In the German language, the names Jung and Young are, for all practical purposes, pronounced alike. Today, you will read about a member of a family who once used the name, Jung, and later became the more Americanized version, Young. Around these here parts, just about everyone knows what business you are talking about when you hear the name “Young and Sons”, even if the name of that business has recently changed. As you can see in this post’s title, the Young’s operated a funeral home.

I will eventually get around to the Jung family, but today’s birthday girl comes from a rather familiar family in East Perry County. Her name was Adelheit Palisch, who was born on August 17, 1894, making today her 127th birthday. Adelheit was the daughter of Charles and Lydia (Engelmann) Palisch. She was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. Her baptism record is shown here. Adelheit is one of those names that is sometimes spelled with a “t” at the end, and sometimes with a “d” at the end. Her baptism record used a “d”, but later her death certificate and gravestone use the “t” spelling, so that is what I will use in this post.

Adelheit is found in the 1900 census at the age of 5. Her father is called a merchant.

Adelheit’s father was in business with his brother and ran the Palisch Brothers Store in Frohna, located at the intersection of Highway A (Main Street) and Highway C. Concordia, Frohna can be seen in the background.

Next, we find Adelheit in the 1910 census. Her father had gotten the job as County Collector, so her family had moved to Perryville. Adelheit was a teenager.

It was in Perryville that Adelheit met her future husband, Edward Jung…or was it Edward Young? Edward was born on January 29, 1892, the son of Peter and Bregetta (Maisel) Jung. He was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville. I looked first in the Immanuel, Perryville records under the name, Young, and did not find his baptism record there. I had to turn to the names beginning with a “J” and found several baptism records for those with the surname, Jung. Edward was one of them.

In the 1900 census, we find Edward at the age of 8, and his family’s surname was spelled as Young. His father was a bartender. Edward was part of a large family whose entry in this census spilled over two pages.

We find Edward at the age of 18 in the 1910 census, and he was called a barber. His father was still a bartender and several of his siblings, including some sisters, had other jobs around town.

Edward Young married Adelheit Palisch on April 19, 1914 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville. The church record in Immanuel’s books gives Edward’s name as Jung and calls him a barber.

The marriage license for this couple used the name, Edward Young.

I also located an article describing this wedding in the Perry County Republican. It was written in very flowery language that I find rather humorous. I will display it in 4 images that can be clicked to enlarge them.

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Edward Young had his World War I draft registration completed in 1917.

Edward and Adelheit would have 4 children, and all of them were boys. When we view the 1920 census, we see the first 2 sons. It is difficult to read in this image, but we find a very unusual description of Edward’s occupation. It says he was a barber and an embalmer.

A newspaper article published in 1923 in the Perry County Republican gives details about Edward’s involvement in a barber shop.

The 1930 census displays all 4 of the boys. This entry says Edward was an undertaker.

A newspaper article published in 1936 gives details about how Edward’s partnership in the Young & Fenwick Undertakers was dissolved and the business had its name changed to Young & Sons Undertakers.

The 1940 census is the last one we can view. This entry uses the term “funeral home”, not undertaker. Not only was Edward called the director of a funeral home, but Adelheit was called an assistant director.

Edward Young had his World War II draft card completed in 1942.

The youngest of the Young sons, Edward Young, Jr., not only served in the military during World War II, but he received several awards for his service. The following article was printed in the Perry County Republican in 1944. Once again, the images are clickable.

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Over the years, all 4 of the Young sons were involved in the operation of the Young & Sons Funeral Home. Later in their lives, the following photograph was taken of Edward and Adelheit.

Edward Young, Sr. died in 1966 at the age of 74. His death certificate gives his occupation as an embalmer at a funeral home.

Adelheit Young died in 1969, also at the age of 74. As was the case for her husband, she also died at the Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville.

A previous post mentioned Edward and Adelheit briefly. That post was titled, Who Buried the Undertaker? If you look closely at the above death certificates, you could say that the undertaker and his wife were buried by their sons. Edward and Adelheit Young are buried together in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville.

The Young & Sons Funeral Home was in business for over 100 years. In 2019, Ford & Sons purchased Young & Sons, and now the business is called Ford & Young Funeral Home.

I was informed this morning by Facebook that a friend of mine on that platform has a birthday today. Her name is Lorine Palisch. I hope I don’t get in trouble for saying that Facebook also tells me today is her 90th birthday. So, Adelheit’s birthday is not the only Palisch birthday today. What makes this more amazing is that Lorine has told me that she once lived in a nearby house that is now owned by a Jung family that grazes their cows in my pasture. Yes, that family still uses the “J” spelling. What are the chances that I write a story about a Jung family including a Palisch birthday, and I get a notice that there’s another Palisch birthday associated with a Jung family? I can just picture God in heaven winking at me.