It’s actually the birthday of a girl that leads us to a story about an East Perry County native who became a pastor that served most of his years of ministry in Minnesota. Her name was Emilie Marie Schaefer who was born on November 4, 1880. She was the daughter of Henry and Mary (Hopfer) Schaefer. A previous post told the story of Emilie’s parents titled, Maria’s Soldier and Merchant from Old Appleton. Here are photos of the parents.

I do not know why, but I found plenty of evidence that this girl went by the name of Min during her life. Min was the baby of her family…the 10th of 10 children. Min’s baptism record is found in the books of Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. It is displayed below.

A Schaefer family photo was taken when Emilie was fairly young. She is the girl standing near her father on the right side of the picture.

Emilie was born too late in 1880 to get into that year’s census, so the only one in which we find her as a single woman was the one taken in 1900. Her father had died in 1893, so her mother was the head of the household in the 1900 census entry. Emilie was 19 years old.

Another previous post told the story of Rudolph Schaefer, Min’s older brother, titled, Schaefers Help Preserve Oklahoma History.

Now, we will turn our attention to the man that Mina would later marry. His name was Martin Henry Weinhold who was born on September 2, 1877. Martin was the son of Martin Henry and Magdalene (Noennig) Weinhold, so Martin was a junior. He was also the oldest son in the family, with only one daughter born before him. Martin was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. His baptism record is shown here. One of his sponsors was Matthias Wukasch, a teacher at Concordia Lutheran School. Another sponsor was Andreas Telle, whose name will be mentioned again later in this post.

Martin is found in the 1880 census at the age of 2. His father, along with one of his brothers, ran the flour mill in Frohna.

Martin is not found living with his parents in 1900. That is because he was attending Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. We find him among many other students in the census entry for St. Louis in 1900.

Martin graduated from Concordia Seminary in 1901. His first call was to St. Paul’s Lutheran church in Mansura, Louisiana. In 1902, Rev. Weinhold returned to East Perry County to get married to Min Schaefer. That wedding took place on April 20th at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. We can take a look at the church record for this marriage. No indication is given in this document that Martin was living in Louisiana.

There is an additional fact to be found on this couple’s marriage license. It says this marriage was conducted by Rev. M.M. Telle. He is the pastor highlighted in a recent post titled, Rev. Martin and Martha. On this form, it says Martin was from Louisiana.

Martin’s mother, Magdalene Noennig was the sister of Anreas Telle’s wife, Sarah Noennig. That makes Rev. Martin Telle a cousin of Rev. Martin Weinhold. Rev. Telle was the pastor in Gordonville at the time of this wedding. According to a Weinhold book that we have in our research library, this couple had 6 children.

Rev. Weinhold served the congregation in Louisiana until 1905. One child was born while they were in that state. Interestingly, their second child was baptized in June of 1905, the year that Rev. Weinhold took a call to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Lester Prairie, Minnesota. Perhaps, the Weinhold’s stopped in Perry County on their way to Minnesota when this child was born and baptized. Rev. Weinhold was the first pastor of that congregation in Lester Prairie.

Just a side note: My wife and I occasion get to worship at this congregation in Lester Prairie. Sandi’s sister was a member there, and there are still members of her family that are members. Also, that congregation’s organist is Lynn Mueller, a Perry County native from Concordia, Frohna who became a Lutheran teacher and now has retire to live just outside that little town. When we attended Sandi’s sister’s funeral a few years ago, I took this photo of Rev. Weinhold that they have hanging in their church lobby.

For some reason, the Weinhold family gathered in Frohna around1908 and had a family photo taken. Martin is the man standing in the very middle of the back row.

Another photo was taken that included spouses and children. Martin, Min, and three of their children are found at the right.

I enlarged that portion of the photo for better viewing.

We find the Weinhold family in the 1910 census for Lester Prairie.

In 1911, Rev. Weinhold took a call to Trinity Lutheran Church in Rochester, Minnesota. It is while he was there that he had his World War I draft registration completed.

Martin and Min spent the rest of their lives living in Rochester. The 1920 census includes the Weinhold family shown below. All 6 children are included.

Next, we find the Weinhold’s in the 1930 census. The same children are in this last as before.

A photograph of Rev. Martin Weinhold, along with his record of service at several congregations, is found in the Weinhold book that we have.

The last census we can view is the one displayed below.

A Rochester city directory for that same year gives us the name of the congregation at which Rev. Weinhold served.

Martin Weinhold died in 1956 at the age of 78; Min Weinhold died in 1978 at the age of 97. They are each buried in a Weinhold plat in the Oakwood Cemetery in Rochester. It has a family stone with separate markers for family members.

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We can add Rev. Martin Weinhold to the ever-growing list of Perry County natives that have had stories on this blog that document their service as full-time workers in the Lutheran church.