Magdalena “Lena” Hooss, if she was still alive, would be celebrating a very special birthday today. She was born on October 2, 1845, the daughter of Henry and Barbara (Fath) Hooss making today her 175th birthday. Lena’s baptism record is found in the books of Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. A note in this record states that she was baptized at the farm of Ferdinand Bergmann by Rev. C.F. Gruber. Here is the baptism record from the Uniontown books in two images.

There is a little debate concerning the date of Lena’s birthday. On Findagrave.com, it says the birthday for her was October 21st, not October 2nd, and it says that date comes from the gravestone. From the gravestone photo which will be displayed later, I could not read a a birthday. The baptism record shown above shows quite clearly an October 2nd birthday.

Lena is found in the 1850 census for Perryville at the age of 5. Her father is described as a tavern keeper in this entry.

Another census entry can be found in which Lena was still single. That was the one taken in 1860. This time, Henry Hooss is called a hotel keeper, and his “household” includes several people who were either working or staying at his hotel.

Henry Hooss had taken over a hotel known as the White House, and it came to be known as the Hooss Hotel or the Hooss House. Below is a photo of the building that was called the White House. It is in the foreground of this photograph.

Now we will turn our attention to Lena’s future husband, John Dewein. John was born on May 8, 1838 in Bavaria. A transcribed record for his baptism from Germany is shown below. This document gives the name of his parents as Johannes and Anna Maria Dewein.

In 1859, John traveled to America aboard the ship, Gutenberg. We find him on this passenger list for that ship. There is a Philippe Dewein shown not far below John’s name. I do not know if the two are related.

In the 1860 census, we find John living in St. Louis in a household of a barber. John is also called a barber.

I was unable to find any kind of marriage documentation for John and Lena’s marriage, but a family history on Ancestry.com gives the date of November 15, 1866 for their wedding.

When the 1870 census was taken, we find this couple living in the Cinque Hommes Township where John is called a farmer. They had one child at that time. John’s father must have also come to America because we find him in this census entry at the age of 63.

I located a list of what are called “Arrivals at the Hooss Hotel” during 1873. Several of the folks on this list were from Altenburg. Almost all of the arrivals were from elsewhere in Perry and Cape Girardeau Counties. I think it tells an interesting tale of the history of those times. Nowadays, it would be a rare occasion for a resident of these counties to travel to Perryville and stay at a hotel there. However, in the day of horse and buggy transportation, it was a reality. By the way, a character in yesterday’s post, Jacob Schmidt, can be found on this list.

The 1880 census shows the Dewein family living in Central Township. John is still called a farmer, and the family had 5 children.

Later, in both of the obituaries for these two, it mentions each of them were very involved in the operation of the Hooss Hotel. Magdalena is credited with both running the hotel and being the main cook for the guests. John was called both a barber and a saloon keeper. The saloon was part of the hotel building. It can be seen in the photo below.

In another photo taken at street level, we can see the hotel in the background. It is stated in a caption for this picture that the left door in the restaurant building was to a barber shop. Perhaps it was a barber shop run by John Dewein.

John Dewein can be found in the 1890 Veteran’s Schedules living in Perryville. This document gives evidence that John had served in the Civil War as part of the 1st Missouri Cavalry. He served in this unit before he was married.

The next Federal census in which we can view the Dewein household was the one taken in 1900. It states that John was a saloon keeper and Magdalena worked at the hotel. The household included several boarders.

A publication titled A Modern Eden was printed in 1895. In that booklet, we find the following advertisement for not only the Hooss House, but also the Hooss House Saloon operated by John Dewein.

Magdalena Dewein died on October 8, 1901. If you use the October 2nd birthday, she had just turned 56 years old. If you use the October 21st birthday, she had not yet gotten to age 55. Her obituary just says she was “about 55 years” old.

John Dewein can still be found in the 1910 census at the age of 71. It gave no occupation for him.

John died in 1918 at the age of 80. Since he died after 1910, we can view his death certificate.

We can also read a transcription of his obituary.

Both John and Lena Dewein are buried in the Home Cemetery in Perryville.

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I have written several posts now that have included members of the Hooss family. I always find them interesting. I sometimes wish I could step back in time and spend an evening at the Hooss Hotel, eat one of their meals, have a beer at their saloon, and perhaps even get a haircut.