Johannes and Henrietta Kutscher would be celebrating their 160th anniversary today if they were still alive. I will attempt to tell you what I know about this couple today. This couple was married in Altenburg, but they spent most of their lives in the New Wells area.

Let’s start by looking at the bride. Christiane Henrietta Krause was born on September 27, 1838. A few church records state that she was from Pelzig, Germany. The problem is that when I placed that name into an internet map program, there was no evidence of a place called Pelzig. Henrietta was the daughter of Johann and Christiane (Gerhardt) Krause. The later 1900 census states that Henrietta came to America in 1849, but I do not have any immigration information to display for this family. We find Henrietta’s family in the 1850 census living in the Brazeau Township of Perry County, Missouri. Their entry spills over two census pages. Henrietta was 12 years old at the time, and she was the oldest child in her family.

Next, we find this Krause household in the 1860 census. Henrietta was said to be 20 years old, but my reckoning would have her slightly older.

Next, we will turn our attention to the groom. His name was Johannes Kutscher who was born on April 26, 1826. His marriage record from Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg says he was the son of Ludwig Kutscher. There is no mention of a mother’s name. Also, that church record states that Johannes was from Waldgemus, Germany. A search for that town on an internet map program was also unsuccessful. I also have no definite date for Johannes’s arrival in America. We do know that he was here in 1861.

Johannes Kutscher married Henrietta Krause on February 5, 1861 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg, Missouri. Let’s take a look at the church record for this wedding.

Also, there is a civil marriage record for this couple in the Perry County records. Rev. John Beyer was the pastor of Trinity when this couple was married.

Our German Family Tree says that this couple had 9 children. Five of those children were born before 1870, so they would have shown up in the census for that year. However, I was unable to find this family in the census for that year. All of the Kutscher children were baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells, so I have every reason to believe that this family was living in the Shawnee Township in Cape Girardeau County.

We are able to view the Kutscher household in the 1880 census. There were 8 children in this entry. John was a farmer.

John Kutscher died in 1891 at the age of 65. He was buried in the old cemetery of Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells.

Henrietta Kutscher would spend the rest of her life living the the household of her son, Martin Kutscher who had married Diamonda Leine. I have written a post about Martin and Diamonda titled, Diamanda’s Dozen. We can take a look at this Kutscher household in the 1900 census.

We find Henrietta once again in the 1910 census where she is shown to be 71 years old. As you can see, there were plenty of young ones in that family who would have called Henrietta Grandma.

Henrietta can be found in one more census. The 1920 census shows her at the age of 82.

Henrietta Kutscher died in 1925 at the age of 86. There should be a death certificate for her, but I was unable to find it. Henrietta was buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in New Wells.

There were plenty of descendants that came from this Kutscher/Krause couple. Not all of them were Kutscher’s. However, there are plenty of folks who can trace their family back to this couple from New Wells. If you place the name Kutscher in the search box on this website, I think you will find that there have been quite a few stories already posted on this blog in the past that are related to the couple described today.