You are going to read a type of story today that I usually do not even consider for this blog. My standard procedure for choosing stories is to find one that began before the turn of the 20th century. I do that for a reason. If I look into a story that begins in the 1900’s, I quickly run out of documentation that I am able to view. There are privacy reasons for this. For example, I am now only able to look at census records up through 1940. However, I am going to tell a story today of a couple that lived their entire lives after 1900. I do so because three items attracted my attention when I saw a record in our German Family Tree. First, there was a set of twins born on November 12th. I enjoy twin stories. Second, because I am writing a book about what was taking place in Wittenberg in 1904, I am attracted to items that include that year. The twins were born in 1904. Last of all, my eyes also noticed that one of the twins died as a result of a farm accident. That sounded interesting.
Benjamin and Oscar Weinhold were born on November 12, 1904, the twin sons of Phillip and Martha (Bock) Weinhold. This set of parents were part of what we refer to as the “Dirt Weinholds”. These two boys were baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna, Missouri. Here are the baptism records for these twins.
Benjamin Weinhold did not make it to his second birthday. He died in July of 1906. His death record is shown below. I wish I could read the cause of death written in the second-to-last column on the right.
Benjamin was buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery and has one of those simple metal markers on his grave site.
We find Oscar Weinhold with his family in the 1910 census for Union Township at the age of 5. His father was a farmer.
A previous post was written about Oscar’s parents titled, Bock Wein…………..hold. That article included the 1915 land map which shows that the Phillip Weinhold family farm was located just outside the town of Brazeau.
Oscar would have been too young to fill out a World War I draft registration. When the 1920 census was taken, Oscar was 15 years old and working as a farm laborer. The older Weinhold children were boys, while the younger ones were girls.
At the age of 25, Oscar can still be found in the same household in the 1930 census. Oscar was the only son still living with his parents.
The last census we can view is the one taken in 1940 where we still find Oscar as a single man at he age of 35 and living with his parents.
Before we look at Oscar’s marriage, let’s look into the early life of his wife. Her name was Edna Meinz, who was born on September 7, 1918. So, Oscar’s wife was going to be about 14 years younger than he was. Edna’s parents were Alfred and Theresia (Hunt) Meinz. Edna was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Here is her baptism record.
The plat maps produced in 1915 show the location of the John Meinz farm. John was Edna’s grandfather.
The first census in which we find Edna was the one taken in 1920 when she was just one year old.
Next, we find the Meinz household in the 1930 census where Edna is shown as being 11 years old.
Once again, the last census in which we can view Edna was the one taken in 1940. Edna’s mother had died in 1937. Edna is called a maid for a household.
In 1942, Oscar had his World War II draft card completed.
It would be two days after Christmas in that year, 1942, that Oscar Weinhold married Edna Meinz at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can view the church record for that wedding.
We can also take a look at this couple’s marriage license. You have to be viewing a more recent marriage license to find one filled out with a typewriter.
After this, it becomes more difficult to find information about this couple’s life. I found some evidence on Ancestry.com and in a newspaper article that this couple had two children. I will discuss one of them later.
Oscar died in 1971 as a result of a farm accident at the age of 69. Once again, I wish I could look at his death certificate to view the cause of death, but right now, only death certificates up to 1968 can be viewed by the public. I did manage to find an obituary for Oscar that includes some details about his life and death.
Edna Weinhold did not die until 2011 at the age of 92. Here is a photo of Edna taken later in her life.
Oscar and Edna Weinhold are each buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in Frohna.
I did discover that Edna and Oscar had one son who died very recently. His name was Gary “Hambone” Weinhold, and he died on this past Reformation Day, October 31, 2020. A transcription of his obituary can be found on Findagrave.com.
Here is a photo of Gary that is also found on Findagrave.
I did find more information on these Weinhold’s than I expected. It made it possible to write a more interesting post. At least I found it interesting.
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I took a few construction photos recently. Only a peek of sunlight can be seen when standing inside what will be our new museum gallery. It’s starting to take shape in there.
Benjiman was kicked in the head by a mule maybe talk to the family?
can you explain “Dirt Weinhold” that was my granfather and whether you wanted it
to seem negative or not it is!!!
There were two major Weinhold clans that settled in Perry County, and we don’t know if they were related. Early on, one clan was involved in the flour milling business, and we call them the “Miller Weinholds”. The other clan, which arrived a little later, were farmers. We have a docent who works at our museum who is a Weinhold, and she likes to use the term, “Dirt Weinholds” to describe her Weinholds, so I started using it in these blog posts. It is by no means an insulting term to us.