Today’s tale will tell of a family that has produced many characters that have shown up on this blog before. I have written several posts about the children in this family, and I have made brief mention to the parents, but today I will highlight those parents. The couple was made up of a Schoen groom and a Pilz bride. I have received confirmation from my friend in Saxony, Lutz Backmann, that Schoen means “nice” or “beautiful”, and Pilz means “mushroom”. Thus, the title of today’s post.

Ernst Friedrich Schoen is today’s birthday boy. He also would be celebrating one of those extra special birthdays. Since he was born on December 1, 1846, he would be celebrating his 175th birthday. Ernst was the son of Ernst and Christiane Henrietta (Zechntmeyer) Schoen. That makes this child a “junior”, and later he would have a child named Ernst Friedrich who would have been “the third”. Ernst was born in Germany and came to America as a child. I could find no evidence that his mother came to America. It is likely that she died in Germany. This Schoen family is found in the 1860 census living in the Shawnee Township of northern Cape Girardeau County. Ernst was 13 years old at the time.

Next, we find Ernst in the 1870 census. By this time, Ernst’s older brother, Gustav had married Anna Lehner, and that family was also included in the household. Ernst, Jr. was working on his father’s farm at the age of 23.

Now, we will turn our attention to Ernst’s bride. Her name was Maria Anna Pilz, who was born on January 2, 1855. Maria was born in Austria, the daughter of Lorenz and Theresia (Seitz) Pilz. Her family made the voyage to America in the 1860’s. Maria got married to Joseph Haberfellner, another Austrian, in 1871. That wedding took place at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pocahontas. Their marriage record is shown below.

St. John’s Lutheran Church was established in 1868, and Joseph Haberfellner is listed as one of its founding members.

That couple had two children, but in 1875, both Maria’s husband and the youngest child died, leaving her a widow. That leads us up to the marriage of a Pilz and a Schoen, only by this time it was the marriage of a Haberfellner and a Schoen. These two were married on October 14, 1877. That marriage also took place at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pocahontas.

Other documentation for these two people getting married is found in the binder we have in our research library for St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pocahontas. Here is the information from that source for Ernst Schoen, Jr.

The information about Maria Pilz Haberfellner Schoen is displayed below.

The German Family Tree lists 11 children in this Schoen family. The oldest one was a foster child by the name of Johannes Schoen-Steenbock, who was born in 1872, before this couple was married. The 1880 census for this family is shown below. Johannes Steenbock had yet to join this household.

We have to wait until 1900 to view the next census for this pair. You can see that they had quite the houseful by then.

Next, we find the Schoen family in the 1910 census. Ernst was a farmer throughout his life.

The last census in which we find Ernst Schoen, Jr. was the one taken in 1920. Not far above his entry was that of his son, Emmanuel Schoen, who was one of 4 Schoen children who remained single all their lives. That story was told in the post, Beautiful Children Who Never Married.

Ernst Schoen died in 1925 at the age of 78. His death certificate says he died of pneumonia.

Maria Schoen is found in the 1930 census living with her 4 single children. Right below their household was that of Erhardt Schoen, one of her married children.

Maria is once again found in the 1940 census at the age of 86. This time, Maria was called the head of the household still made up of 4 single children.

Maria Schoen died in 1942 at the age of 87. We can also view her death certificate.

Ernst and Maria are each buried in the St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery in Pocahontas in which Findagrave lists 24 grave sites that include the surname, Schoen.

As said before, several previous posts have been written about some children of Ernst and Maria Schoen. Now, you know more of the details about Ernst and Maria. And today we get to wish a very special Happy 175th Birthday to Ernst.