I have written previously about a Henry Lohmann.  I just took a look in a monstrous family tree in Ancestry.com which was produced by a friend of our museum, Lori Adams, and found 10 different men who had Heinrich along with their Lohmann surname.  The one we will look at today is sometimes referred to as Henry Lohmann, Sr. because he had another one of those Henry Lohmann’s as his son.  I will add at this point that, although Lohmann’s can be found in several locations around Perry County, today’s Henry Lohmann could be found in the Farrar area.  And, as the title indicates, this Henry Lohmann married a Steffens.  I think one of the commandments for doing East Perry County research ought to be, “Thou shalt be careful when researching Lohmann’s and Steffens’s.”

It is actually Henry’s wife who is today’s birthday girl.  Christina Steffens was born on August 25, 1859 in the Hanover area of Germany.  That makes today her 160th birthday.  She was the daughter of Gerhardt and Anna Catherina Steffens.  Although I cannot verify this, it appears that Anna’s parents were a marriage of a Steffens and another Steffens.  Christina’s mother died in Germany when Christina was just 5 years old.  Then, when she was 8, her father brought her and her sister, Margaretha, to America.  They sailed aboard the Uhland which had several other future Perry County residents aboard.   It landed in New Orleans in 1867.  Here is the passenger list for that ship showing the members of the Steffens family.

Although she should have been around for the 1870 census, I could not find any Steffens names in Perry County in 1870.  Since she was married fairly early in 1880, she is no longer single in the census for that year.  I will show that entry later.

Henry Lohmann was born on February 22, 1856.  He was also born in the Hanover area of Germany.  There is some dispute about when Henry came to America.  A Henry Lohmann can be found on a passenger list of a ship arriving in 1870.  If Henry arrived on that ship, he may be the Henry Lohmann found in the 1870 census living in the John Stueve family.  There is a Joachim Steffens living in that household.  There was a Joachim who was the brother of Henry, and this Joachim’s age fits properly.  Henry was just 14 years old at the time.

However, in a future census, it indicates that Henry immigrated in 1874.  Regardless, in 1880, when Henry was 24 years old, he married Christina Steffens.  They were married at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg on April 8th.  We have two different civil records for this marriage.  The first one is in two images because it stretches over two pages.

Then we have this one that can more easily be read because the form just needed some blanks filled in.

As said earlier, this couple showed up in the 1880 census.  They could be found living in Salem Township, and had no children yet.  Henry was a farmer throughout his life.

According to our German Family Tree, 8 children were born into this family.  We find a fuller household in the 1900 census, but that census is so hard to read, I am not going to show it.  Here is the census entry for 1910.  You can see Henry Lohmann, Jr. on this list.

The 1915 land map for Perry County shows some property near Farrar labeled as belonging to Henry Lohmann.  I think it is the correct Henry Lohmann because the neighbor’s names seem to match up with the ones we see in several census records.

The 1920 census was the last one to show Henry Lohmann, Sr.  Henry Lohmann, Jr.’s family was also in that household.

Later in their lives, Henry and Christina had a photograph made.  It is shown below.

Henry died in 1924 at the age of 68.  His death certificate states that the cause of his death was associated with a surgery which was intended to remedy an intestinal blockage.  The doctor on this certificate, Dr. G.B. Schulz, has been the subject of a few previous posts on this blog.

Christina could still be found in the 1940 census.  She was living in the household of her daughter, Ella, who was married to Henry Stueve.  That was another family that had a houseful of children.

Christina died in 1950 at the age of 90.  We have her death certificate.

Henry and Christina are buried in the Salem Lutheran Cemetery in Farrar, Missouri.

 

Names like Lohmann, Steffens, and Stueve came out of the Hanover area in Germany, and many folks with those surnames settled in Perry County around Farrar.  It is not surprising that a Lohmann like Henry would manage to find a Steffens like Christina and get married.