William Bingenheimer was born on this day, so he is today’s birthday boy.  As it turns out, William married a woman who had another long name that begins with a “B”…Bodenschatz.

First, let’s take a look at the arrival of the Bingenheimer’s.  They arrived in 1848 aboard the Jaque Lafette.  William’s father, Phillip Bingenheimer, was listed as 15 years old on the passenger list for that ship.

Phillip married Wilhelmina Dickmann on January 20, 1859.  They were married by a Justice of the Peace.

The Bingenheimer’s started having children in 1860.  When we come to the birth of their second child, William, there is a debate about the year of his birth.  Our German Family Tree says he was born on July 3, 1862.  The only church record that shows a birth year for William that we have was his death record from Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. It is one of those death records which gives the age of the person in years, months, and days, which make you calculate the date of birth.  However, William’s death certificate says he was born on July 3, 1863.

The first census in which we find William was the one taken in 1870.  His family was living in the Cinque Hommes Township of Perry County.  William was the only boy in this Bingenheimer family.  William was shown as 8 years old, which gives some credence to the 1862 birth year.

The Bingenheimer family can be found in the “long lost” 1880 Union Township census records.  William’s father had died in 1878, so he is not listed here, and Wilhelmina was the head of the household.  William was the only male in the household at the age of 17.

William’s future bride would be Martha Bodenschatz, the daughter of Carl and Johanna (Hopfer) Bodenschatz.  She was born on January 5, 1877.  For some reason, her baptism record is not to be found in the Grace, Uniontown books, but since her older and younger siblings were baptized there, I assume Martha was baptized there also.  We do see her birth date in her confirmation record from that congregation.

Martha is found for the first time in the 1880 census for Apple Creek Township in Cape Girardeau County.

On October 18, 1894, William Bingenheimer married Martha Bodenschatz at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown.  Below is the church record for that wedding.

We can also view this couple’s marriage license.

Martha’s family had a photograph taken at about this time.  Martha is the middle daughter in what might be called the middle row.

William and Martha had 8 children according to our German Family Tree and all of them were baptized at Grace, Uniontown.  We find the Bingenheimer family in the 1900 census with two children.  One child born in 1895 died right away.

Next, we find this family in the 1910 census with 5 children.

Another son had been born in 1912 but died at the age of 2.  So, in the 1920 census, we see the same 5 children.

A last daughter named Norma was born in 1920, so we find this Bingenheimer household in the 1930 census.

A set of plat maps was made of Cape Girardeau County in 1930.  We find an 80 acre parcel of farmland owned by William Bingenheimer just south of the Apple Creek and west of the town of Appleton.

William Bingenheimer died in 1932.  His death certificate is the document where we see his birthday given as July 3, 1863 and his age as 68 when he died.

His death record from Grace, Uniontown says he was 69 years, 7 months, and 3 days old when he died.

Martha Bingenheimer can still be found in the 1940 census as a widow.  There is a William Bingenheimer who was the head of the household, but that was her son.

Martha Bingenheimer died in 1949 at the age of 72.

Both death certificates for William and Martha state that they were buried in the cemetery in Uniontown.  However, for some reason, Findagrave only shows a gravestone photo of Martha’s.

William Bingenheimer was the only son in his branch of the Bingenheimer family, so it was up to him to pass on that surname to the next generation.  He had three sons who lived to adulthood.  However, when you look at the grandchildren born to William and Martha’s family, you will find only one boy with the surname Bingenheimer.  His name was Roy Bingenheimer, and he became a Lutheran pastor.