out his World War I draft registration. It is shown below.
I am going to show the portion of the 1920 census indicating the children of Martin and Susanna, who are shown on the previous page in the census. This entry shows all six of the Schuessler children. One year later, the youngest, Thekla, died.
In the 1930 and 1940 censuses, Martin is shown as being the church janitor. Since Concordia was the only church in town, that must have been where he worked. I am only going to show the 1940 census.
Martin’s World War II draft card also shows his occupation as the church janitor.
I think, compared to many other signatures I have seen from Perry County men, Martin’s is rather well done. I can honestly state that it is much better than mine. I attribute this good penmanship to two of his teachers at Concordia, who each served that school for 50 years, Teacher Welp and Teacher Wukasch.
Susanna died in 1953 at the age of 72. Her death certificate is shown below.
Martin died in 1960 at the age of 83. Here is his death certificate.
Martin and Susanna are both buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in Frohna.
If we analyze the two Lueders/Schuessler marriages, we see that one of them moved around a few times. The other one stayed in one location for a lifetime.
