I have another confession to make.  I especially enjoy seeing old photographs that were taken in the outdoors.  Although I also like studio photos, the ones taken outside, especially if they are showing people going about their daily work especially pique my interest.  When I find such pictures, I am more likely to write the story.  That is the case today.

A previous post titled, As For Me and My House…., told the story of the Herman Weber family.  Today, I tell a story that comes out of Herman’s brother, Henry Weber.  The following paragraph was included in that previous post.

“Herman C. Weber was only a young man of 17 years in 1889 when he sailed to America from the area of Osnabruck, Hoerdinghausen in northern Germany. He landed on Ellis Island, the American Immigration Port in New York, and was met by Pastor Koestering, a distant relative, who put him on a train to St. Louis where he was met by his half brother, Henry, who was 10 years older. Henry had immigrated to America several years earlier and had settled on a farm in Altenburg, Perry County, Missouri. Quite a fete for a young man who knew no English in a strange country; but he was a very determined young man, and brother Henry got him a job as a farm laborer for a family named Kaufmann in Altenburg.”

A photo of the Henry Weber family taken in about 1925 shows today’s couple, Rudolf and Christine Weber.  Rudolf and Christine are on the far left.

There are actually several Weber clans who settled in Perry County.  There is another one that I refer to as the Ridge Weber’s.  Henry and Herman Weber were the start of the Altenburg Weber’s.  Henry Weber married Amalia Kaufmann in 1887.  Two daughters were born into their family before they had their first son.  That firstborn son was Rudolf Weber, who was born on August 31, 1892 and baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg.  Here is his baptism record.

The first census in which we find Rudolf was the one taken in 1900.  I had trouble finding this entry because Ancestry.com transcribed the surname as Mebor.  Rudolf’s year of birth is also incorrect.

We later find him in the 1910 census.  I also included the Herman Weber family which  was listed below his brother, Henry Weber’s family to indicate how they lived close to one another.

When we look at the life story of Rudolf’s wife, we see that she is today’s birthday girl.  Her name was Christine Mueller.  She was born on August 15, 1894.  She was the daughter of Benjamin and Johanne (Sommer) Mueller.  Since Benjamin was the son of Charles Mueller, that makes this Mueller family part of what we call the Frohna Mueller’s.  Christine was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna.  Here is her baptism record.

We see Christine in the 1900 census.

Next, we see her in the 1910 census living in the Stephen Mueller household and working as a servant.  Stephen would have been Christine’s uncle.

That leads us up to the marriage of Rudolf Weber and Christine Mueller on June 4, 1916.  They were married at Concordia, Frohna.  Here is the church record for that marriage.

We also have their marriage license.

Right before their marriage, the 1915 plat book for Perry County was produced.  The Henry Weber property is highlighted on the image below.  The H.K. Weber property was the Herman Weber land.

The 1920 census shows this couple for the first time.  You can see that they were living in the Henry Weber household.

The German Family Tree shows 5 children in this family, with one of those being a stillborn.  The photo of Rudolf and Christine shown earlier was taken between the 1920 and 1930 census.  Amalia, Rudolf’s mother had died in 1923 and is not in that photo.

The last census showing this couple is the 1940 census.

I promised some photos that were taken outside.  I am going to put them in a thumbnail gallery.  The thumbnails can be clicked to enlarge them.  These photos were all said to be taken on the Rudolf Weber farm.

Christine died in 1961 at the age of 67.  She died at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau according to her death certificate.

Rudolf died in 1977 at the age of 84.  Rudolf and Christine are buried together in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg.

I have two friends, Earl Weber and Lynn Mueller, who until recently were neighbors living in the locations mentioned in today’s story.  Earl is Herman Weber’s grandson and Lynn’s father was Christine Mueller’s cousin.  Earl is an Altenburg Weber and still attends Trinity, Altenburg.  Lynn was a Frohna Mueller, and until his recent move to Minnesota, attended Concordia, Frohna.  I visit the Weber’s often, and when I do, I almost always drive through Frohna to get there.  Until I looked at a map, I could never understand why these Webers would go all the way to Altenburg to attend Trinity.  However, if you look at the map below, which shows a line from the Mueller farm to Frohna and another line from the Weber farm to Altenburg, you can see that the lines are pretty much the same length (as the crow flies).

I want to also point out that Betty and Doris Weber are granddaughters of Rudolf and Christine.  These two, affectionately called the Weber Girls, are famous around here for their delicious coffee cake (and other baked goodies).  They, along with Earl Weber, are also docents at our museum.  They can be seen in the photo below with Kathy Schlimpert in the middle.