We will begin with a birthday today, but the story will meander through many marriages before all is said and done. I just hope I can keep it all straight. The birthday boy for today is John Hadler. He was born in Hanover, Germany on April 26, 1861, the son of Diedrich and Maria (Dammann) Hadler. There are many Hadler’s still living in East Perry County, but none of them came from John. You will find out why as you read this post. John’s brother, Herman Hadler, is the ancestor of the present-day Hadler’s.
When John was 7 years old, he and his family came to America aboard the ship, Hermine, in 1868.
The 1870 census for Brazeau Township shows this family.
John was a servant on the Grother farm when the 1880 census was taken.
There is a record saying there was a John Hadler who became a member of Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob, Illinois in 1886. However, on August 26, 1887, John married Margaret Pilz in Altenburg. Margaret was born on May 12, 1863, the daughter of John and Adelheid (Kreide) Pilz. Margaret can be found in the 1870 census at the age of 6.
We find Margaret again in the 1880 census.
John and Margaret were married at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg, Missouri. Here is their marriage record in two images.
We can also view the civil marriage license for this couple.
Later in 1887, Margaret had a miscarriage. A Perry County birth record can be found for this event. Dr. John Neumueller gave the cause of the miscarriage as heavy lifting. Here is that record in two images. This record gives the location as Friedland, which was another name for The Ridge north of Altenburg.
In 1889, probably in February, the Hadler’s had a stillborn child. Our German Family Tree shows this entry for that birth. I find it interesting that it says John farmed on an island in the Mississippi.
This birth also caused the death of Margaret Hadler. She died on February 15, 1889 and is said to be buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg, but Findagrave has no gravestone photo. Then on July 3, 1890, John married Agnes Hoffmann at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. Below is the church record for that wedding.
Agnes Hoffmann was born on December 1, 1869, the daughter of Charles and Mary (Mueller) Hoffmann. She was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Here is her baptism record.
We find Agnes in the 1870 and 1880 censuses before she was married.
The Hoffmann family moved to Shawnee Township in Cape Girardeau County before the 1880 census.
We can also view the marriage license for the Hadler/Hoffmann wedding.
This marriage did not last long. John Hadler died in February of 1891. These two were married less than a year and had no children. Thus, there were no Hadler descendants coming from John Hadler. John is also said to be buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg. We will continue this post by following the rest of Agnes’s life. On September 27, 1891, Agnes married Ambrosius Wallmann at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. Here is the church record for that wedding.
Ambrosius Wallmann was born on March 31, 1865, the son of Charles and Christina (Stirewalt) Wallmann. We have the record for Ambrosius’s baptism at Immanuel, New Wells.
Here is the marriage license for this couple.
Ambrosius can be found in the 1870 and 1880 censuses, but the 1870 record is too difficult to read, so I will not show it. Here is the 1880 census.
Our German Family Tree shows that this Wallmann couple had 8 children. We see what this household looked like in the 1900 census.
Ambrosius must have died sometime after their last child was born in 1904. We find Agnes getting married for the third time in 1909. Her third husband was William Polson who was born on September 23, 1857. He was the son of Washington and Sarah Polson. We find William Polson in the 1870 census living in Perry County. It indicates his father was born in Tennessee and his mother in Kentucky.
William Polson may have been married previously. There is a marriage record from Dunklin County, Missouri that shows a William Polson marrying a Mary Etta Alldridge in 1878, but I am not sure this is the correct person. That marriage record is also almost impossible to read.
The marriage of William Polson and Agnes Wallmann took place in Perryville on May 13, 1909. Here is their marriage license.
When the 1910 census rolled around, we find this household.
Our German Family Tree shows one son being born to this couple in 1910. At this point, I lost this Polson family in the census records. The next record I found was the death certificate for William Polson, who died in 1936 in Bell City, Missouri.
Agnes Polson died in 1940 at the age of 70. She died in Macomb, Illinois. One of her Wallmann sons was living in Macomb, so she likely went there to live after her husband’s death. She is buried in the Good Hope Cemetery in Macomb. Her gravestone gives credit to her marriages to a Wallmann and a Polson, but not a Hadler.
So, there you have it. It’s a veritable maze of marriages. A quiz will be forthcoming next week. Will you be able to pass it? I don’t think I will.
A few comments: 1. Another son was born to Dietrich and Mary Hadler after they arrived in Perry County. Heinrich (Henry) Hadler was born 08 Aug 1871. This Henry married Marie Stelling on 08 April 1896 at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar. Henry and Marie (my Grandpa and Grandma) are the ancestors to most of the Hadlers in Southeast Missouri.
2. Herman Hadler’s name was usually shown at Hatler. There are several theories for this variation, but we are not sure which theory is factual. Most of the Herman Hadler (Hatler, Hattler, Haudler, Hadeler) descendants are with a “t”.
3. The mother of the family, Mary Dammann Hadler, died about a year after Henry was born. She is buried at Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg. Following her death, the children were placed in foster homes. Thus the reason John is with the Grother family. Also on the 1880 Census, Herman was living with the Herman Gerth family an Apple Creek (probably New Wells area) in Cape Girardeau County. Henry was with the Herman Heidt family in Salem Township. Dietrich was listed as Dietrich Hodler as a laborer with the Charles Engler family in Apple Creek Township, just a few residences away from the Gerth household where Herman was living.
We did not find Adelheit in Southeast Missouri in 1880 because she was the foster child in the Household of the Pastor who was a Immanuel, Altenburg, and she went with them to the Wisconsin, and then to Ontario, Canada, where she then met and married August Fuhr. One of their sons, Arthur Fuhr, became LCMS pastor and served the Lutheran Church in Point Rest for several years. Dietrich joined his daughter and her family in Canada and died in Oxford, Ontario, on 02 Feb 1902 (interesting date 02 02 02).
4. I believe John Hadler was buried in Immanuel, New Wells. The story of his death was that he was on his way to church on Sunday morning with the horses and wagon. Some hunter fired a shot and spooked his horses, causing them to run. In the process, John was thrown from his seat and received fatal injuries.