I will begin today with a birthday boy, Ernst Wilhelm Victor Koenig, who was born on February 10, 1897. That makes today a fairly special 125th birthday. This boy would mostly go by the name, William, during his life, so that is what I will call him. His parents were Ernst and Magdalena (Roth) Koenig. William’s baptism record, which is displayed below, is found in the books of Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar.

William is a 3 year-old boy in the 1900 census for the Union Township. His father was a farmer.

Next, we find William in the 1910 census. At the age of 13, he was working on his father’s farm. As you can see, the Koenig family had grown to become rather large. William was the oldest child of 9 in this family.

The 1915 plat maps for Perry County show the land owned by William’s father. It was located north of the place called Schalls.

In 1918, William had his World War I draft registration completed. It says he was working for his father.

William is still found living with his parents in the 1920 census, even though that would be the year of his marriage. This census was submitted already in January of that year, well before his wedding.

Now we will look at the woman who would become William’s bride. Her name was Amanda Mathilde Franke, who was born on November 25, 1892. That made Amanda about 5 years older than William. Amanda was the daughter of Eduard and Anna (Eggers) Franke. Let me point out that Eduard Franke’s parents were August and Theresa (Koenig) Franke. That means Amanda’s grandparents were a Franke/Koenig couple. Amanda was the 3rd of 12 children listed for this family in our German Family Tree. Amanda was baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. Her baptism record from that congregation’s books is shown here.

Amanda was a 7 year-old girl in the 1900 census for the Union Township. Her father was a farmer.

Next, we find Amanda as a teenager in the 1910 census. You can see that there were quite a few daughters in this family.

We can see the Eduard Franke farm in the 1915 plat maps. His farm was located much nearer to the town of Uniontown than the Koenig farm.

Both of Amanda’s parents died before the 1920 census. We find a very unique census entry including Amanda in 1920. Amanda is not only called the head of her household, but also the farm operator, along with 2 younger sisters and a younger brother. Below their entry is that of Arthur Franke, who was Amanda’s cousin. This census was also submitted in January of 1920, before her wedding that would take place later that year.

William Koenig married Amanda Franke on May 2, 1920 at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. We can take a look at the church record for this wedding.

The marriage license for this pair is pictured here.

Our German Family Tree lists 5 children born to William and Amanda. All of them were baptized at Grace, Uniontown. We find the Koenig household in the 1930 census with 4 children. William’s aunt, Maria Roth, was also living with them.

The last census we can view is the one taken in 1940, although it has been announced that the 1950 census will be released to the public on April 1st this year. William was a farmer all his life.

William Koenig had his World War II draft card completed in 1942.

Amanda Koenig died in 1969 at the age of 76. Her death certificate says she died at the Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville.

William Koenig died in 1980 at the age of 83. He died too recently to view his death certificate. I have every reason to believe that both William and Amanda were buried in the Grace Lutheran Cemetery in Uniontown, especially because Amanda’s death certificate says that she was buried there. However, Findagrave.com does not have entries for either of them.

A previous post was written about William’s parents titled, Farrar Koenig-Roth Clan. Several photos were included in that post that I will include once again here. First, the photo below shows the home in which William grew up. I believe William is the young man standing behind his mother in the middle of the photo.

Next, another photo was taken of William’s parents along with his siblings. William is sitting in the front on the left.

Finally, here is a photo of the Ernst Koenig family that also includes Amanda. The caption will enable you to identify William and Amanda.

This story is one that involved a marriage between a Farrar man and a Uniontown woman. These types of couples are actually quite common when you study our German Family Tree. There were even times over the years when Salem, Farrar and Grace, Uniontown were served by the same pastor.