We begin today with the birthday of Sarah Magdalena Frentzel. Her birthday cake would have 128 candles if she was still alive. Sarah was born on April 7, 1893, the daughter of Arthur and Emma (Telle) Frentzel. She was the 8th out of 10 children born into that family. A recent post was published about 3 Frentzel brothers titled, Frentzel Brothers – Lottes Sisters (and a Pastor). Sarah was a younger sister to that trio of brothers. I know I am stretching things a bit, but I am calling the children in this family sons and daughters of a Telle, even if that is only their mother’s maiden name. Sarah was baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. Here is an image of her baptism record.

One has to be really careful when identifying Sarah Frentzel, who was born in 1893 because there were two of them. The other one was Sarah Hedwig Frentzel. Her baptism record is found in the same church books in the same year. Sarah Hedwig’s parents were also made up of a Frentzel and a Telle. Here is that Sarah’s baptism record.

Fortunately, that girl went by the name of Hedwig. She was a cousin of Sarah Magdalena. As if that isn’t enough, there was a boy born and baptized in 1893 who had parents made up of a Frentzel and a Telle. Below is the baptism record for Gottfried Telle.

The Sarah Frentzel who is today’s birthday girl can be found in the 1900 census at the age of 7. Her father was a farmer near Uniontown.

Already at the age of 17, Sarah was no longer living in the household of her parents. She was living in St. Louis and working as a servant in the Adolph Zika household. Adolph was a retail liquor dealer.

I was unable to find Sarah in the 1920 census. I suspect her name got misspelled, making it difficult to find. I also suspect that she was still living and working in St. Louis at the time.

We will now turn our attention to Sarah’s future husband. His name was Eugene Pelle who was born on July 1, 1879. His future death certificate says that his parents were Victor and Louise (Zimmermann) Pelle. That document also says he was born in France. He was from the Alsace-Lorraine region which is found on the border with Germany. The 1920 census for St. Louis shows Eugene living in a hotel as a 40 year-old chauffeur for a private family. This census entry says he immigrated in 1894, but I could not find him in any previous census records.

I was not able to find marriage documentation for this wedding, but an Ancestry family history says Eugene Pelle married Sarah Frentzel on July 14, 1921. I figure this marriage took place in St. Louis. I was able to find this wedding photo for this couple.

A year after his marriage, this application for naturalized citizenship was filled out by Eugene Pelle.

Based on what I see in census records and on Findagrave, this couple had 3 children, one boy and two girls. The 1930 census shows this couple with 2 children. Eugene was still working as a chauffeur.

A third child joins this household before the 1940 census. Eugene had gotten a different job. He was working as a clerk for a rope factory.

We find out which rope company employed Eugene when he had his World War II draft card completed in 1942. This document states that Eugene was born in the Alsace-Lorraine region in France. It also has an incorrect birth date for him.

Eugene was working for the Leschen Wire Rope Company. This was quite a large factory located in north St. Louis that manufactured the wire rope that was used in mines and quarries’ elevators and elevated tramways. Below is a drawing of the Leschen factory located in Wellston.

Below are a few advertisements I found for the Leschen Wire Rope Company.

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Eugene Pelle died in 1954 at the age of 75. His death certificate is the only place where I found the names of Eugene’s parents.

Sarah Pelle died in 1969 at the age of 76. I didn’t think I could view her death certificate, but these documents can now be viewed for dates all the way up to 1970. Her death certificate says she died at the Lutheran Hospital i St. Louis.

Eugene and Sarah Pelle are each buried in the Valhalla Cemetery in St. Louis.

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Another item of interest is the fact that Virginia, the youngest daughter of Eugene and Sarah, married Harold Hopfer, who also had his roots in Uniontown. Harold also had a mother whose maiden name was Frentzel. Frentzel, Telle, and Hopfer…they are all notable Uniontown names.

I will add here that I enjoy finding stories that help me find out about businesses that once existed in the past. This one has made me aware of the Leschen Wire Rope Company that was a rather large business located not far from where I once lived in north St. Louis. However, prior to researching this story, I had never heard of it.