I will begin today’s post with a pronunciation discussion.  A main character in today’s story is Paul Hoeh.  Around here, the surname Hoeh is pronounced “hay”.  I suppose it goes back to when the name was originally spelled Höh.  When the umlaut disappeared and an “e” was placed behind it, I’m sure it has caused many folks to pronounce this name as “hoe”.

Paul Hoeh is our birthday boy today.  He was born on August 6, 1843.  He was the son of Johann and Johanna Kunigunde (Harz) Hoeh.  The marriage of Paul’s parents was recorded in the Grace Lutheran, Uniontown church books, but for some reason, Paul’s baptism record is not to be found in those books.  Not long after he was born, his father must have died.  We also do not have a death record for him, but Paul’s mother remarried in 1845 to Gottfried Mueller, who had also been previously married, and that  marriage record says she was a widow.

We find Paul in the 1850 census in the Gottfried Mueller household, but he is not called Paul Hoeh.  You get the impression that he was Paul Mueller (Miller).

The children in the above census who were older than Paul were Gottfried’s children by his first marriage.  The 2 year-old Christina was a child from Gottfried and Johanna.  The mystery is who the Peter is that is shown as being the same age as Paul.  This entry makes Peter and Paul look like twins.  There was no Peter Mueller in the family of Gottfried and his first wife.  This is the only place where I see a Peter Hoeh….if he indeed is a Hoeh.  It is a puzzle that I have not solved.

Below is the 1860 census for Paul.  You do not see a Peter on this entry.

Now let’s turn to Paul’s future wife.  Her name was Wilhelmine Hemmann.  Wilhelmine was born on November 22, 1844.  She was the daughter of Wilhelm and Johanna Sophia (Frentzel) Hemmann.  That makes Wilhelmine the granddaughter of J.G. Hemmann, the patriarch of what I call the Hemmann Herd.  Wilhelm and Johanna were part of the original immigration that took place in 1839.  Wilhelm was the oldest son of J.G. Hemmann, so I wondered whether Wilhelmine was J.G.’s first grandchild.  I discovered that Wilhelm’s sister, Christine, married Michael Bock, and they had the first grandchild for J.G.

Wilhelmine was baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown.  Here is her baptism record.  It is in two images.

Wilhelmine can be found in this 1850 census.  Wilhelmine’s grandmother, Sophia Frentzel, was living in the same household.

Next, we find Wilhelmine in the 1860 census.  She was 15 years old.

On October 29, 1867, Paul Hoeh married Wilhelmine Hemmann at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown.  Here is the church record for that wedding.

We also have this civil record for that marriage.

The 1870 census is the first one to include this married couple.

The above census includes Gustav Hemmann, Wilhelmine’s younger brother.  Gustav was the one who settled near Shawneetown and whose family had a reunion there recently.

Next, we have to look in the long-lost 1880 Union Township census records to find this couple.

When the 1915 land map was produced, we find a few pieces of land that were labeled as J.W. Hoeh.  I believe this was the land that Paul Hoeh farmed when he was still alive.

During their life, Paul and Wilhelmine had 5 children.  One of them died at just 2 years old.  Another son, Carl Edward Hoeh, became a Lutheran minister who served congregations in Columbia Bottoms (later Spanish Lake near St. Louis), Welsville, and Des Peres, all in Missouri.  The photo below was taken sometime during his 24 years at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Des Peres.

Paul died on August 4, 1893, two days short of his 50th birthday.  We still find Wilhelmine as a widow in several more census records.  Here is the one for 1900.

Wilhelmine would not died until 1933 when she was 88 years old.  Below is her death certificate.

Both Paul and Wilhelmine Hoeh are buried in the Grace Lutheran Cemetery in Uniontown.

There is a prominent attorney in Perryville by the name of Hoeh.  I suspect that he can trace his roots back to Paul and Wilhelmine.

Before I close, let me return to the pronunciation discussion once more.  It just so happens that Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna installed their new pastor this past Sunday.  His name is Rev. Paul Hoemann (which interestingly looks like a combination of Hoeh and Hemmann).  I already have heard his name pronounced as Hoe-mann and as Hay-mann.  When I grew up in St. Louis, there was a Hoemann family at my home church, St. Jacobi Lutheran.  We pronounced the name Hoe-mann.  Around here, it is more likely to be pronounced Hay-mann.  I have not had the occasion to meet this new pastor (who also has St. Louis roots and went to Lutheran High School North just like I did) but when I do, I plan to ask him how he pronounces Hoemann.