First, an explanation of the title.  The married couple for today is made up of a Koch and a Vogel.  In German, Koch means “cook” and Vogel means “bird”.  Enough said.

Lydia Vogel is today’s birthday girl.  She was born on September 15, 1890 and baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells, Missouri.  She was the daughter of William and Emma (Hoehne) Vogel.  Below is her baptism record.

Lydia’s mother died in 1898.  When you look at the 1900 census for her father, you discover that Lydia is not in the household.  It is just the older children that were living with him.  William Vogel’s brother, August, was listed as living nearby, and he was married with just one child.  I was unable to find where Lydia and one other younger sister were living in 1900.

I found this photograph of William and August Vogel.

In 1910, 19 year-old Lydia was living in her half-sister’s household.  Emma was married to Charles Starzinger.

By the way, Susanna Vogel was Lydia’s younger sister, who had been born in 1898, the same year that their mother died.  Since her mother died a matter of days after Susanna was born, she probably died of complications with childbirth.

Let’s move over to Lydia’s future husband, August Koch.  August was the son of Edward and Laura (Gross) Koch.  He was born on April 13, 1889 and, like Lydia, he was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells.  Here is his baptism record.

August can be found in the 1900 census as an 11 year-old.

I was unable to find August in the 1910 census.  Since August became a Lutheran schoolteacher, he probably had attended the teachers’ college in Addison, Illinois.  By 1910, he probably would have graduated and been teaching somewhere.

That leads us up to the marriage of August Koch and Lydia Vogel which took place on August 9, 1914.  The wedding took place at Immanuel, New Wells.  Here is the church record for this marriage.  I was hoping this record would have shown where August was teaching, but it just says he was from New Wells.

We also have this couple’s marriage license, which also indicates August as being from New Wells.

The next document I could find was August’s World War I draft registration form.  In 1917, August was teaching at a Lutheran school in Des Plaines, Illinois.  Des Plaines is a municipality within Chicago.  He likely taught at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Des Plaines.

Below is a photo of what Immanuel Lutheran School looked like when August taught there.

I do not have documentation for this, but a family history states that the first son in this family, Markus Koch, was born in Olivette, Missouri in 1918.  If that is the case, then August may have been teaching at Immanuel Lutheran School in Olivette.  Maybe our friend, Clayton Erdmann, who now teaches at that school, can look into those church records to see if Markus was baptized there.

The 1920 census shows the Koch family living in Jackson, Missouri, where August continued as a teacher.  Most likely, he taught at St. Paul’s Lutheran School.

Another change took place before the 1930 census.  In that record, we find this family living in Troy, Illinois.  A second child, Virginia, had joined the family.

In the last census we can view, we find this family in the same location.  This time, August is shown as the principal of the school.

Let’s take a little time to discuss the two children of the Koch’s, Markus and Virginia.  First of all, here is a photo taken of these two when they were young adults.

Markus became a Lutheran pastor, and Virginia married one.  Virginia married Rev. Robert Kamprath.  We have another photo of Markus Koch.

The obituary for Markus gives us an idea about his life story.  He spent quite a bit of his life not far from Perry County.

We find that when August died, he was living in Sikeston, Missouri, where Markus was living.  August died in 1959 at the age of 69.  Here is his death certificate.

Lydia died in Oregon.  Virginia’s husband, Rev. Robert Kamprath, was a pastor in Oregon for a while.  Lydia did in 1986 at the age of 96.  Both August and Lydia are buried in the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Sikeston, Missouri.

August “the Cook” married Lydia “the Bird”.  I daresay August likely never called Lydia his chick.  Also, if he had any sense, he would have never referred to his wife as a turkey.  But poor Lydia, back in her day, was not able to “tweet” like today’s folks can.

One more additional note:  In my book, Wittenberg ’03, there is a romance between Otto Lueders and Lydia Weinhold, who eventually get married.  After Lydia Lueders died, Otto married again.  His second wife was Lydia (Vogel) Koch’s older sister, Bertha, who had been previously been married to Joseph Richter.