Just three days ago, I posted the story titled, Brandes the Builder and His Beauties, which detailed the marriage of a Thauwald and a Brandes that resulted in 7 children that were all girls. Not only that, each one of them carried the middle name, Ernestine. It just so happens that I ran across today’s story that includes one of those daughters.

There are also similarities between today’s tale and the one I shared yesterday. That story told about a man who had his beginnnigs in this area, but spent much of his life elsewhere. You will see that happening again today. However, in the case of today’s couple, they got married in Perry County before moving away, and I think I know how this couple may have gotten to know one another.

It all begins with the birth of Theodore Joseph Seibel, who was born on October 15, 1879. Before I get any further, I should state that one must be careful when researching a man named Theodore Seibel. There were two men who were called Theodore Seibel, the one born on today’s date in 1879 and another one born in 1882. I’m sure they were some sort of cousins, but I didn’t take the time to examine their relationship. Theodore J. Seibel was the son of Heinrich and Pauline (Hopfer) Seibel. A post titled, Pauline and Her Henry’s, was published earlier that documented the life of Pauline Hopfer and her two husbands. Theodore J. Seibel was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. That baptism record is pictured here.

I will add that Theodore would have called my great grandmother, Wilhelmine (Seibel) Schmidt, his aunt. Theodore shows up in the 1880 census for the Brazeau Township at the age of 7 months. His father was a farmer. The census-taker for that year in Brazeau Township was my great grandfather, Gottwerth, Wilhelmine’s husband and therefore Theodore’s uncle.

Several researchers on Ancestry.com who include Theodore in their family trees do not include a census entry for Theodore in 1900. That is probably because he was no longer living with his parents. In fact, the place where I found Theodore explains how he found his wife. Theodore was living with the August Franke family in 1900 in the Union Township. He was a 20 year-old farm laborer.

Theodore’s wife was going to be Agnes Ernestine Brandes, who was born on September 22, 1880. As mentioned before, she was one of the 7 daughters of August and Ernestine (Thauwald) Brandes. Agnes was baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. We can view her baptism record below.

Agnes did not make it into the 1880 census, so the first census in which we look to find her was the one taken in 1900. By then, she was 19 years old, and we do not find her living with her parents. In other words, Agnes is never found in a census entry with her parents. In 1900, she was living in a Steinmeyer household in St. Louis and working as a house girl. She was living in a house full of bakers.

I thought the name, Steinmeyer, sounded familiar, so I did a search on this blog for that name. I found the story of Otto Tirmenstein in which it says he married Louise Steinmeyer, the daughter of the Henry Steinmeyer in the above entry. That post was titled, CPH – Their Company Rocks. Otto became the manager of Concordia Publishing House.

Even though Agnes lived in St. Louis, she must have had opportunity to visit her parents in Uniontown, and it was there that Theodore Seibel was living. Theodore Seibel married Agnes Brandes on September 22, 1903. That means that Agnes was married on her 23rd birthday. However, this marriage did not take place in Uniontown. By the time of this wedding, Agnes’s parents had moved to Cape Girardeau, and that is where this wedding took place. We find the marriage record in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau. It says that Theodore was from Uniontown and Agnes was from Cape Girardeau.

We can also take a look at the marriage license for this couple.

Our German Family Tree says this pair had 5 children, and all of them were baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. We find this couple with their new family in the 1910 census for the Union Township. Two daughters were included in their family at this time, and Theodore was called a farmer.

Theodore Seibel had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918. This document says the Seibel’s were living in Potter, Nebraska where Theodore was a carpenter working for John W. Mueller, who was another Perry County native whose story has been told on this blog.

The 1920 census places the Seibel family in Potter, Nebraska right above the John Mueller household. Both Theodore and John were carpenters.

I am guessing that Theodore was involved in the building of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Potter, Nebraska that was dedicated in 1919.

Also, Theodore’s name can be found included in a list of charter members of this congregation that formed in 1918. Several other Perry County natives are found on this list.

The 1930 census was the last one in which we find Theodore. This time, this family was living in Omaha, Nebraska. Theodore was a janitor for a department store. Agnes was a machine operator at a clothing factory, their daughter, Paula, was a stenographer for an oil company, and their son, Eldore, was an auto salesman.

Theodore Seibel died in 1937 at the age of 58. Agnes is next found in the 1940 census. This time, the description of Agnes’s occupation gives an added detail. She was a machine operator at a necktie factory.

Agnes Seibel died in 1974 at the age of 94. Theodore and Agnes are buried together in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Omaha.

A whole lot of Perry County natives ended up living much of their lives in Nebraska. Add Theodore and Agnes Seibel to the list.