To begin with today, I have to confess that this post should be written on July 21st, not July 13th.  I trusted a birth date that we have in our German Family Tree, but it is likely not correct.  By the time I discovered this error, I had invested way too much time into researching this story.  I just have to write it today.  I find it to be an interesting and timely tale.

Albertine Bergmann, if we trust her gravestone and not GFT, was born on July 21, 1893.  She was the oldest child of John and Louisa (Hoehn) Bergmann and baptized at Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg, Missouri.  Those church’s records were destroyed in a fire, so I cannot display one for Albertine’s baptism.  We find Albertine in the 1900 census at the age of 6.

We find Albertine in one more census before her marriage.  Here is the 1910 census.

Next, we will look at the early life of Albertine’s future husband, John Emmendorfer.  He was born on June 22, 1883 and was the oldest child of John and Rose Emmendorfer.  The Emmendorfer’s were a Catholic family, so we do not find him in any of our Lutheran baptism records.  The Emmendorfer family was quite large, as is demonstrated by this family photo.  John Jr. is standing in the back on the far right.

John is found in the 1900 census at the age of 16.

We find John appearing to be living by himself in the 1910 census.  However, it also looks like he may have been part of a Klemp household whose head was a widow.

On February 24, 1914, John Emmendorfer married Albertine Bergmann.  That marriage date is given in the reconstructed church records from Friedenberg, but I was unable to find even a Perry County marriage license for this wedding.  What I did find is a photo that is said to be this couple’s wedding photo.  If it is, this is one of the most interesting wedding pictures I have seen.  It certainly makes a fashion statement.

Not long after this wedding took place, events happened which are going to not only impact this couple, but others as well.  Two deaths took place within the span of one week in December of 1918.  Both Irene and Dietrich Canter died of the Spanish flu, leaving behind two very young children.  Here are the death certificates for those two.  First, here is Irene’s.

Next, here is Dietrich’s.  As you can see, they died at very young ages.

Dietrich and Irene can be seen in the photo below.  The others in the picture are not identified.

Dietrich and Irene are both buried in the Cedar Creek Cemetery outside Perryville.

The Canter’s had two children, a 3 year-old and an infant.  When the 1920 census was taken, we find these two Canter children living in two different households.  In both cases, the couples were childless and these adopted children would become the only child in each one.  Marie, the 3 year-old, went to live in the home of Alfred and Wilhelmine (Klobe) Hoehn.  Alfred would have been Albertine’s uncle.

The infant’s name was Franklin Canter, and he would be taken in by Albertine and John Emmendorfer.

Since the two couples that took in these Canter children were related to each other, there may have been opportunities for these two siblings to see each other at family gatherings.  However, it looks like one went into a Lutheran family and one went into a Catholic family.

I will follow the Emmendorfer family next.  That household can be found in the 1930 census.

Franklin married Elvira Brewer in 1939, so Albertine and John have an empty nest in the 1940 census.

The photo below shows the family of Frank and Elvira Emmendorfer.

One unusual fact concerning John and Albertine is that they both died on the same date, and that date was Valentine’s Day.   John died in 1966 at the age of 82.

We can read his obituary that was printed in a local newspaper along with a photo of John which was taken later in his life.

Albertine would not die until 1991 at the age of 97.  A photo was taken of Elvira and Albertine Emmendorfer when they were older.

I can also show another photo of Albertine taken later in her life.

John and Albertine Emmendorfer are buried together in the Mt. Hope Cemetery in Perryville.

Let me give just a little bit of information about what happened to Marie Canter Hoehn.  First of all, here is a photo of her at a fairly early age.

On August 15, 1943, Marie married Edgar Lueders.  Here is the marriage license for that couple.  They were married at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville.

Edgar Lueders was several generations down from the August Lueders that ran the Lueders Store in Frohna.

One more thing.  With the upcoming election not far away, political signs are all over the place.  Two names we can see around here are Bergmann and Hoehn.  I believe these two candidates may even be running against each other.  I haven’t seen any Emmendorfer’s though.  I doubt you could fit that name on a political sign.

=========================================

I have been taking photos on and off lately at our job site.  It won’t be long before we will not be able to see the sky or the steeple from our new basement.  I will place a clickable gallery here.