You will read the story of Paul Bernhard Weinhold today. After researching him, I will summarize his story by saying he had two lives. If you just base his story on our German Family Tree, you might conclude that he was born, baptized, confirmed, married, and buried in Perry County, with just one note about him being in Jacob, Illinois for a short while. However, I eventually discovered that he had another life with another wife in St. Louis that most family histories on Ancestry.com do not include. I will describe both of his lives today. The way I have it figured, Paul had a 19th century life and a 20th century life.

Paul Weinhold is today’s birthday boy, having been born on May 1, 1853. He was born in Germany, the son of William Carl and Emilie (Lindner) Weinhold. That puts Paul into the category that we describe as a “Dirt Weinhold”. This Weinhold family was made up primarily of farmers. At the age of 7, Paul came to America with his family aboard the Magdalene in 1860. We can take a look at the Weinhold’s on the passenger list for that ship. Paul is called Bernhard on this list.

Paul can be found in the 1870 census as a teenager. He was the oldest child in his family. This census taker chose to list the boys first in order of birth followed by the girls in order of their birth.

On November 13, 1877, Paul Weinhold married Louise Hermann at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. I was unable to find out much about Louise, other than the fact that her mother was Carla Louise Hermann, and she had a brother named Carl. Her birthday was October 2, 1858, and she was born somewhere in Missouri. The church record for this marriage is displayed below.

There is also a civil record of this wedding from Perry County.

Our German Family Tree lists 5 children born to this couple, all of which lived to adulthood. They were all baptized at Concordia, Frohna. The 1880 census shows this Weinhold household. Paul was a farmer.

About 3 weeks after their 5th child was born in 1887, Louise died. The death record from the Concordia books says her death was related to childbirth. Thankfully, someone translated this record into English so I can tell you what it says.

Even that newborn girl that was born in 1887 managed to survive to adulthood despite losing her mother so early in life. Louis Weinhold was buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in Frohna.

The next record we find for Paul Weinhold in our German Family Tree states that he became a member of Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob, Illinois in 1893. Those church records also state that he later moved to St. Louis. However, I was unable to find Paul in the 1900 census.

Now, I will move on to the 20th century Paul Weinhold. Although I could not find a marriage record, it is reported that Paul married again in 1904. His second wife was a widow by the name of Sophia (Fricke) Kostedt. Sophia’s husband had died in 1900. I found Sophia as a widow with several children in the 1900 census for St. Louis.

An Ancestry family history that I found says Sophia had 12 children by her first husband. The first time we find Paul and Sophia as a married couple in a census was the one taken in 1910. They were living in St. Louis, where Paul was described as a laborer with gasoline tanks. There were two Kostedt children in their household.

Next, we find the 20th century Weinhold’s in the 1920 census. Paul was called a packer for a machine manufacturing company.

Paul Weinhold died in 1929 at the age of 76. I was a little surprised to discover that he died in Perry County. Another surprise to me was that his death certificate says he was to be buried in the Uniontown cemetery.

One of Paul’s sons, Otto Weinhold was a member of Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown at this time, so my best guess is that Paul and Sophia were living with them in 1929 when Paul died. Paul was buried in the Grace Lutheran Cemetery in Uniontown.

Sophia is found living with one of her sons in St. Louis when the 1930 census was taken.

Sophia Weinhold died in 1931 at the age of 74. This is the document that enabled me to discover much more about the 20th century Paul Weinhold who lived in St. Louis. Sophia’s maiden name is on this document, and that led me to a whole new set of Ancestry family histories that told Sophia’s story without much information about Paul’s family at all.

Sophia Weinhold was buried at the Western Lutheran Cemetery in St. Louis. That was the cemetery of Immanuel Lutheran Church that was located near downtown St. Louis. Weinhold is misspelled on her gravestone. She is buried with two of her sons who had died much earlier.

I almost gave up on finding Paul Weinhold information between 1900 and 1929, and then I looked at his death certificate to see that he had a wife named Sophia. That led me onto a whole new search that helped me describe the 20th century Paul.