Another One of the Lichtenegger Brothers

The Lichtenegger name still lives in Perry and Cape Girardeau Counties. You can go back to the original Lichtenegger couple to see a big reason why this surname abounded. That pair had 6 children who lived to adulthood, and 5 of those were boys. You can read the story about how the Lichtenegger name entered this area in the post, The Pioneer Lichtenegger. Below are photos of those 6 children.

Posts have already been written about some of these children. You will be getting another one today. Today would have been the 121st wedding anniversary of one of the boys, Johann Alois Lichtenegger. We will begin by looking at his early life.

John Lichtenegger was born on June 4, 1877, the son of Joseph and Maria (Pilz) Lichtenegger. Here is a photo of John’s parents.

John would be baptized, confirmed, married, and buried at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pocahontas. We do not have images of that church’s original records, but we do have a binder which summarizes the lives of past members of that congregation. Here is the information found for John Lichtenegger.

John Lichtenegger information – St. John’s, Pocahontas, MO

John is found in the 1880 census for Shawnee Township in Cape Girardeau County. It lists John at age of 5 and Herman at age 3. I think those two should be reversed. John would have been the second oldest living child at the time and 3 years old.

Next, we turn our attention to John’s future spouse. Her name was Bertha Schattauer who was born on January 9, 1876. Bertha was the daughter of Matthias and Maria Theresa (Haberfellner) Schattauer. Back in April, I wrote a post about Bertha’s parents titled, Haberfellner-Schattauer. Like her future husband, Bertha was baptized, confirmed, married, and buried at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pocahontas. Below is the information found in that church’s binder concerning Bertha.

Bertha Schattauer information – St. John’s, Pocahontas, MO

Bertha is found in the 1880 census at the age of 4. This time, I displayed the following two households after the Schattauer’s. You will see the Lichtenegger’s at the bottom of this image, with Bertha’s Haberfellner grandparents being the household in the middle.

I often wonder how couples get to know one another before they get married. There is no doubt here. John and Bertha were neighbors and classmates throughout their early years. They almost got in the same confirmation class.

John Lichtenegger and Bertha Schattauer were married on October 12, 1899. We can take a look at this couple’s marriage license.

Lichtenegger/Schattauer marriage license

There is another story in this marriage license. The pastor on this form is not the pastor at St. John’s in Pocahontas. Rev. E.R. Melchert was the newly-arrived pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. In a history of St. John’s, Pocahontas, the following story is recorded which explains why the Pocahontas pastor was not performing this ceremony. It is quite the story.

Rev. Monich story – St. John’s, Pocahontas, MO

Here is the wedding photo of John and Bertha. I always giggle when I see one of thse “shaking hands” wedding photographs.

Our German Family Tree says this couple had 7 children. That sounds like a pretty big family. However, in the case of this couple, only 2 of those children would live to adulthood. Both of those who survived childhood were boys. We find an empty nest in the 1900 census.

Two boys are found in the Lichtenegger family in the 1910 census.

John had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918. There is no evidence that John was called into military service for that war.

John Lichtenegger – WWI draft registration

The 1920 census turned out to be quite opportunistic. The last child, a girl named Norma Louise, was born in 1919. She shows up in this census as a baby, but she would die in 1921, barely making it to her second birthday. I have to display this entry in two images because it spills over two census pages.

Next, we find the Lichtenegger household in the 1930 census. Arthur was the only child still living with his parents.

In the same year that the 1930 census was taken, plat maps were produced for Cape Girardeau County. We find the farm of J.A. Lichtenegger on the east side of the village of Pocahontas.

One more census record can be viewed for this couple, the one taken in 1940. This entry must also be shown in two images.

Bertha Lichtenegger died in 1943 at the age of 67. Below is her death certificate.

John Lichtenegger died in 1951 at the age of 74. We can also view his death certificate.

John and Bertha Lichtenegger are buried together in the St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery in Pocahontas.

John and Bertha Lichtenegger gravestone – St. John’s, Pocahontas, MO

Let me acknowledge a few Lichtenegger’s who can still be found around this area. Just this morning, I sat at a breakfast table at a local eatery with Eddie Lichtenegger. John Lichtenegger was the brother of Eddie’s grandfather, Herman Lichtenegger.

We also have a Lichtenegger on our docent staff at our museum. Jim Lichtenegger is shown in the photo below when he was helping with the training of a new docent, Jackie Pender. Jim is the great grandson of John Lichtenegger if I have things figured correctly.