Julius Magwitz was born on March 1, 1863 during the midst of the Civil War. He was the son of Christian and Caroline (Hornemann) Magwitz. According to the document shown below, Julius’s father was active on and off in military duty for the Civil War during the time of Julius’s birth and infancy.

In addition to having two other daughters, it must have been a difficult time for Caroline, as she had 3 young children to care for while her husband was off to war on occasion. Julius was baptized at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar. An image of his baptism record from that church’s books is pictured here.

Julius was listed as 8 years old when the 1870 census was taken. His father was a farmer in the Cinque Hommes Township.

Next, we find Julius in the 1880 census living in the Salem Township. At the age of 17, Julius was working on his father’s farm.

Julius would get married halfway between the 1880 and 1900 censuses. At some point during that time, his father died. I was unable to find any documentation for the time or place of his death. So, I do not know whether he was even alive for his son’s marriage in 1890. We will now turn our attention to the woman who would become Julius’s wife. Her name was Martha Emilie Stelling, who was born on our nation’s 96th birthday, July 4, 1872. When she was 4 years old, the United States was celebrating its centennial birthday. Emilie was the daughter of Heinrich and Martha (Holschen) Stelling. Faron Bartons wrote a post about this Stelling family titled, The Cornehlsen Chronicles: Part I that even gave brief mention to today’s couple, Julius and Emilie. Emilie was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Below is an image of her baptism record.

Emilie only shows up in one census entry before her marriage. That was the 1880 census, which shows the Stelling family living in the Brazeau Township. Emilie was 7 years old at the time, and her father is called a laborer.

Emilie’s father died in 1881, and then her mother remarried. Her second husband was Henry Cornehlsen, so when Emilie was married, she had a stepfather. Julius Magwitz married Emilie Stelling on September 21, 1890 at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar. We can view the church marriage for this event below.

We can also take a look at the marriage license for this couple.

Our German Family Trees lists 3 children born to Julius and Emilie. All 3 were born before the 1900 census, and they were all baptized at Salem, Farrar. The 3rd child was an infant in that census. This entry is an interesting collection of people. In addition to the Magwitz family, we find Julius’s mother, as well as two Cornehlsen’s who are said to be a brother and sister-in-law of Julius. Since they were both half-siblings of Emilie, I suppose you might call them a half brother-in-law and a half sister-in-law. This entry is from that hard-to-read set of pages from the 1900 Salem Township census.

Emilie Magwitz died in 1902 at the young age of 30. Apparently, the Magwitz’s had become members of the new church, Trinity Lutheran Church, in Point Rest because we find Emilie’s death record in that congregation’s books. Emilie was also buried in the Trinity, Point Rest Cemetery.

Yet another tragedy occurred not long after Emilie’s death. The 8 year-old son, Ernst, died in either 1903 or 1904. I have to give two different years because the church death record in the Trinity, Point Rest books says he died in September of 1903, but his gravestone says he died in 1904.

Julius Magwitz never remarried. We find Julius and his household in the 1910 census living in the Bois Brule Township, which is where Point Rest was located. His mother was still living in with him.

Next, we find the Magwitz household in the 1920 census. This time, they were back living in the Salem Township. Just one daughter remained living with Julius, and he was still a farmer.

Julius was living in a new location when we find him in the 1930 census. We find him living with his daughter, Lydia, who had married Edward Brockmann. That household was living in St. Louis. At the age of 67, Julius had no occupation listed.

I was unable to find Julius in the 1940 census, but I am almost certain he was still living in St. Louis. He died in St. Louis in 1949 at the age of 86. His death certificate says his normal occupation was maintenance. He also died in Clayton. That makes me wonder if he was doing maintenance work at Concordia Seminary which is located in Clayton.

Lydia Brockmann was the informant on her father’s death certificate. That form says that Julius was buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery. I figure that was the one located in Olivette, another municipality in the St. Louis area. However, Findagrave.com has no entry for him.

Julius Magwitz was one those people that spent much of his life in Perry County, but ended up in the big city of St. Louis. More than half his life was spent as a widower. Yet, throughout his life, there is evidence that he remained connected to his Lutheran faith.