Today is another one of those landmark days.  It was four years ago today that the very first post was written on the blog of our brand new museum website.  If you look back at that post, you will find only two paragraphs amounting to 126 words.  There were also no photographs or images attached to it.  Things have changed.  Now some of us are talking about how our next reason to celebrate will be when our overall “views” reach a half-million.  It will happen later this year.  Even Little Marty, who now has a new elevated pulpit much like our local pulpits, will be ready to join us in our celebration.

Today, we start with a 150th birthday.  On January 30, 1870, Emanuel Schoen was born in Pocahontas, Missouri.  He was the son of Gustav and Anna (Lehner) Schoen.  His parents’ story was told in the post, Some Beautiful Beginnings.  Information about life events for Emanuel are included in a binder we have from St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pocahontas, which was established two years before Emanuel’s birth.

We find Emanuel already in the census taken in the year of his birth (1870).  At that time, the family was living in the Apple Creek Township.  Emanuel was six months old.

Ten years later, Emanuel shows up in the same township.

Emanuel’s future wife would be Mary Haberfellner, the daughter of Joseph, Jr. and Maria Anna (Pilz) Haberfellner.  Mary was born on May 29, 1872.  We also find her life events included in the St. John’s, Pocahontas records.

When Mary was just 3 years old, her father died, and here is where this story takes an unusual turn.  Her mother married a Schoen.  His name was Ernst Schoen, who would have been Emanuel Schoen’s Uncle Ernst.  What is surprising to me is that Mary is not found living with her mother in the 1880 census when she would have been around 8 years old.  Here is the census showing the Ernst Schoen family.  The young children in this census entry would have been half-siblings of Mary Haberfellner.

As you may have noticed in some images above, Emanuel Schoen married Mary Haberfellner on September 17, 1893 at St. John’s Lutheran Church.  I found a type of document I have not seen before.  It is a form filled out to apply for a marriage license.  Here is such a document for this couple.

When the 1900 census rolls around, we find this Schoen family living in Shawnee Township.  I included the head of the next household on this census page, Fred Schoen, who was Emanuel’s older brother.  Both Emanuel and Fred were shown as being dry goods merchants.  From other documents, we know this store was located in the town of Pocahontas.  Emanuel had two daughters by this time.

According to our German Family Tree, this couple had 7 children.  One died at a very early age.  We find them once again in the 1910 census.  Emanuel is called a merchant of a general store.  The Fred Schoen family was still listed next to this household, but I did not display it.

When the 1920 census was taken, Emanuel was called a farmer, but the entry says he lived on Main Street.  His household spilled over two pages so I must show two images.

Emanuel had a new occupation in the 1930 census.  He was called a bank cashier.  His obituary would later state that he was the first and only cashier of the Bank of Pocahontas.

The bank building in Pocahontas has now been transformed into the Pie Safe Bakery and Cafe.  Nowadays, both Pocahontas and Altenburg have eateries within old bank buildings.

In a previous post, this photo was published of the Gustav Schoen family.  Emanuel is standing in the back row on the left.

Mary Schoen died in 1936 at the age of 64.  Here is her death certificate.

Emanuel died in 1948 at the age of 78.  We also have his death certificate.

In the case of Emanuel, we have a quite thorough obituary that was printed in a newspaper.  I have enlarged it and will put it here in two images to make it more readable.

Emanuel and Mary are both buried in the St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery in Pocahontas.

As you may see, blog posts nowadays are longer than 126 words, and they contain plenty of images.  I hope you don’t mind.