The surname, Starzinger, has shown up a few times on this blog before. Each time I attempt to research a Starzinger, I experience difficulties finding early census records for them. The same was true for this post. The birthday boy for today is Johann Gottlieb Starzinger, who was born on March 31, 1868, making today his 154th birthday. John was one of a boy/girl set of twins born to Gottlieb and Theresia (Brandt) Starzinger. His twin sister, Theresia, died when she was just 2 years old. Our German Family Tree indicates that John had a nickname of Hans. The baptism record for these twins is found in the books of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. The Starzinger twins are listed together in the baptism record shown here.

I was not able to find John in the 1870 census, so the first census entry I can display for him is the one taken in 1880 when he was 11 years old. His father was a farmer. I think you can see by the way the surname is spelled why this entry was so hard to find. It doesn’t look at all like Starzinger.

Next, we will take a look at the woman who would become John’s first wife. Her name was Rosalia Heiner, the daughter of Wilhelm and Caroline (Schlimpert) Heiner. There is some debate about when Rosalia was born. Her baptism record found in the books of Immanuel Lutheran Church gives no specific date for either her birth or baptism. All it says is that she was born in October of 1868. However, her date of birth of November 30, 1868 is inscribed on her tombstone.

Rose is found in the 1870 census in which we find the Heiner family living in the Brazeau Township of Perry County. This entry contains a rather unusual situation. Her father, a farmer, is listed properly, but right under his name is another William, who is called a female who was keeping house. That must have been Rose’s mother, Caroline. All of the children in this household, other than Rose, were actually named Hoehne, children of Caroline’s first husband, Elias Furchtegott Hoehne, who had died in 1866.

Rose’s mother died in 1874, and her father died in 1879. Her father’s death left Rosa as an orphan, and I do not know where she ended up. I was not able to find her in the 1880 census. In fact, I did not even know where to look.

John Starzinger married Rose Heiner on September 22, 1892 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. We can take a look at the church record for this wedding. It says Rose was from Perry County.

The marriage license for this couple is also displayed below. This document says Rose was from Cape Girardeau County.

Two boys were born to this couple. The first one was baptized at Immanuel, New Wells, but the second one was baptized at Zion Lutheran Church in Pocahontas, which was established about that time. In fact, their first son’s baptism was the second one in this new congregation’s books.

The 1900 census shows this Starzinger household. This would turn out to be the only one in which we find both John and Rose. John was a farmer.

At some time, this photo was taken of Rose.

Rose Starzinger died in 1905 at the age of 36. Her death record from the Zion, Pocahontas books has a German word for the cause of her death, but I cannot read it.

She died before Missouri death certificates began to be filed, so we cannot see a cause of death there. Rose was buried in the Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Pocahontas.

John married again a year later. His second wife was Christiane Caroline Dede, who was born on August 25, 1869. She was called Lena. Her parents were Carl and Christiane (Simon) Dede. Lena was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells, but I forgot to get a photo of her baptism record when I was at the museum earlier. Lena’s father died in 1870, so Lena had no memory of him. Her mother married Johann Hindmann in 1871. We find this Hindmann household living in St. Louis when the 1880 census was taken. Lena was 10 years old.

John Starzinger married Lena Dede on April 15, 1906. That marriage took place at Zion Lutheran Church in Pocahontas. The church marriage record says that Lena was from St. Louis.

No additional children were born to this couple. The 1910 census shows the following Starzinger household.

John and Rose are found in several more census records. Next, we find them in the 1920 census. Their son, Roland, had married, and his wife and child lived in this household also.

The 1930 census shows John and Lena with an empty nest.

1930 was also the year that plat maps were produced for Cape Girardeau County. We find the Starzinger farm not far from Pocahontas.

The last census we can view is the one taken in 1940. This entry is almost identical to the previous one.

Lena Starzinger died in 1946 at the age of 76. “Heart Block” is given as her cause of death on the death certificate below.

John Starzinger died in 1949 at the age of 81. Diabetes is given as a cause of death on his death certificate.

Like his first wife, John and Lena Starzinger are each buried in the Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Pocahontas.

Before I close this story, I have to tell you another special tale that took place earlier this morning. The Republic-Monitor newspaper in Perryville has a medallion hunt each year. The latest medallion was hidden in a place special to our museum. It was found at the Log Cabin College. I happened to run into the two young ladies who found this medallion when having breakfast this morning. One of the excited finders has the name of Meyr, which happens to be another name that was once common in the Shawnee Township. What are the chances?