I have a story to tell today about Henry Miesner. I know I have written stories about men with this name before, so I did a search on our blog site for “Henry Miesner” and it came up with 7 different blog posts mentioning men by that name. I know that some of them were about the same Henry’s, but the fact of the matter is that I have to be really careful about researching a Henry Miesner because there are several of them in our German Family Tree. I have written about some children of today’s Henry Miesner, but I have not devoted a post to the story of him and his wife. This post has a close connection to the family of Lori Adams, who hosts one of the family histories on Ancestry.com that I use the most often when researching. Thanks to her, I am able to share several photos in this story.

Heinrich Johann Miesner was born on October 12, 1873, the son of Casper Claus and Margaretha (Ehlers) Miesner. That makes him the older brother of Fred Miesner, whose story was published recently in the post titled, Migrating Miesner’s. Henry was baptized at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar, Missouri. Below is an image of his baptism record from that church’s books.

Henry is found in the 1880 census at the age of 7. This is the same entry that was used for Fred Miesner in the recent post. Henry’s father was a farmer.

The last record in which we find Henry living in Perry County, Missouri was his confirmation record from 1887.

Henry was married before the 1900 census, so let’s take a look at his future bride. Her name was Anna Guetersloh who was born on October 30, 1880. She was born in Oyten, Germany, the daughter of Dietrich and Margaretha (Boesch) Guetersloh. Anna was the youngest child in her family. We have this photograph of Anna’s parents.

Dietrich brought his family to America in 1885, so we do not find Anna Guetersloh in a census record until after she was married. If a census taker would have recorded her presence after 1885, he would have found her living in the Fountain Bluff Township in Jackson County, Illinois where her family became members of Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob.

Henry Miesner married Anna Guetersloh on April 20, 1899, making today the 122nd anniversary of this couple. They were married at Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob. We can take a look at the church record for this wedding. This church record is one of the records placed in that church’s books by its pastor, Rev. Estel. I love his records because they are so detailed and so easy to read, even if many of the words are in German. He even added a different ink color for the year.

We have a wedding photograph for Henry and Anna Guetersloh. This is another one of those “hand-shaking” wedding photos that make me giggle.

Our German Family Tree lists 6 children born to this couple, all of which were baptized at Christ Lutheran in Jacob. We find Henry and Anna in the 1900 census. Anna was pregnant when this census was taken because she gave birth to her first child in September of that year. This entry shows no biological children, but there is an adopted child, Clara Hollmann, living in their household. The reason for Clara living with them was explained in the post, Nicholas and His Confusing Household.

The 1910 census shows the Miesner household with 4 children. Henry was a farmer.

Next, we find the Miesner’s in the 1920 census. Their last 2 children had been born in the 1910’s.

By the time of the 1930 census, some of the MIesner children had moved on.

A couple of photographs were taken in the 1930’s. The one shown below is said to have been taken in 1937 or 1938. Several of Henry’s family members are identified. Henry and Anna are standing on opposite sides in the back row. It was an era when men proudly wore hats of different styles.

The photo below must have been taken around 1839. The child in his mother’s arms was born in November of 1938.

The year, 1939, would have also been the occasion for Henry and Anna’s 40th anniversary. We have this photo that we know was taken on that occasion.

We find the Miesner couple in the 1940 census. Norma and John Miesner and son, Ray, are included in their household.

Henry and Anna also celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1949, and we have a photo for that occasion as well.

Although the photo below is identified on Ancestry as the 40th anniversary for Henry and Anna, I think it is the 50th. The two are wearing the same clothes and flowers. Henry even has almost the same pose as the photo above.

Henry Miesner died in 1954 at the age of 80; Anna Miesner died in 1976 at the age of 95. They are buried together at the Christ Lutheran Cemetery in Jacob, Illinois.

I can also display the obituaries for both Henry and Anna. First, here is Henry’s.

Next, here is Anna’s obituary.

I know that the creator of the German Family Tree, Lynn Degenhardt, has been doing some work on the Miesner surnames in that document. It is a daunting task to make sure the Miesner’s that show up in the church books and civil records are placed in the correct families in the GFT. I also know that Lori Adams has been a valuable resource to us in keeping these families straight. I am sure that this story will not be the last one told on this blog about a Miesner. Perhaps I might run across yet another Henry Miesner.