Several days ago, I wrote the post, The Kasten-Ludwig Couple. Today I will share a story with a similar title. However, the setting for today’s tale is different. The post written recently was set in Shawnee Township of northern Cape Girardeau County. Today, the story will be set in Union Township of Perry County.

The story starts with the birthday of Carl Arthur Kasten. He was born on October 15, 1875, the son of Christian and Seraphina (Hopfer) Kasten. That would make today his 145th birthday. Before I move on, let me caution you. There was another Karl Arthur Kasten born in 1888. Several years ago, Clayton Erdmann wrote a post telling about the Kasten family from which he came which was titled, Classroom Records: From Uniontown to Olivette. Both of these Carl Arthur Kasten’s were baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown, Missouri. Below is the baptism record for Arthur which took place in 1875.

Some of the Union Township 1880 census records were lost for many years but recently found. Those documents have yet to be placed on Ancestry.com, but they can be found online. Both Arthur and his future bride are found in that set of recently found records. For some reason, Arthur is called Otto on this entry. He was 4 years old.

There would be one more census in which we find Arthur as a single man. That was the one taken in 1900, and once again, we find him called Otto for some reason. In 1880, the census taker was Jim Martin, and in 1900, the census taker was William Huff. They could have been English-speaking folks who may have had trouble understanding a German naming his children. They may have thought they heard Otto when it was Arthur that was meant. Arthur was 24 years old in the 1900 entry.

Now, we turn our attention to Arthur’s future spouse. Her name was Agnes Telle who was born on April 8, 1880. She was the daughter of Andrew and Sarah (Noennig) Telle. Like Arthur, she was baptized at Grace, Uniontown. Here is her baptism record.

Agnes barely made it into the 1880 census as a baby. Once again, this entry is from the once-lost set of records from Union Township. She is found only one census page away from Arthur.

Next, we find Agnes in the 1900 census. Her parents were on the previous census page that I chose not to display. Agnes was 20 years old.

On August 27, 1903, Arthur Kasten married Agnes Telle at Grace, Uniontown. We can view the marriage license for this couple.

The church record for this wedding is shown below.

Both of the above documents state that the pastor who married this couple was Rev. M.M. Telle, who happened to be Agnes’s brother. The pastor at Grace during this time was Rev. A.O. Hueschen. However, this couple must have requested Agnes’s brother to perform the ceremony. As you can see on the image below, Rev. Telle was serving the relatively new congregation, Christ Lutheran Church, in Gordonville, Missouri, not far from Jackson.

Our German Family Tree lists 9 children born into this Kasten family. When we take a look at the 1910 census, we find them with two children. Two others had been born before this census, but they died as infants. Arthur’s family was living with his parents, Christian and Seraphina Kasten. The household right below the Kasten’s was a Telle family that included Agnes’s father, Andrew. Her mother had died in 1904.

Arthur’s father died in 1911, so when the plat maps were produced for Perry County in 1915, we see a farm owned by Mrs. Christian Kasten. This is likely the farm operated by Arthur. You can see how near it was to Uniontown.

Arthur had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918.

We find the Arthur Kasten household in the 1920 census. Their family had gotten considerably larger.

It is not often that I find any records indicating a person’s political preference, but in the transcription shown below, we see that Arthur Kasten was involved with the Republican Party at about this time in his life.

One more child was born in 1921. We see the Kasten’s next in the 1930 census.

The last census we can view is the one taken in 1940. Arthur and Agnes were in their 60’s.

The youngest child, Walter, served in World War II and sadly was killed in action. The newspaper article below tells a bit of this story.

Agnes Kasten died in 1955 at the age of 75. We can view her death certificate.

Arthur Kasten died in 1961 at the age of 85. Here is his death certificate.

Arthur and Agnes are both buried in the Grace Lutheran Cemetery in Uniontown.

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Now you have had two blog posts this past week about Kasten couples. One was a New Wells/Pocahontas story; one was a Uniontown story. I sometimes find it difficult to keep all of these Kasten’s straight.

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I took some photos of our museum construction yesterday when we had a sunny day. Today, it’s a little more dreary. Progress is being made.

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