Yesterday’s story included Emma Jungclaus, whose mother was Gesche (Stueve) Jungclaus.  I will be telling a story today which includes a character, Maria Anna Stueve, who would have been Emma Jungclaus’s first cousin.  Maria’s father, Herman Stueve, was Gesche’s brother.  Emma’s marriage to Albert Weber was a Ridge wedding.  Maria Stueve’s marriage would be another Ridge wedding.  The Weber/Junclaus marriage and today’s Pilz/Stueve marriage can be found on the same page of the Immanuel Lutheran Church marriage records.

It all starts with the birth of Heinrich Conrad Pilz.  His birthday was February 23, 1866, so he is today’s birthday boy.  He was born in Lamstedt, Germany right before his family boarded the ship, Carl, which arrived in America in October of 1866.  Below we see Heinrich on the passenger list of the Carl as a 9 month old baby.

Once in America, Heinrich shows up in the 1870 census.  If you look at the others listed in the census near the Pilz family, it appears that the Pilz farm was located on The Ridge.

Heinrich can be found in one more census before his marriage.  Here we see him in the 1880 census.  Heinrich was 15 years old.  He would be the only son in a family full of girls.

Heinrich’s wife was going to be the Maria Stueve mentioned earlier.  Mary was born on April 15, 1867, the daughter of Herman and Maria (Reese) Stueve.  She, like Heinrich Pilz, was born in Hanover, Germany and traveled to America as a child.  She, too, can be found in the 1870 census apparently living on The Ridge at the age of 3.  The Stueve household was another one that was full of females.

Mary’s mother died in 1873; her father died in 1874.  After her parents’ deaths, the 3 youngest Stueve girls went to live with their Uncle Claus Stueve and his wife, Margaret.  We find this household in the 1880 census.  Claus was another sibling of Herman and Gesche Stueve.

A later photo was taken of the 3 Stueve sisters that are shown as Claus’s nieces in the above census.  Unfortunately, I am not sure about which sister is which in this photo.

On August 14, 1890, Heinrich Pilz married Mary Stueve at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg.  Below is their marriage record from the church books in two images.

Mary and Heinrich would have 7 children, 6 of which were boys.  When the 1900 census was taken, we find this couple with 5 children.

In August of 1905, Heinrich Pilz died at the age of 39.  Their last child, Rudolph Pilz, would be born in October.  This was another one of those tragic situations when a wife had to attend her husband’s funeral when she was quite pregnant.  Mary would never remarry, so she remained a widow for the rest of her life.  We find her and her family in the 1910 census.

In 1915, a book of plat maps was produced for Perry County.  In that set of maps, we find a parcel of land owned by Mary Pilz on The Ridge.  You can see that a neighboring farm belonged to Claus Stueve, Maria’s uncle, with whom she once lived.  It’s not hard to figure how Heinrich and Mary had become a couple.  It was one of many Ridge romances.

Next, we take a look at the 1920 census.  The head of the household was Mary’s son, Arthur Pilz.

In the 1930 census, Mary was 64 years old and still living in Arthur’s household.

The last census we can view containing Mary Pilz was the 1940 census.

Mary Pilz would not die until 1963 at the age of 96.  We have her death certificate.

Both Heinrich and Mary Pilz are buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg.

You can see the great contrast between the two styles of gravestones and their readability.  That is because there were 58 years between the deaths of this husband and wife.  Mary was a widow for a very long time.