I ran across a marriage record in our German Family Tree for May 8th that drew my interest mainly because it appeared to be a couple that had surnames that I figured had not shown up on this blog before.  I did a quick search, and indeed the names, Weith and Stuebinger, did not show up despite the fact that we have now published over 1200 posts of this variety.  So, today you will find out about a couple that would have been celebrating their 128th anniversary today.

We will start with the groom.  Johann Conrad Weith was born on November 30, 1861…maybe.  We have a little confusion with his date of birth.  Both the Weith and Stuebinger names are ones found in the Friedenberg book, which is a reconstruction of some records once destroyed in a fire.  These surnames are later found in the books of Cross Congregation that was once located between Longtown and Crosstown, Missouri.  The Friedenberg book gives the November 30th birthday.  However, a marriage record in the Cross Congregation’s book says that he was born on October 29, 1862.  I cannot come to a conclusion on which date of birth is correct.   I assume Conrad was baptized at Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg, but we cannot view a baptism record.  Conrad’s parents were Johann and Jacobin Wilhelmine (Kirschner) Weith.

Conrad can be found in the 1870 census for Cinque Hommes Township as a 6 year old.  His age of 6 in this census adds more confusion to his date of birth.  He should have been around 8 or 9 years old, and there was another brother, William, who was 9 years old on this entry.

The 1880 census once again shows Conrad, this time as 16 years old along with that older brother who is now shown as 18 years old.  At the time of this census, this family was living in the Salem Township.

We now turn our attention to the bride.  Her name was Anna Barbara Stuebinger, the daughter of Johann and Barbara (Kisberdt) Stuebinger.  She was born on January 10, 1864, and I assume she was also baptized at Peace, Friedenberg.  We find Barbara in the 1870 census for Cinque Hommes Township.  We have evidence here that she had a twin brother named Andrew.

Next, we find Barbara in the 1880 census for Salem Township as a 16 year-old.

In 1883, when his nephew, John Adam Conrad Weith, was born, Conrad was a sponsor.  There was also a Barbara Stuebinger as a sponsor.  I don’t know if that is Conrad’s future wife or his future mother-in-law, who was also named Barbara.

That leads us up to the wedding that took place on May 8, 1892.  We have a civil marriage license for this couple.

The marriage record below is found in the Cross Congregation book.  This is where we see the October, 1862 birth date for Conrad.

Between 1893 and 1898, this couple had 4 children, all daughters.  Three of those daughters were baptized at Cross Congregation.  Here are those baptism records.

The fourth child was baptized at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar, Missouri.

On October 4, 1899, Anna Barbara Weith died, leaving Conrad as a widower with four young girls.  It must have been a very difficult time for him.  I know it was difficult to find Conrad and his girls in the 1900 census.  First of all, we find Martha Weith, age 6, living with Conrad’s mother, Minnie, and Conrad’s brother, William, in the Salem Township.

Next, we find Dora Weith living in the Joseph Hacker household where she is described as an adopted child.  Dora was 2 years old.

Conrad proved even harder to find, but I think I did.  Living in the Central Township was a person called Conrad White with the household shown below.  By the way, on this entry, we see it stating that Conrad was born in November of 1863.

I won’t go into detail, but several of the names, along with their ages and dates of birth, correspond rather nicely with other persons in the Weith extended family.  Also, Augustine, the 5 year-old, who is called a boarder, is actually Conrad’s daughter.  That accounts for 3 of Conrad’s 4 daughters.  He obviously felt the need to farm out several of his children.

Then on October 23, 1902, Conrad married again.  His second wife was Susanna Heise, the daughter of John Andreas and Anna Dorothea (Keyl) Heise.  A previous post titled, Another Crosstown Chronicle, told the story of the arrival of this Heise family to Perry County.  Here is the marriage license for Conrad and Susanna.  This marriage must have taken place at Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg where Rev. Guemmer was the pastor.

The good news in this story is the fact that it appears that Conrad was able to reunite his family full of girls by the time of the 1910 census.  Also, one more child, Floretta, was born into his family, still all girls.

The plat maps produced in 1915 show Conrad’s property located outside Perryville and not far from the location of Cross Congregation and Cinque Hommes Creek.  You should also be able to locate a few other nearby properties with the name, Weith.

One more census shows both Conrad and Susanna.  It was the 1920 census.

I located photographs of Conrad and Susanna that probably were taken about this time.

Susanna died in 1925 at the age of 54.  We have her death certificate.

Conrad Weith would not die until he was 91 years old in 1952.  We also have his death certificate.

Conrad and both of his wives are buried in the Peace Lutheran Cemetery in Friedenberg.

There are plenty of other Weith’s in our German Family Tree.  I just have not written stories on any of them on this blog before.  Because all of Conrad’s children were girls, this branch of the Weith family tree did not carry forth that surname.

I enjoyed the challenges I found in this story, but I especially enjoyed finding that 1910 census where we see Conrad’s family being reunited.