As I have studied East Perry County surnames, I have noticed that most folks with the surname, Schade, were found living in Altenburg and were members of Immanuel Lutheran Church. However, there is a branch of the Schade family tree that resided near Frohna and were members of Concordia Lutheran Church. I will tell the story of one of those Schade’s today. Just a quick reminder: Schade is pronouced “Shaw-dee” around here.
Before I get too far, let me confess. I am going to sugarcoat this story. Surrounding this story, there are some quite disturbing episodes. I debated whether to include the “dirt”, but my decision was to avoid it. Since most of the controversial aspects do not center on today’s birthday boy, I have chosen to write the story because it is one I want you to know.
Ernst August Schade was born on February 17, 1866, the son of Charles and Mary (Barth) Schade. Ernst’s mother, Mary Barth, had previously been married to Carl Wilhelm Mueller, and that marriage took place at Concordia, Frohna. When she married Charles Schade, that marriage took place at Concordia. This may be how this branch of Schade’s ended up in Frohna. All of Charles Schade’s children, including one born to his second wife, were baptized at Concordia, Frohna. Today’s birthday boy, Ernst Schade, was also baptized at that congregation. Below is his baptism record.
Ernst can be found in the 1870 census for Brazeau Township. He was 4 years old.
Sometime shortly after the above census, Ernst’s mother died. His father married again in 1873. His second wife was Elizabeth Tscheidi. One daughter was born to that marriage, but by the time of the 1880 census, she must have died. Charles is noted as being a widower in that census. Ernst should have been either 13 or 14 in that census, but it says he was 12.
Now we turn our attention to the woman who would become Ernst’s wife, Marie Bremer. She was born on April 4, 1879, so she was about 13 years younger than Ernst. Marie was the daughter of Henry and Margaretha (Meyer) Bremer. Marie was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. We have her baptism record.
The only census in which we find Marie before she was married was the one taken in 1880.
As said earlier, I am not telling all the details of this story, but one that is not a moral highlight will be included here. In 1895, prior to her marriage, Marie bore a child. His name was Rudolph. In the baptism record from Concordia, we see that Rudolph’s father was Heinrich Dodd. The word under Rudolph’s name is unehelich, which is the German word for “illegitimate”.
Two years later, Ernst Schade married Marie Bremer on May 16, 1897 at Concordia, Frohna. Below is the church record for that wedding.
We also have the marriage license for this couple.
After Ernst married Marie, he adopted Rudolph, so he became Rudolph Schade, no longer Rudolph Dodd. When Rudolph was confirmed in 1909, his confirmation record calls him Rudolph Schade. Six more children were born to Ernst and Marie. We see this couple in all of the censuses through 1940. First, here is the one taken in 1900. By then, there were three sons in the family.
Next, we see this family in the 1910 census. This time we see 4 sons and a daughter, and Ernst is now called a stone mason, not a farmer.
In the above census, you see the name Charles Fiehler just below the Schade family. The photo shown below is supposed to be a sawmill operated by him. In this photo, Ernst Schade is the third man from the right.
The 1920 census shows the following Schade household. Ernst is back to being called a farmer.
One more child would be born later in 1920, so we see this situation in the 1930 census. At age 63, Ernst has no occupation, but we see his son, Fred, working at a saw mill.
The 1940 census entry shown here looks like an empty nest, but their son, Fred, is on the next page which I did not show, and he was working at the Frohna Machine Shop.
Marie died in 1944 at the age of 65. We have her death certificate from Perry County.
Marie was buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in Frohna, Missouri.
Ernst would spend his last days in St. Louis at the Lutheran Altenheim. He died in 1961 at the age of 95. Here is his death certificate from St. Louis.
Ernst was also buried in a Concordia Lutheran Cemetery, but his was located in St. Louis.
Some people have to endure plenty of hardship, troubles, and other people’s bad decisions. I did not even tell you all that Ernst had to deal with in his life, but I like to think that through it all, he maintained his faith in the Lord. I do know that a place like the Lutheran Altenheim would be an environment where he would have heard about God’s love and forgiveness till the day of his death.
