John Arthur Vogel was born on August 18, 1883 in Pocahontas, Missouri.  That would make today his 136th birthday.  He was the son of Theodore and Emilie (Happel) Vogel.  He was sometimes called John on records, sometimes Arthur, and sometimes J.A.  I will use Arthur.  He was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells, Missouri.  Below is his baptism record.

I located this photo of Arthur when he was quite young.

Arthur’s future wife would be Emma Mirly.  Emma was born on September 19, 1888 and was the daughter of Henry and Johanna (Wachter) Mirly.  She, too, was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells.  We have photos of Emma’s parents.

Here is her baptism record.

The early lives of Arthur and Emma contain some interesting similarities.  Arthur lost his father in 1905 when he was just 12 years old.  Emma lost both her mother and father very early in her life.  Her father died when she was just 5 years old, and her mother died when she was just 10 years old.  That left her and her siblings as orphans.  That leads us to another similarity between Arthur and Emma.  Both of them managed to cross over the Apple Creek to find themselves in the 1900 census living in Brazeau Township in Perry County.  Arthur was living in the household of Theodore Bachmann in Frohna.  Theodore was a wagon maker and Arthur was a laborer in his shop.  Arthur was 17 years old.

Emma was living with her aunt and uncle, Ferdinand and Ida Wachter.  Emma is called their daughter.  If she was, she was an adopted daughter.   She was 11 years old at the time.

We find both Arthur and Emma back in Shawnee Township for their marriage which took place on September 9, 1906.  Emma was about 10 days short of her 18th birthday when she was married.  Here is the church record for this wedding.  It is found in the books of Zion Lutheran Church in Pocahontas.

We also have their marriage license.

The above form says that a consent form of John Meyr, Guardian was on file.  John’s wife was Amelia (Mirly) Meyr.  That means that they were Emma’s aunt and uncle.  The photo below does not look like a wedding photo, but it is a rather early one of this couple.

After their marriage, we find them living in Pocahontas where Arthur ran a livery stable.  We see this in the 1910 census.

The 1920 census finds them still in Pocahontas, but now Arthur was a merchant at a general store. Five of their six children had already been born.

The building shown below is said to be the Vogel Store.

Before the 1930 census, a change in location and occupation took place.  The Vogel family lived in Cape Girardeau in 1930, and Arthur was an insurance salesman.

A similar census entry can be found in the 1940 census.

I found a treasure trove of photographs taken of Arthur and Emma over the years of their lives.  Some of the captions given these photos cause me to ask even more questions.  For example, one caption says “posing in his studio”.  What studio?  Another simply says “Toy store”.  What toy store?  The source also states that Arthur was involved in organizing the band and the ball team in Pocahontas.  I am placing several of the photos that I have chosen to show on this post in a gallery of thumbnails.  You can click them to enlarge.

Arthur’s death was unexpected and unusual.  Many in his family had gathered in town for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of Arthur and Emma.  Instead, Arthur got sick and ended up dying on his anniversary date, September 9, 1966.  A combination of an obituary and a newspaper article was published in the Southeast Missourian to tell that story.

Here is Arthur’s death certificate.  He was 83 years old when he died.

Emma died in 1988, about 6 months before her 100th birthday.  Arthur and Emma are both buried in the Cape County Memorial Park in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Arthur certainly was involved in a variety of pursuits during his lifetime.  His wife, Emma was with him for most of those years.  The photos I have posted and some others that I chose not to, give evidence of the devotion they had to one another.