Today I will write the story involving characters about which I have documented the children in a family, but not so much about their parents.  For example, today I will write about Joseph and Emilie Bachmann, and I have previously told the tale of at least one of their children, and in the process have briefly mentioned their parents.  So today, I will go into more detail about those parents.

It all starts with the birth of Emilie Schmidt, who was born on February 7, 1863 so today would have been her 157th birthday.  Emilie was the daughter of Johann and Wilhelmine (Naeser) Schmidt of Frohna.  She was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church.  Below is her baptism record.

The 1870 census shows Emilie for the first time.  It stretches over two pages, and Emilie is more or less the child in the middle.  There was an 8 year-old child by the name of Julia Rueschel living in this household.  She was likely an orphan that needed a place to live.

Emilie would have been called Aunt Emilie by “Butch” Schmidt of Altenburg.  I was unable to find Emilie in the 1880 census when she would have been around 17 years old.  I do know she was not living in her parents’ household.  So, the next time you can find Emilie in a census was not until after she was married.  Her husband would be Joseph Bachmann.  Let’s take a look at his early life.

Joseph Bachmann was born on March 19, 1858, the son of Heinrich and Ernestine (Koenig) Bachmann.  In several  places, it is said that Joseph was born near Appleton, Missouri.  What is really fascinating is where we find his baptism record.  Joseph may be the first character in one of these blogs that may have his baptism record in two different congregations.  First, here is a record that can be found in the church books of Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown, Missouri.

In the above document, we see the correct parents’ names and the correct date of birth, but no other information.  Even his given name, Joseph, is not there.  Neither is the date of his baptism.  This document has even been speculated to have been the record for a stillborn child.  However, we also find a baptism record in the books of Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar, Missouri.  That congregation did not even become an official one until 1859, but we find some baptisms in their church records that took place before that year.  Let me also point out here that the early church records we have for Salem were at one time re-written from the original records.  It is those re-written records that we have in our research library.  Here is the baptism record for Joseph Bachmann from Salem.

This record includes the baptism date, Joseph’s name, and his sponsors’ names.  The question remains, “Why did Joseph’s baptism record show up in the Farrar books when indications are that his family was living in Appleton?”  Later children in this Bachmann family were baptized in Farrar.  I will add that 1858 was the year that Rev. Gruber, the pastor of Grace, Uniontown, died.  He didn’t die until September.  At that time, it has been written that Rev. Gruber’s son, who was a new young pastor, was an assistant pastor at Grace.  The younger Rev. Gruber was involved in serving the German Lutherans in the Farrar area.  There may have been some confusion about church records under those circumstances.

Joseph can be found in the 1860 census, and that census says the Bachmann family was living in Brazeau Township.

The 1870 census shows Joseph once again living in Brazeau Township at the age of 12.

Like it was with Emilie Schmidt, I could not find Joseph in the 1880 census.  I even looked in the lost Union Township records but was unsuccessful.

Emilie Schmidt was not Joseph Bachmann’s first wife.  Joseph married Pauline Mueller on November 24, 1881 at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown.  Pauline was born on October 23, 1860, the daughter of Christoph and Caroline (Franke) Mueller.  She was born not long before her father went off to fight in the Civil War.  His story was told in the post, Christoph in the Cavalry.  Below is Pauline’s baptism record.

Below is the marriage record for Joseph and Pauline from the Grace, Uniontown books.

On the day after her 23rd birthday, Pauline died on October 24, 1883.  That couple had no children.  The widower, Joseph Bachmann, then married Emilie Schmidt on April 12, 1885 at Concordia Lutheran Church.   Here is the church marriage record for this couple.

We also have their civil marriage license.

Below is a wedding photo of Joseph and Emilie.

Once Joseph married Emilie, he got a taste of fatherhood.  According to our German Family Tree, this couple had 10 children, 8 of which lived to adulthood.  The 1900 census shows this couple living in the Apple Creek Township, which is located just across the Apple Creek south of Uniontown.  They had 7 children at that time.

At about the time the above census was taken, a family photo was taken.  According to my reckoning, the date shown here (1897) indicating when it was taken is incorrect.  Leah, the youngest child in this photo, was born in 1899.

Ten years later, we find this couple still living in the same township.  It would be the last census in which we see Joseph.

Joseph died in 1915 at the age of 56 (almost 57).  Here is his death certificate.

Emilie can still be found in the 1920 census.  She was living in the household of her son, Enos, which also included two other daughters of Emilie.

Emilie almost made it to the 1930 census.  That was the year that she died.  She was 67 years old when she died.  Here is her death certificate.

Both Joseph and Emilie are buried in the Grace Lutheran Cemetery in Uniointown, Missouri.   The are shown on Findagrave.com, but there are no photos of their gravestones.

You might be interested in going back to read the story about Paul Bachmann, one of the sons in today’s family.  His story includes a stint that he spent as a Lutheran teacher at a school in India.  That post was titled, Gottseidank ist es Freitag.