A birth took place on the (5)2 day of the month. It took place in the year ’55. And it was the 5th baptism to take place at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar, Missouri. The Math teacher still in me noticed a bunch of 5’s when I looked at a church baptism record found in the Salem Lutheran books. Some say my fascination with numbers is a curse.
The baby that was baptized was Justine Wilhelmine Lorenz. Most records in her lifetime stated her name as Wilhelmine, so I will use that name in this post. Wilhelmine was the daughter of August and Justine (Franke) Lorenz. She was born on July 25, 1855, and as I said already, her baptism record can be found in the Salem Lutheran Church books. That, in itself, is an interesting fact. Salem Lutheran Church did not officially start until 1859. Even though the church did not begin until 1859, a few baptism records are included in their books which took place prior to that time. A local pastor was coming to the Farrar area to perform services for some German Lutherans prior to them becoming an official congregation. The first baptism record you can find in the books took place in 1851. Around 1859, an acre of property had been donated by August Lorenz, Wilhelmine’s father, for the purpose of being where a church would be located. When the church began in 1859, August was listed as a charter member (the assumption being that his entire family would be members also). Wilhelmine would have been about 4 years old in 1859. We have these photos of August and Justine Lorenz.
I find it interesting to note that when Wilhelmine was born in 1855, her mother, Justine, had barely turned 18 years old. When she was married to August, she was just 16 years old. The story of that marriage, along with another Lorenz/Franke marriage which occurred on the same day was told in the post, Lorenz/Franke x 2.
For some reason, the Lorenz family cannot be found in the 1860 census, but we do find Wilhelmine in the 1870 census living with her parents. She was 15 years old.
Meanwhile, Wilhelmine’s future husband was born in 1848. His name was Heinrich (Henry) Hecht, who was born on May 25, 1848. (He was also born on the (5)2 day of the month. In fact Henry was also born in the 5th month.) He was the son of Frederick and Christine (Augustin) Hecht. Henry was baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown, Missouri. Here is his baptism record.
Although Henry can be found in the 1850 and 1860 censuses, I will skip those entries to show Henry in the 1870 census, not long before he married Wilhelmine. He was 22 years old in 1870.
Henry and Wilhelmine were married on November 28, 1872. Like her mother, Wilhelmine married at a rather young age. She was 17 years old when her wedding took place. Below is a civil record for that marriage. Rev. A.W. Bergt performed the wedding. In 1872, Rev. Bergt was serving both the church in Farrar and the church in Uniontown.
We also find this church marriage record in the Salem Lutheran books.
The first census in which we find Henry and Wilhelmine as a married couple was the one taken in 1880. However, many pages of that census were lost for many years and only recently discovered. Fortunately, I know where to access those missing pages now, and I managed to find the Hecht family. By 1880, they had 4 children.
The next census in which we find this family was the one taken in 1900. You can see that this family had gotten rather large.
When the 1915 plat maps were produced for Perry County in 1915, we find a parcel of land attributed to Henry Hecht. A few of his neighbors were also Hecht’s.
The 1920 census is the last one in which we find Henry because it was during that year that he died. That census entry states that it was submitted at the end of January during that year.
It was on February 28, 1920 that Henry died. I was not able to find a death certificate for him, but I will show his death record from the Grace, Uniontown books.
Wilhelmine lived long enough to be found in one more census. We find her as a widow in the 1930 census. She was living with her son, Oswin Hecht.
Wilhelmine died in 1936. I did manage to find her death certificate. It says she died of liver cancer.
Henry and Wilhelmine are both buried in the Grace Lutheran Cemetery in Uniontown.
Back in the days when Henry and Wilhelmine were young, there seemed to have been many connections between the churches in Uniontown and Farrar, including sharing a pastor for a while. That close connection can probably can be attributed in part to families like the Lorenz family who originally were located in Uniontown but later moved near Farrar and were instrumental in starting the church there. Henry and Wilhelmine are just one of several couples that have been subjects in our blog posts that were a combination of a member from Salem marrying a member of Grace.
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