Two rather well-known surnames will form the married couple in today’s story. Both of the surnames are found in the “W” portion of our German Family Tree. Those two names are Weinhold and Walther. You will discover that a Walther man and a Weinhold woman married quite late in their lives and had no children. We will begin with a birthday girl.

Johanna Christiana Weinhold was born on January 31, 1886, so today is her 136th birthday. She went by the name of Christine, so I will use that name. Christine was child #8 of 13 altogether (according to our German Family Tree) born into the family of Gotthilf and Bertha (Thomas) Weinhold. I found this photo of Christine’s parents.

Her father, Gotthilf, and his two brothers, Joseph and Martin, were famous around here for operating two large flour mills in the area. Gotthilf and Martin were the proprietors of the Frohna Flour Mill.

Christine was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. An image of her baptism record from that congregation’s books is shown below.

Christine is not found in a census we can view until she was a teenager in 1900.

In 1910, Christine, like so many other young girls did in those days, went to be a servant of a family in St. Louis. We find her living in the Charles Freund household. Charles was a salesman for a bakery company.

Several photos of the Gotthilf Weinhold family are included in a wonderful family book that we have which was put together by Michael Bardon and Heather (Bardon) Euler. The captions should enable you to determine which person was Christine in each image that can be clicked to enlarge.

Christine’s mother died in 1917, and that may have precipitated Christine’s move back to Frohna. In the 1920 census, that is where we find her living with her father and brother. I would guess that she was quite helpful to those two men. Not far below the entry for Christine, you will find that of Joseph G. Weinhold, Christine’s brother, who will be noted later.

When the 1930 census was taken, we once again find Christine living in St. Louis. Her father had died in 1920. In 1930, Christine was a servant in the Fremont Fischer family at the age of 42. Fremont was the president and treasurer of a printing company.

Now, I will turn the attention to a Walther family. Charles Gotthilf Walther was born on December 10, 1877. Although he is always called Charles, I would not be surprised if his baptism record would have used the name Carl. According to a family history on Ancestry.com, he was the 6th child of 7 in his family. His parents were William Friedrich and Pauline (Thoma) Walther. I did not find a photo of William Friedrich, but I did find this one of Pauline that was taken later in her life.

All the evidence points to the likelihood of Charles being born in St. Louis. We find this Walther family in the 1880 census. Charles was 2 years old, and his father was a tailor.

Twenty years later, we find Charles in the 1900 census at the age of 22. His father had died in 1899, so his mother was the head of the household. He was a painter.

Next, we find Charles in the 1910 census, and he was still single at the age of 31. He was a driver for an express company. As it turns out, this is the census entry that I find the most interesting. Included in this household, at the bottom, you will find a 26 year-old man by the name of Joe G. Weinhold. I am convinced that this is Christine Weinhold’s older brother. What is fascinating to me is that he is called a cousin.

The fact that might explain this relationship is that Christine Weinhold’s grandmother was a Walther (not related to C.F.W.). If that is the case, then it is somewhat likely that Christine Weinhold and Charles Walther were distantly related.

In 1918, Charles had his World War I draft registration completed. He is called a wagon foreman for American Railway Express.

In 1920, we find Charles working as a foreman for an express company.

The last census in which we find Charles as a single man was the one taken in 1930. At the age of 52, he was still in the same occupation, but he was living in the household of his older brother, Fred.

Apparently, Charles Walther married Christine Weinhold sometime in the 1930’s. Charles and Christine were well beyond the normal age for a first marriage. I was not able to find a marriage record for this couple. They are found in the 1940 census together. Charles was called a chauffeur for a railway express business.

In 1949, another photo was taken of children in the Gotthilf Weinhold family along with their spouses. This is the only picture I found with both Christine and Charles.

Charles Walther died in 1951 at the age of 73. His death certificate says he was a chauffer and custodian for a railway express company.

Christine Walther died in 1964 at the age of 78. We can also view her death certificate.

Charles and Christine Walther are buried together in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in St. Louis.

In the end, Charles G. Walther was buried in the same cemetery as C.F.W. Walther. Although Charles did not have all the same initials as the famous Dr. Walther, if you look again at the 1880 census entry, you will see that he and all his brothers supply the appropriate initials. And to add to that, his father, F.W. Walther, almost got all the same initials.