We will begin today with the birthday of Anna Maria Cordes, who was born on February 3, 1876, making today her 145th birthday. Anna was the daughter of Heinrich and Margaretha (Meier) Cordes. She was baptized at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar, Missouri. Her baptism record is shown below.

Anna can be found in the 1880 census at the age of 4.

There were 3 children that lived to adulthood in this Cordes family, and all 3 were girls. We see these 3 girls in this Cordes family photo. Anna, the oldest of the girls, would be second from the right in this photo.

Another photo was taken later of the 3 Cordes girls. Anna is on the left.

Let’s turn our attention to Anna’s future husband. His name was Richard Bruno Fritsche, who was born on July 12, 1872 in Germany. It was in 1891 that many of Richard’s family came to America aboard the Oldenberg. We see the Fritsche family on the passenger list for that ship below.

What’s interesting is that we find Richard Fritsche on the passenger list of a ship, Stuttgart, that arrived in America in 1893. On that list, Richard was shown with his older brother, Max Fritsche. It appears to me that Richard returned to Germany for some reason and came back in 1893 with Max.

We find a very interesting situation in the 1900 census for Salem Township. Heinrich Cordes had died in 1899, leaving Margaretha a widow. Having only girls, she needed someone to work her farm. That person was Richard Fritsche. The 1900 census for Salem Township is notorious for being so hard to read. Below you see the entry for the Cordes family. Richard Fritsche is included in this household as a 26 year-old boarder.

It would be later that year, on October 28th, that Richard Fritsche would marry Anna Cordes at Salem Lutheran Church. Below is the church record for that wedding.

We can also view the marriage license for this couple.

We have a wedding photo of Richard and Anna.

Our German Family Tree lists 4 children born to this couple. One of them did not live long. Their last child was born in June of 1907, but then Anna died in December of that year. Her death record from Salem Lutheran Church says she died of appendicitis.

Anna was buried in the Salem Lutheran Cemetery in Farrar, but Findagrave does not show a gravestone.

Richard Fritsche would get married again. His second wife would be Emma Koenig. Emma was born on February 22, 1885, the daughter of Herman and Maria (Jacob) Koenig. She was baptized at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar. Here is her baptism record.

We see Emma in the 1900 census at the age of 15. This entry has to be displayed in two images.

On April 29, 1909, Richard Fritsche married Emma Koenig at Salem Lutheran Church. The church record for this marriage is displayed here.

We can also take a look at the marriage license for this couple.

We can also take a look at the wedding photo of Richard and Emma.

The German Family Tree lists 8 children born to Richard and Emma. Two of those died at early ages. We find Richard and Emma in the 1910 census. All of the children in this entry were from Richard’s first marriage.

The 1915 plat maps for Perry County show a farm owned by R. Fritsche.

Next, we can view the Fritsche household in the 1920 census.

Three more children were born in the 1920’s, so we find the following family in the 1930 census.

The last census we can view for this family was the one taken in 1940.

Richard Fritsche died in 1947 at the age of 75. We can view his death certificate.

Emma Fritsche died in 1954 at the age of 69. Her death certificate says she did at Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville.

Richard and Emma Fritsche are buried in the Salem Lutheran Cemetery in Farrar.

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The Fritsche name continues to be a relatively common one in East Perry County. I know there’s a really good chance that plenty of Fritsche’s around here can claim a connection to either Richard and Anna or Richard and Emma because of all the Fritsche children born to Richard and his two wives.