I only looked at two generations in the Seemann family that was found in Perry County, but in those two generations, I did not find one girl being born. A while back, in 2019, a story was written about Theodore Seemann titled, A Few of the Seemann Boys. Today, you will hear about Theodore’s only brother, and you will discover that today’s Seemann had a houseful of boys.

Andreas Carl Seemann is today’s birthday boy, being born on March 3, 1873. He mostly went by the name Andrew. He was the son of Johann Andreas and Christiane (Grother) Seemann. Let’s take a moment to look back to Andrew’s father. He was born in Germany, but by the time he was 6 years old, he was living in Perry County, Missouri. However, he was not living with his parents. He was included in the Frederick Fischer family in the 1850 census.

There has to be a story there, but I don’t know what it is. That Andrew Seemann was confirmed at Concordia, Frohna in 1858. Another interesting census entry shows up in 1870, 3 years before Andrew’s birth. We find his parents, who were recently married at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg, living in Altenburg when the 1870 census was taken. His father was called John, Jr., and right above his name, you find his father, 46 year-old John Seemann. That means that, if John, Sr. was in America in 1850, he must have given his son to the Fischer’s to raise. Perhaps, he may have still been in Germany in 1850.

When Andrew was born in 1873, we do not find a baptism record in any local church books. His older brother had been baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg, but there is no record for Andrew’s baptism in that church’s books. It must not have been long after Andrew’s birth that his father died. We do not see him in the 1880 census with the rest of the family. Above Andrew’s name, you will see that of a 75 year-old John Seemann. The way I have it figured, he would have been Andrew’s great grandfather, and if so, then Andrew’s father, who was called John, Jr. in the 1870 census, was actually John Seemann III. Andrew was 7 years old in 1880.

Andrew would get married before the next census we can view in 1900, so we will take a look at the woman who would become his wife. Her name was Anna Pauline Gerler, who was born on February 1, 1879. Anna was the daughter of Ludwig and Emma (Thurm) Gerler. That makes Anna one of what we call the “Ridge Gerlers”. I bring this up because one has to be really careful when discussing the name, Anna Gerler. There was another Anna Gerler, Anna Wilhelmine Gerler, who was born shortly after Anna Pauline. That Anna Gerler was born on April 3, 1880, the daughter of Friedrich and Lina (Lintner) Gerler. That makes the other Anna Gerler one of the “Lake Gerlers”.

Anna P. Gerler was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can take a look at her baptism record.

Anna was an infant when the 1880 census was taken.

A photo was taken of the Louis Gerler family prior to Anna’s marriage. She is standing in the back behind her parents.

Andrew Seemann married Anna Gerler on April 7, 1896 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. The church record for that event is displayed below.

We can also take a look at the marriage license for this couple. Since Anna was just 17 years old when she was married, she must have needed her father’s consent to get married.

Andrew and Anna had 6 children, and all of them were boys. The probability of that happening in 1/64. All of the boys were likely baptized at Immanuel, Altenburg. For some reason, their second son’s baptism record is not found in that church’s books. When the 1900 census was taken, we find the Seemann’s with 3 sons. Andrew was a farmer.

Next, we find the Seemann’s in the 1910 census. We see all 6 sons in this entry.

When the 1915 plat maps for Perry County were produced, we find the A. Seemann farm located on The Ridge. It was also located near the Holschen’s Landing, which was later called the Star Landing.

It is at this point that we see an unfortunate set of events taking place. First, we no longer find Andrew living with his family in Perry County in 1920. Instead, he was a patient at the state hospital in Farmington, Missouri.

Andrew must have died right after this census was recorded. His death certificate says he died on May 12, 1920.

The cause of death is given as epilepsy. This may explain why Andrew was in the state hospital. I didn’t spend a whole lot of time researching it, but I did find evidence that in the past, folks with epilepsy were often sent to a mental hospital rather than a medical hospital. Although epilepsy is a neurological disease, it is not necessarily a psychiatric problem. Epileptic seizures must have been very scary events for family members, and they would have wanted to get some sort of help for their loved ones.

Anna Seemann is found living with her father in the 1920 census. She was still called married.

Anna was still living with her father when the 1930 census was taken. Her son, Theobald, who was working at a sawmill, was also living with her.

In 1940, at the age of 62, Anna was living with 86 year-old, Daniel Wichern, and working as a housekeeper. Daniel had run a store at Star Landing for many years.

Anna Seemann died in 1949 at the age of 70. I was unsuccessful at finding a death certificate for her. Both Andrew and Anna are buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg.

You might be reading more stories about Seemann boys in the future. I’m guessing there are plenty of tales to be found there.