The story for today’s post begins for both its characters in Perry County, Missouri, but later, this couple skips across the river to spend most of their lives near Jacob, Illinois. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you already know that this is not the first time I have written about such a situation.
Our birthday girl today is Adelheid Anna Maria Brandes, who was born on June 5, 1863. If she was still alive, she would have to blow out 158 candles on her birthday cake. Adelheid was the 2nd of 6 children of Henry and Amalie (Leskiehn) Brandes. There is some debate about the spelling of her mother’s maiden name. There is an incomplete record for an older Brandes sibling being baptized at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar, and the rest of the Brandes siblings were baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown, but there is no baptism record to be found for Adelheid. She is found in the 1870 census for Cinque Hommes Township at the age of 7.
The first church record I found for Adelheid was her confirmation class at Grace, Uniontown in 1877. She is #133 on this list.
There is some confusion in the 1880 census for Adelheid. First, the family of Henry and Amalie Brandes is found in the long-lost pages of the Union Township 1880 census. Adelheid is listed here, but the ages of the children are not correct. Adelheid would have been about 17 years old, not 25. The names of the family members are correct, as well as the ages of her parents.
Also in the 1880 census,, we find Adelheid Brandes living in the August Lueders household in Frohna working as a maid. In this entry, Adelheid’s age is closer to the correct number.
Now, we will turn our attention to Adelheid’s future husband. His name was Heinrich Julius Moeckel, who was born on January 22, 1861. Julius’s parents were Gottfried and Sophia (Militzer) Moeckel. Julius was the baby of his family, the 8th of 8 children. Julius was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. His baptism record from that congregation’s books is displayed below.
I find it interesting that one of Julius’s sponsors was Mary Lueders, who is the wife in the Lueders family in which Adelheid was living in 1880. Julius is found in his first census in 1870 for Brazeau Township at the age of 9.
I was unable to find Julius or his family in the 1880 census. The next record I found for him was a communion record for Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob, Illinois. His name can be found in the 2nd row from the top. He took communion on April 2, 1885.
A month later, Julius must have officially become a member of that congregation. This record of the Julius Moeckel family says he became a member on May 17, 1885.
On April 28, 1892, Julius Moeckel married Adelheid Brandes at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. We can take a look at the church marriage record for this couple. This document says Julius was from Jackson County, Illinois.
Julius took his new wife to Illinois after the marriage. Our German Family Tree states that this couple had 6 children. The 1900 census for Fountain Bluff Township is the first entry in which we find this married couple. They had 3 of their children by then.
The 1910 census shows the Moeckel household. I included the nearby household of Charles Moeckel, who was Julius’s older brother.
Next, we find the Moeckel family in the 1920 census. One of their daughters, Laura, married Arthur Hubbard, and that couple was living in the Moeckel household.
The 1930 census shows the Moeckel’s with some boarders living with them. Also their son, Herbert, had gotten married and his family is included in this household.
The last census we can view is the one taken in 1940. This time, their single son, Walter, was still living with them, and the grandchildren listed belonged to Herbert and his wife, Stella, who are listed farther above in the entry.
Julius Moeckel died in 1943 at the age of 82; Adelheid Moeckel died in 1950 at the age of 86. These two are buried together in the Christ Lutheran Cemetery in Jacob, Illinois.
The situation may have changed for the Moeckel’s after the 1940 census, but it appears to me that these two never got to the point of having an empty nest. There was always a child of theirs, either married or single, living in their household. If Adelheid was anything like my wife, she would have really enjoyed having some of her grandchildren living under her roof.