On this day after Father’s Day, I happened to find a very special date involving a significant local mother, the matriarch of a large family. Today is the bicentennial birthday of Catherine Elizabeth Doering, who was born on June 21, 1821. Even though a previous post told the story of Catherine and her husband, I will attempt to focus on this woman whose descendants take up a large portion of our German Family Tree. The earlier post was titled, The Vogels Arrive.

Catherine Elizabeth Doering was born in Germany. Her parents were Johann Heinrich and Maria Catherine (Scheuer) Doering. Our German Family Tree does not officially connect Catherine Doering to George Doering, who was another prominent early settler in Perry County with numerous descendants, but they are almost certainly brother and sister. The 1900 census is one that records an immigration date. Catherine managed to live past 1900, so her listing in that census states that her immigration year was 1832. I found a passenger list for a Henry Deoring family arriving in Baltimore in 1832 that includes a Catherine and George who are the correct ages, but the problem is that their mother is missing from the list. I suppose there is a possibility that the 88 year old Cather is the mother and had her age written incorrectly. She would have been 38 years old.

The first census in which we find the Doering family is the one taken in 1840, and we find them living in Scott County, Missouri, which is located south of Cape Girardeau.

The above record says there was a son who was tallied in the 20-30 years old column, and a daughter who was in the 10-15 years old column. The son fits the data for George Doering, but Catherine would have been older than 15 in 1840. There is some evidence that there may have been another younger daughter in this family, but the passenger list does not show one. There is a Marie Doering in our German Family Tree who was born in 1830 who would have fit this category. Marie is not connected to the Henry Doering family in our GFT, but that does not necessarily mean that she wasn’t.

It must have been in about 1840 that Catherine Doering got married. I think she most likely got married in Scott County. Her husband was going to be August Edward Vogel, and we know the Vogel family was living in the Scott City area before they moved to Perry County in the 1840’s. I am not going to repeat the story of August’s early history because it was in that previous post. The first child of the Vogel’s was born in 1842. That child was likely born in Scott City. Then, when their 2nd child was born, we find his baptism record in the books of Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. When you look at his baptism record, you see that he was born in December of 1844, but he was not baptized until March of 1845. I think this time period may have been when the Vogel couple moved to Frohna.

The German Family Tree lists 9 children born to August and Catherine. We find this family in the 1850 census with 4 children.

Next, we find the Vogel family in the 1860 census. It turned out to be the last census in which August would be found. This time, there were 8 children in the household.

August Vogel died in 1868 at the age of 60, leaving Catherine as a widow. As it turned out, Catherine remained a widow for over 30 years. We find Catherine with her Vogel family in the 1870 census.

Somewhere along the line, the photograph below was taken of Catherine Vogel.

As you would expect, Catherine’s family would diminish as her children would get married and move elsewhere. By the time of the 1880 census, just her youngest daughter was living with her, and those two were living in the household of another August Vogel, her son.

The last census in which we find Catherine was the one taken in 1900. She is listed by herself as the head of the family, but she is also found right below the household of August Vogel, so she was probably still living with them.

Catherine Vogel died in 1903 at the age of 82. Her death record in the books of Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna says she died from the weakness of old age. Catherine was buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in Frohna.

I have placed an image of the information we have in our German Family Tree concerning Catherine Doering. It shows that when she died, she had numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

I counted. The Vogel descendants from this Vogel/Doering pair take up 20 pages of our German Family Tree. That only includes the ones who carried forth the Vogel surname. The females in that tree who married and had children are not even counted. I felt I just had to tell Catherine’s story today on her Bicentennial Birthday. Her seeds were planted and resulted in an enormous Vogel Family Tree. Happy 200th Birthday, Catherine.