There are several reasons that I wanted to write this story today, one of them being that today’s birthday girl was not born in or near Perry County, Missouri. Not even close. She was born in South Africa. Quite often a birth or wedding in Perry County leads us to faraway places in these blog posts, but today, it will be the opposite. A distant birth will eventually lead us back to Perry County. You will also read about some brand new surnames today.

Johanna Maria Louise Clara Gallitschke was born on June 13, 1874. She went by the name, Clara. Actually, I only found one source that indicates June 13th as the day of her birth. That source is the person who placed his family information on zionrootsgenealogy.org. That source also stated that Clara was born in Amalienstein, Cape Colony, South Africa.

Let’s go back a generation. Clara’s parents, August and Emilie (Pfeil) Gallitschke, were married in Berlin, Germany on January 25, 1865. I found a German record for this wedding.

I have no idea how this couple ended up in South Africa in 1874, but I do know that the Gallitschke family travelled to America aboard the ship, Normannia, in 1893. That family consisted of just Clara and her parents.

This family ended up settling in Ashippun Township in Dodge County, Wisconsin. It was not long after their arrival that Clara got married. I will discuss that marriage shortly. We find both August and Emilie Gallitschke buried in the St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery in Old Ashippun, Wisconsin.

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Clara Gallitschke would marry William Weege in 1894. No one seems to document the exact date of that wedding. Let’s go back to look at the previous history of the Weege family. I found a marriage record for Ernst and Louise (Muhlenbeck) Weege from an area in Europe called Pomerania. The map below shows where some Pomerania regions are found in Europe.

Here is the marriage record I found for them. They were married in 1851.

The Weege family made the move to America in 1863. They travelled aboard the ship, Teutonia. A passenger list for that ship shows this family.

This family also ended up settling in the Ashippun Township in Wisconsin, but a lot sooner than the Gallitschke’s. William Weege was born on April 11, 1868. We see the Weege family in the 1870 census where Ernst was a farmer, and William was just 2 years old.

Next, we find William Weege in the 1880 census. At the age of 12, William was already called a farm laborer.

As said before, William Weege married Clara Galllitschke in 1894. I have to rely on family histories on Ancestry.com, but this couple must have had quite a few children. Some say as many as 10 or 11 children. We can see this family in the 1900 census. This time William was called a carpenter.

One of those children, Maria, was born on June 22, 1906. She was born in Wisconsin. We find Maria in the 1910 census at the age of 3. William was back to being a farmer.

Next, we find Maria in the 1920 census. This time, Maria’s father was called the manager of a lumber yard.

So far, we have no indication of anyone showing up in this post from Perry County. That is about to change. Maria Weege would marry a Perry County boy in 1927. Her groom’s name was Herold Lueders. Let’s look at his early life.

Herold Lueders was born on December 12, 1905, the son of Otto and Lydia (Weinhold) Lueders. Herold was baptized at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Wittenberg. I included the baptism record of Rosie Braeuner on the image below because she shared the same birthday as Herold, but she was baptized about a week earlier than Herold.

Some early photos were taken of Herold. The one showing Herold with his mother is actually quite a sad photo. The baby, Hilmer, was born in January of 1908 and died in July of that year. This photo was taken sometime in between.

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Herold is found in the 1910 census at the age of 4. His father operated the Lueders Store in Wittenberg.

Next, we find Herold in the 1920 census. It appears that Otto’s family might have gone to live with Lydia’s parents, Joseph and Mary Weinhold.

Between 1920 and 1930, Herold must have attended a Lutheran teachers’ college because we find him teaching at Emmaus Lutheran School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Herold must have also found occasion to meet Maria Weege because on August 4, 1927, those two were married in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. The 1930 census shows this Lueders household. Herold is called a parochial school teacher.

A 1932 Milwaukee city directory gets more specific. This is where Herold is called a teacher at Emmaus Lutheran School. We also see that Herold’s younger sister, Oda, in this directory listed as a student. I am thinking she may have been attending Concordia College in Milwaukee. Herold and Oda were living at the same address.

It appears that Herold and Maria had 3 children. We next see the Lueders family back close to Herold’s birthplace. They were living in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and Herold had become an agent for an insurance company.

Herold’s World War II draft card says he was an insurance agent for the Lutheran Mutual Life Insurance Company. He was then living in Crescent City, Illinois.

Herold Lueders died on January 17, 1991 in Arlington, Texas. He was 85 years old when he died. Mary Lueders died on January 16, 1997, almost 6 years after her husband’s death. I was unable to locate Herold and Mary on Findagrave.com.

Another big reason I wanted to compose this story today is the fact that our museum had a visit from Mark and Lisa Schulze from Texas this week. Lisa is a direct descendant of Herold Lueders. We had a wonderful visit with these fine folks. One fact that I learned about this branch of the Lueders family is that it was filled with musicians. Herold was an organist, and Lisa Schulze is a piano teacher.

I have to give a quick update on the progress on my next book, Wittenberg ’04: Coming of a Railroad. The next chapter I write will be an accounting of the marriage of Otto Lueders and Lydia Weinhold, Herold’s parents.

One more thing. I ran across a newspaper article that was printed about the marriage of Herold’s brother, Alfred, who became a Lutheran pastor. I just have to share it with you. When I read parts of this article to my wife last night, I was laughing as I read about the descriptions of the fashions of the women involved in that wedding. Perhaps you will chuckle also.

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