If all goes as planned, this post and the next one will both be about Emilie Petzoldt. However, I must tell you that there will not be two stories about the same person. There were two women named Emilie Petzoldt. Before I move on, let me say that today’s Emilie Petzoldt is not really the first Emilie to have her story told on this blog. In the post, The Doering-Petzoldt Pair, there was yet another Emilie Petzoldt.

Emilie Wilhelmine Petzoldt was born on May 8, 1858, the daughter of August and Augusta (Roth) Petzoldt. If I have this figured correctly, Emilie would have called Friedrich Florian (The Face) Petzoldt her uncle. Because she was born not long after the split between Trinity Lutheran and Immanuel Lutheran Churches in Altenburg, she was one of the first baptisms at the new Immanuel Lutheran. Her parents were charter members of that congregation. Emilie’s baptism record is displayed below.

Emilie is found in the 1860 census at the age of 2. Emilie was child #10 out of 11 children in her family. Her father was a farmer.

Next, we find Emilie in the 1870 census.

Now, we will take a look at Emilie’s future husband. Johann Michael Leimer was born on October 30, 1859 in Goisern, Austria. John was the son of John Michael and Anna Maria (Pilz) Leimer, so that makes him a Junior. Normally, you would find that a Junior would be the first son to be born into a family. That was not so with this child. He was the 3rd and youngest in his family. A later census says that the Leimer family immigrated in 1863. When St. John’s Lutheran Church was established in Pocahontas, Missouri, John Leimer, Sr. was one of the founding members. The St. John’s binder we have in our research library gives this short bio of the life of John Leimer, Jr.

We find the Leimer family in the 1870 census. John, Jr. was said to be 9 years old, but I think that is a little off.

John Leimer, Jr. married Emilie Petzoldt on May 2, 1879, so today would be the 142nd wedding anniversary for this pair. I think this wedding took place at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pocahontas. I will show a civil marriage record for this wedding from Cape Girardeau County, but it is very difficult to read.

There is an amazing fact associated with this wedding. This was not the first Leimer/Petzold marriage, nor would it be the last. The first 3 children in the Leimer family married children numbers 8,9, and 10 in the Petzoldt family.

John and Emilie Leimer have 9 children listed in our German Family Tree. The 1880 shows this Leimer couple living with John, Sr. and one of John Jr.’s sisters. John, Jr.’s mother had died in 1878.

The census records for 1900 through 1920 include both John, Jr. and Emilie. I will display each one. First, the 1900 census shows quite a large family.

Next, we can take a look at the 1910 census entry. The Leimer household included their daughter, Anna, who had married Herman Koeberl.

The 1920 census is the last one in which we find Emilie Leimer. Only their youngest son, Albert, remained in their household.

The above 1920 census was taken very early in that year in Shawnee Township. Emilie made it into that entry, but she died in May of 1920. She was 62 years old when she died. Her death certificate is shown below.

John Leimer, Jr. can still be found in the 1930 census. He was living with the Herman Koeberl family.

John Leimer died in 1932 at the age of 73. His death certificate shows that he died the day after Christmas.

Both Herman, Jr. and Emilie Leimer are buried in the St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery in Pocahontas.

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This Leimer/Petzoldt was the second of the 3 such marriages to take place. Another one took place in 1876, and the last one happened in 1883. It should have been interesting set of cousins produced from these three couples. All of them had the genes of both the Leimer’s and Petzoldt’s coursing within their veins.

The Emilie in this story started out as a Petzoldt. Tomorrow, you should be reading about an Emily who became a Petzoldt by marriage, but an Emilie Petzoldt nonetheless.