Two days ago, I wrote a story which started with the death of Clara Mueller, who died as an infant in Altenburg.  I found another Clara Mueller who was born on this date, so I decided to tell her story.  Before beginning, I chose to do a search on this blog for “Clara Mueller”.  I found that I have already written four posts that include characters by that name.  Only one of them was a girl who became Clara Mueller by marrying a Mueller.

Today’s Clara Mueller was born on July 18, 1873 and baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg.  She was the daughter of George and Magdalena (Seibel) Mueller.  Below is her baptism record.

We find Clara for the first time in the 1880 census for Union Township.  Her father was called a merchant and Clara was 6 years old.

A note about Clara’s father, George Mueller, is included in the Friedenberg book that we have in our research library.

Here George is described as a grocery store owner who was also involved in building the church in Friedenberg in 1885.  By seeing what happened to George Mueller later, it helps us understand Clara’s future marriage.  Sometime before 1900, George had moved to St. Louis.   We find him there in the 1900 census.  George is shown to be a carpenter at that time, which helps explain why he may have been involved in building the church in Friedenberg.  Clara no doubt moved to St. Louis when her family did.

Meanwhile, Clara got married in St. Louis on May 24, 1892.  She was married at Old Trinity Lutheran Church.  She married John Henry Betz.  Here is a record from the Old Trinity books for this wedding.

A record of a son’s birth can be found in this same church’s records.  His name was Johann George Betz, and he was born on Christmas Day in 1892.

This first son did not live long.  He died in 1894.  We find him buried in the Concordia Cemetery in St. Louis.

In 1896, girl was born into this family.  The Trinity records (which are transcriptions) say her name was Dora.  However, many other records state her name as Flora.

Another girl was born in 1900.  Her name was Viola Betz.

We see this family in the 1900 census where John Henry is called a blacksmith.

The 1910, 1920, and 1930 census forms all show similar situations.  I will show the 1910 and 1920 entries.  The 1930 entry is almost unreadable.

John Henry Betz died in 1933 at the age of 66.  Here is his death certificate.

This document states that the Betz’s lived at 4405 Wallace.  That home is located near the famous Bevo Mill in St. Louis.  Here is what that home looks like today.

Clara Betz did not die until 1960 when she was 86 years old.  We also have her death certificate.

It looks like Clara was living with her unmarried daughter, Viola, when she died.  Clara and John Henry were buried together in the Concordia Cemetery in St. Louis.

When you search for what happened to the Betz daughters, you find an interesting situation.  Those two sisters are buried together in Alpine Cemetery in San Diego, California.

Viola never married, but Flora married Frank Conrad.  Here is what appears to be Flora’s confirmation photograph.

We also have a photo of Flora and Frank Conrad.

When Frank had his World War I draft registration completed, it stated that he was living in St. Louis and working at Anheuser Busch Brewery.

One of Flora’s daughters, another Clara, married Joseph Stotler.  I found a photo of those two individuals.

This couple had a son named John Stotler who was born before Clara (Mueller) Betz died.  That leads to closing this post with a 4-generation photo that I located.

I figure this photo includes, from oldest to youngest, Clara (Mueller) Betz, Flora Conrad, Clara Stotler, and John Statler.