A few days ago, I referred to an earlier post titled, Surrounded by Good Lookin’ Women.  I know I can relate to the main character of that post, Joseph Weinhold, because I, too, am surrounded by good lookin’ women.  I would include my wife, my 3 daughters, and 5 granddaughters in that group surrounding me.  Today, I cannot help but notice the number of women involved in today’s story.  However, the tale starts with the guy who is going to become surrounded by women.  I assume they were good lookin’ women, but unfortunately, I was unable to find any photos to back up that claim.

It all starts with a birthday 150 years ago today.  Gotthold Winter was born on February 20, 1870, the son of Friedrich and Christiane (Jahn) Winter.  A story was written about Gotthold’s parents titled, Hark! Jahn-Winter Dost Woo.  Here are photos of Gotthold’s parents.

There were 9 children born into this Winter family, and Gotthold was #6.  He was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg, Missouri.  Below is his baptism record.

Because he was born so early in the calendar year, and there was a census taken in the year of his birth, Gotthold shows up as a baby in the 1870 census for Altenburg.  His father was a laborer.

The 1880 census includes this Winter household in which Gotthold was 10 years old.  Apparently the Winter’s had moved to Union Township and his father was now a carpenter and farmer.

Before the next census that we can view, Gotthold got married, so let’s take a look at the early life of his future bride, Anna Popp.  Anna was born on March 6, 1872, the daughter of Herman and Margaretha (Hellwege) Popp.  She was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells, Missouri.  Here is her baptism record from that congregation.  If you look at the right-hand column, you will see that Anna Popp had a sponsor named Anna Popp.  That was Herman’s sister, who also happened to be another Anna Catherine Popp.  I think this Anna who was baptized was named after her Aunt Anna.

Anna can be seen living with her family in the Shawnee Township of Cape Girardeau County in the 1880 census.  She was 8 years old and the oldest child in that family.

Herman Popp was a man surrounded by women.  All of his children were girls, and there were 6 of them.  Two of them were born before the above census, but they died right away.

Gotthold Winter married Anna Popp on November 19, 1891 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells, Missouri.  Here is a civil marriage license for this couple.

We also have the church record for this couple.

I am only speculating on this, but I think Gotthold moved onto land owned by Anna’s parents after his wedding.  I say this for a couple of reasons.  One is that Herman Popp had all daughters, including one which was born in the same year as the Winter/Popp marriage.  Herman could use some male help on his farm.  We will see Gotthold living with what remained of the Popp household in the 1900 census.  In a later plat map made in 1930, we see a parcel of land which was farmed by J.G. Winter.  I figure this was the land previously owned by Herman Popp.

One child was born into the family of Gotthold and Anna before the 1900 census.  We see this household in this census entry.  Herman Popp had died in 1898, so there are several Popp women included in this household.

Two more children were born between 1900 and 1910.  All three children in Gotthold’s family were girls, so he, too, like his father-in-law, Herman Popp, was surrounded by women.  His daughters were Ida, Phoebe, and Elsa.  We see the Winter household in the 1910 census below.

I was a little surprised to not find Anna’s mother, Margaretha Popp, in the above census.  She can be found living in a separate household in Shawnee Township along with her remaining unmarried daughters.

Next, we find the Winter household in the 1920 census.  There were still two daughters living with them.

No more daughters were living with Gotthold and Anna in 1930, but they did have a farm hand by the name of Arthur Fiedler in  their household.  Arthur was Anna’s nephew.  One of her sisters had married a Fiedler.  And, no, this was not the noted director of the Boston Pops Orchestra, although many folks around here pronounce Fiedler as Fiddler.  Gotthold was said to be doing odd jobs, and Arthur Fiedler was a salesman in a general store.

The 1940 census was enumerated in April of that year, and we still find both Gotthold and Anna as being alive, with Gotthold at age 70 and Anna at age 68.

The census was recorded in April; Gotthold Winter died in May.  We have his death certificate.  The informant on this certificate, Martin Mirly, was Gotthold’s son-in-law.  He had married Phoebe Winter.

Anna Winter died in 1945 at the age of 73.  We also have her death certificate.

Gotthold and Anna Winter are each buried in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Shawneetown, Missouri.

Because of all the women found in this story, we know that there are no descendants with the Popp surname from Anna’s family, and there are no descendants with the Winter surname from Gotthold’s family.  That is one of the downsides of having nothing but girls in your family.  I know there will be no descendants with the surname Schmidt coming from my family.  However, I have met folks who are of the opinion that there are too many Schmidt’s in this world anyway.