I have not written may posts about people who have surnames that begin with a “Q”. For the record, our German Family Tree contains only 4 pages of information on surnames beginning with “Q”. I remember doing a post about a Michael Quast, and I vaguely remember someone married to a Quaas, but that’s all my fading memory can come up with now. Today’s story will add to that short list.

The tale begins with a special birthday. Herman Wilhelm Querl was born on November 16, 1845, making today his 175th birthday. Herman was the son of Friedrich and Amalia (Ostmann) Querl. Herman was born in St. Louis and baptized at Old Trinity Lutheran Church. I could display an Excel spreadsheet version of his baptism information, but it would require 2 or 3 images for you to view it all. I find it easier to show an image of what appears in our German Family Tree. The information included is the same.

Interestingly, one of Herman’s sponsors was Amalia (Boehme) Grosse, whose story was told just a few days ago (Happy Bicentennial Birthday, Mrs. Grosse). This document gives proof that by this time in 1845, Ferdinand and Amalia Boehme had gotten married.

I was unable to find the Querl family in the 1850 census. With a name like Querl, the potential misspellings of their surname could be almost endless. The first census in which I found Herman was the one taken in 1860. His father was a carpenter, and Herman was 15 years old. Ancestry.com actually spells his surname correctly in this entry.

During the later 1860’s, Herman studied to become a Lutheran pastor at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. As near as I can tell, he must have graduated in 1870. I could not find him in a census for that city. Yet, another event was taking place in his life in the summer of 1870. Herman married Maria Louisa Gausmann on September 18, 1870 in St. Louis. The marriage record for this couple indicates they were married by Rev. J.F. Buenger, who was the pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in that city. Rev. Buenger was also one of the founders of the Log Cabin College in Altenburg. I was not successful at finding out much information about Maria Louisa Gausmann’s background.

That same year, Herman became a pastor, and was sent to serve

Trinity Lutheran Church in Willow Springs, Illinois (in the Chicago area). As part of his task, he served at a preaching station in Lemont, Illinois. He is called one of the founding pastors of St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Lemont. However, I was not able to find Herman in a census for Lemont either.

Herman’s wife, Maria Louisa, died on February 13, 1873. I figure she died in Lemont, but her body was brought back to St. Louis for burial. She is buried in the Western Lutheran Cemetery, which was the cemetery for Immanuel Lutheran Church. The following information can be found on Findagrave.com about her.

For the second time in his life, it appears that Herman got married, only to take her off to live somewhere else. Herman married Emma Strieter on July 16, 1874. They were married in Cook County, Illinois. Here is a record of that marriage.

Emma Strieter has quite an interesting pedigree. She was born on August 20, 1856, the daughter of Rev. Johannes and Elizabeth (Ernst) Strieter. Her father arrived in America in 1837 and his family settled in Michigan. Johannes would go on to attend the Lutheran seminary in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and was what we today would call a vicar in Frankenmuth, Michigan under the supervision of Rev. Craemer, one of the founding pastors of the Missouri Synod. Pastor Strieter was the first pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Elyria, Ohio. It was when he served that congregation that Emma Strieter was born. Rev. Strieter later served congregations in Crystal Lake, Wisconsin, Aurora, Illinois, Peru, Indiana, and Proviso, Illinois. Emma followed her family to all of those locations, and it was when she was in Proviso that she must have met Herman Querl. A photo was taken of the Strieter family somewhere along the line. Emma is likely to be in the photo, but I do not know which one she is. I know she was the oldest daughter.

Before I move on, let me say that Emma had a brother, Friedrich Strieter, who became a Lutheran teacher and professor. Friedrich would spend many years at Concordia Teachers College in Seward, Nebraska. He now has a building on that campus named after him, Strieter Hall. When I attended that college, Strieter Hall was a women’s dormitory. It can be seen on the map below.

As I said before, Herman took his new wife somewhere else. In 1874, Herman became pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Toledo, Ohio. It would be at that congregation that Pastor Q would spend the rest of his ministry. This would be another congregation that would call Rev. Querl their first called pastor. That church is said to have been organized on July 19, 1874, three days after Herman married Emma Strieter.

We find the Querl family in the 1880 census living in Toledo. They had one daughter. Another daughter had been born in 1879 but died right away.

Two more sons would be born in the 1880’s. We have to wait until 1900 to see the next census.

Next, we find the Querl’s in the 1910 census.

The information below can be found on the Trinity, Toledo website about the history of that congregation.

I am not sure which year he retired, but by the time of the 1920 census, Herman and Emma were living in Los Angeles, California. I think they moved there because their daughter, Matilda, and her husband, Fred Furstenberg, lived in Los Angeles.

Rev. Herman Querl died in 1921 at the age of 75. I located this photo of Pastor Q on the website of his first church in Lemont, Illinois. This photo was certainly taken after his service there when he was so young.

Emma can still be found in the 1930 census living by herself in Los Angeles.

Emma Querl died in 1933 at the age of 76. She and her husband are buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles County. They have a family stone with separate markers for each individual.

• 

• 

• 

The special birthday that began this story led me on a fascinating journey through some interesting history of the early years of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.