We have a whole flock of Fiehler’s in our German Family Tree, and I have written several blog posts about Fiehler’s. However, there not as many Fuehler’s. I will attempt to tell the story of Alfred Fuehler today, and you will discover, if you don’t know it already, that he has some connection to the Fiehler’s. I could not help but ask the question, “Is it possible that he is really a Fiehler with a different spelling?” I found some answers in the Fiehler family binder we have in our research library.
First, here is a paragraph from the Fiehler book that tells part of the story. We are especially interested in the story of Alfred Fuehler who is mentioned here as arriving in America with his father and brother in 1882.
Alfred Fuehler was born on February 11, 1874 in Germany. As is said above, his parents were Julius and Maria Louise (Wagner) Fiehler…..or Fuehler. After arriving in America, Alfred was “farmed out” to the August Hemmann family in Uniontown, Missouri. August Hemmann was married to Pauline Fiehler, so if I have this figured correctly, Alfred must have been Pauline’s first cousin, once removed. I looked for the August Hemmann household in the 1880 census, which is the portion of the census that was only recently found and cannot yet be located on Ancestry.com. That census entry backs up the fact that Alfred had not immigrated yet and was not yet part of their family.
A photo of the August Hemmann family was taken later which does not include the man that was called a foster son in our German Family Tree. We will discover that by the time this photo was taken, Alfred Fuehler was no longer living in Perry County.
Alfred can never be found again in a Perry County census because he did not arrive till after the 1880 census, and he was gone before the 1900 census was taken. That is because the Hemmann family sent him to St. Louis to prepare for the ministry by attending Concordia Seminary. Here is another paragraph found in the Fiehler family binder.
We find Alfred Fuehler listed in an 1895 St. Louis city directory as a student at Concordia Seminary.
According to information found in a book that we have in our library, The Heart of Missouri, Alfred was the pastor of Eisleben Lutheran Church in Ilmo, Missouri from 1899-1908. That area was once also called Kelso and nowadays, that location is known as Scott City.
On October 29, 1899, Rev. Alfred Fuehler traveled up to Uniontown, Missouri to marry Sarah Telle. They were married at Grace Lutheran Church. We have their church marriage record.
We also have the marriage license for this couple.
Sarah Telle is today’s birthday girl. She was born on January 11, 1876 and baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. She was the baby of the Herman and Eva (Hemmann) Telle family. Below is her baptism record.
We find Sarah in the same once-lost 1880 Union Township census records in which we found the August Hemmann family.
We find Alfred and Sarah living in Kelso when the 1900 census was taken.
The Fuehler family would have 3 children, and all 3 would be born when Rev. Fuehler was serving at Eisleben Lutheran Church. We find their children’s baptism records at that congregation.
Here is a photo of Eisleben Lutheran Church as it looks today.
In 1908, Rev. Fuehler became the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Orchard Farm, Missouri, which is located in St. Charles County. We see from this list of pastors of that church that Rev. Fuehler served there from 1908-1914.
We find the Fuehler family in the 1910 census for St. Charles County.
Here is what Trinity Lutheran Church, Orchard Farm looks like now. One of our museum’s friends, Rev. James Thomas, is the present pastor at that congregation.
After 1914, we find this family living in Hoyleton, Illinois where Alfred was the pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church. When Alfred had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918, we find him living in Hoyleton.
The 1920 census shows the Fuehler’s in Hoyleton.
Here is a photograph of Trinity Lutheran Church in Hoyleton, Illinois.
We find this family once again in the 1930 census, but for some reason, I was unable to find them in the 1940 census.
We have this photograph of Rev. Alfred Fuehler.
Along with this photo of Alfred which I found in the Fiehler family binder, was this photo of the Alfred Fuehler family.
Rev. Alfred Fuehler died in 1957 at the age of 83. Sarah Fuehler died in 1960 at the age of 84. They are both buried at the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Hoyleton, Illinois, but no photos are available of their gravestones.
I will close Alfred’s story with a short paragraph which is part of the Fiehler family binder that attempts to explain the spelling of this branch of his family.
In one previous blog post, it was mentioned that another character from East Perry County history was from Hoyleton, Illinois. That person was Teacher Henry Welp, who served Concordia Lutheran School in Frohna for 50 years.
