Way back in 2017, I wrote the story of Martin and Angelina Palisch. That post was titled, Enjoying a Red Seal. Martin and Angelina were each born in Perry County, Missouri, but eventually migrated across the river to spend much of their lives in Jackson County, Illinois. They ended up in Murphysboro, where Martin worked for a while at a brewery that was famous for its Red Seal brand. That family had 5 children that lived to adulthood, and only one of them was a boy. It is his story that will be told today. I am telling it today because this boy’s bride has a birthday today.

Martin Emmanuel Palisch was born on May 18, 1898, the son of Martin and Angelina (Frentzel) Palisch. He was born in Murphysboro, Illinois, so I am not able to display his baptism record. Martin is found in his first census where it says he was born in 1897 and was 3 years old. Those facts are slightly incorrect. This was the time period when his father was working at the brewery in Murphysboro.

Two more daughters were born to this family before the next census was taken in 1910. I have to display this entry in two images.

Around 1907, a photo was taken of this Palisch family. Martin, Jr. is the only son in the picture, wearing a straw hat.

Now, we will take a look at the girl who was going to be Martin’s bride. She is also today’s birthday girl. Grace Elizabeth Schenk was born on December 28, 1891, making today her 130th birthday. She was the daughter of Louis and Rosa Alice (Whittington) Schenk. Grace shows up in her first census in 1900 where we find her family living in Vergennes, Illinois. Grace was 8 years old, and her father was a farmer.

Vergennes is also located in Jackson County, and is not far from Murphysboro.

Grace was living in the same location ten years later when the 1910 census was taken.

Martin Palisch married Grace Schenk on December 20, 1919. I can display two different images of a marriage license for this pair. If I am reading it correctly, the signature on the very bottom indicates the signer was a Baptist minister.

Here is a second image of their marriage license.

This couple is found in the 1920 census with an empty nest. Martin was a wagon driver for a milk company in Murphysboro.

A photo of Martin and Grace was taken sometime fairly early in their lives. I think there’s a chance that this photo was taken in front of the same house that is the background for the previously shown family photo.

This couple’s only child, a daughter named Margaret, was born in 1925. When the 1930 census was taken, this family was living in a rural area north of Murphysboro where Martin was a farmer.

A family story that I located states that Martin moved his family to St. Louis in 1932. That story also says that Martin had started the Palisch Coal Company in Murphysboro and then moved that company to St. Louis. The 1940 census states that he was the operator of a wholesale/retail coal yard. His wife, Grace, was called a secretary for his coal yard. Also living in their household was Grace’s father, Louis Schenk, who was a widower after his wife died in 1930.

Let me say at this time that Martin was not the first member of his Palisch family to be associated with the coal industry. In another previous post, I wrote about how Martin’s older sister, Concordia, married Ralph Baker, who was a coal miner. That story was titled, Brewer’s Daughter; Coal Miner’s Wife; Baker; Laundress.

Martin had a World War II draft card completed in 1942.

Martin Palisch died in 1945 at the age of 47. Since he was living in Missouri at the time, we can view his death certificate.

We cannot really follow Grace Palisch after this because we cannot view documents that are recent. Perhaps when the 1950 census gets made public soon, we can find her in that census. As it turns out, Grace had quite the long life. One hundred years after she was born, Grace was alive to celebrate that birthday. She almost made it to her 101st birthday. She died on December 6, 1992.

Martin and Grace Palisch are buried together in the Tower Grove Cemetery in Murphysboro, Illinois.

Grace Palisch ended up living more than twice as long as her husband. Also, since all of Martin’s siblings were girls, and his only child was a girl, the Palisch surname from this branch of the Palisch family tree would come to an end.

This was a convenient story to find for today’s post. I am once again away from Altenburg and would not be able to get at our resources in the museum’s library. This is one of those stories which would have no records there anyway (except for any information to be found in our Palisch family binders). We’ll see what kind of story I can locate for tomorrow.