William Vogel would be celebrating a very special birthday if he was still alive today. Since he was born on December 5, 1845, he would need 175 candles for his birthday cake. In the German language the word, vogel means bird. William was the son of August and Katherine (Doering) Vogel and baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna, Missouri. It is reported that William was born in Scott County, Missouri, but he was not baptized in Perry County until March of the following year. Below is his baptism record.

William shows up in his first census in 1850 at the age of 5. The Vogel household spills over two census pages.

We find William next in the 1860 census. You can see this Vogel family was getting quite large. I guess you could say this bird’s nest was getting crowded.

William Vogel served in the military during the Civil War. Below is a record of his service.

I will be displaying 4 segments of a biography of William’s life that is contained in a Vogel family binder we have in our research library. Here is the first segment.

The 1870 census shows a new location for William. He was living in the Shawnee Township of northern Cape Girardeau County and working as a blacksmith. He was living in the John Buck household.

Now, we will turn our attention to the early life of William’s first wife, Anna Maria Meyr. She was born on December 3, 1851 in Austria. She was the daughter of Joseph and Anna Maria (Starzinger) Meyr. So, Anna Maria is another baby daughter who was named after her mother. She was the first of 8 children that would be born into this Meyr family. Anna Maria was still a baby when her parents made the trip to America aboard the Deutschland in 1852. We see this small family on the passenger list for this ship.

Anna Maria is found in her first census in 1860 at the age of 9.

Next, we find Anna Maria in the 1870 census for the same location.

William Vogel married Anna Maria Meyr on May 25, 1871 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. Here is the church record for this wedding.

We can also view a civil record for the marriage of this couple.

Our German Family Tree lists 5 children born to this couple, all of them before the 1880 census. Only two of them lived to adulthood. Bertha Vogel, who is shown in this 1880 census entry would die in 1881. Martin, at age 13, was said to be an adopted son. William was a blacksmith who had an apprentice by the name of Frank Kieninger living in this household.

Later in 1880, Anna Maria died at the age of 28. That left William as a widower with several children, one of which would die not long after. About a year after Anna Maria died, William would marry again. Here is the 2nd segment of William’s biography.

I am not sure when this photograph was taken, but it is the only one I found for William or either of his wives. This photo shows William with his brother August.

Emma Hoehne was born on May 26, 1861, the daughter of Elias and Karoline (Schlimpert) Hoehne. That made her about 16 years younger than William. Emma was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Here is her baptism record.

Emma was living in Perry County in the 1870 census at the age of 10. Her father had died in 1866, and her mother then married William Heiner.

Next, we find Emma in the 1880 census, a year before her marriage. Both her mother and stepfather died in the 1870’s, so we find Emma living with her older brother, Ernst Hoehne.

On September 18, 1881, William Vogel married Emma Hoehne at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Here is that congregation’s record of that marriage.

We can also view the marriage license for this couple.

Our German Family Tree shows 9 children born to this couple, bringing to a total of 14 children fathered by William. All 9 of those children were born before the next census can be viewed in 1900. The last children born to Emma were two sets of twins. The first set of twins died rather early. One of the second set of twins survived. However, when the 2nd set of twins was born, Emma had complications which led to her death about 9 days after their birth in 1898. Emma was 36 years old at the time of her death. Here is the next segment of William’s biography.

We find the Vogel household in the 1900 census which shows William as a widower. There is a daughter by the name of Perrie, said to be born in December of 1881, who is not to be found in our German Family Tree.

Two youngest daughters, Lydia and Susanna (the surviving twin) are not in the above entry. When the 1910 census was taken, we find both of these daughter living in the Charles Starzinger household. Charles’s wife, Emma, was another child of William to his first wife.

William Vogel died in 1902 at the age of 56. William and both of his wives are buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in New Wells.

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Here is the final paragraph of William Vogel’s biography.

William Vogel, who I affectionately call Bill Bird, was certainly a fertile father. I know I have already written several posts detailing the lives of children that had William as their father. I am probably not done with Vogel stories from this family.