When I first moved to Perry County about 10 years ago, I looked at the surname, Koeberl, and wondered how to pronounce it.  I soon discovered that folks around here make it very simple.  They pronounce this name the same as they pronounce “cable”.  This is also one of those names that was once spelled with an umlaut, Köberl, but was Americanized by removing the umlaut and replacing it with an “e” behind the “o”.  As you might expect, today you will be told the story of Frank Koeberl.  I tell his life story today because he was married on this date 112 years ago.

Frank (Franz) Koeberl was born on November 2, 1882 in Austria.  He was the son of Herman and Theresia (Mossbruger) Koeberl.  Although I cannot find the Koeberl family on a passenger list of a ship entering America, a census record says that Frank’s immigration year was 1885.  If that is the case, he arrived in this country at the age of three.

Frank’s bride was going to be Hulda Rosa Petzoldt.  Hulda was the daughter of Richard and Johanna (Lindner) Petzoldt.  That also makes her a granddaughter of Friedrich Florian (The Face) Petzoldt.  She was born on May 16, 1887 and baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg.  Her baptism record says that she was the 10th child in this Petzoldt family.  I have to show this record in two images.

We find Hulda in the 1900 census at the age of 13.  This was also the year that Hulda was confirmed at Immanuel.

Frank Koeberl and Hulda Petzoldt were married at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg on April 20, 1908.  Before I show some documents for that marriage, let me discuss the matter of a Lutheran Lenten hiatus from weddings.  In 1908, Easter occurred on April 19th, so the Koeberl/Petzoldt wedding took place on Easter Monday.  When I was searching our German Family Tree using the search term, 20 Apr 1908, I ran across two other marriages taking place on that day in local Lutheran churches.  Couples were anxious to get married and chose to have their weddings as soon as they could after Easter.  Here are the other two marriages that I found in our GFT for April 20, 1908.

• Kieninger/Lueke – Immanuel, New Wells
• Lowes/Ludwig – Arnsburg Lutheran

The church record for the Koeberl/Petzoldt marriage is displayed below.  Once again, I have to show it in two images.

We also have a form that is part of their marriage license.  I really do not care much for this kind of form because it tells when the license was issued and when it was recorded, but it does not give the actual wedding date.

Thanks to Frank’s grandson and his wife, Bill and Nelda Koeberl, I have this wedding photograph of Frank and Hulda.

After this couple was married, we find them starting their married lives in the Pocahontas vicinity.  They were living in Shawnee Township.  By 1910, they had just one child.

Before the next census in 1920, Frank moved his family across the Apple Creek into Perry County.  His farm was located south of Altenburg and rather close to his father-in-law’s farm.  We see both the Koeberl (they spelled it as Cable) and Petzoldt farms on this 1915 land map.

Another thing that happened before the 1920 census was that Frank had his World War I draft registration completed.  The form says that this relatively young farmer already had issues with two fingers.  This seems to be a common occurrence among farmers.

According to our German Family Tree, Frank and Hulda had 10 children.  We see a larger household in the 1920 census.

Hulda Koeberl died on the last day of 1928 at the young age of 41.  We can take a look at her death certificate.  It says she died of pneumonia and influenza.

The 1940 census is the last one we can view.  We find the Koeberl’s in the same location.

Frank Koeberl died in 1945 at the age of 62.  We also have his death certificate.

Both Frank and Hulda are buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg, Missouri.

The only other photo I was able to gather for either of these two characters was a picture including Hulda.  This photo has been used on this blog before, but I just found a caption identifying all the people.  It is the Golden Anniversary for Hulda’ parents, which must have taken place in 1916.  I have placed a caption I found underneath the photo.