The man with today’s birthday ended up with a fairly large family. He had two marriages. The first one ended in a terrible way. The second marriage introduces a new surname to this blog…Yamnitz.

Louis Albert Boxdorfer was born on April 5, 1881, so if he was still alive today, he would have to blow out 141 candles on his birthday cake. Louis was the son of Henry and Elizabeth (Rauh) Boxdorfer. A story was written about Louis’s parents titled, Baltimore Boxdorfer. Louis was child #6 in a family of 10. Louis was baptized at Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg. We find a summary of his life in the Friedenberg Remembrances book.

We are not able to view a census including Louis until 1900. His family was living in the Central Township of Perry County, which is the township that contains the city of Perryville. At the age of 19, Louis was working on his father’s farm.

A plat map produced in 1915 shows where Henry Boxdorfer’s farm was located.

Next, we will take a look at the woman who would become Louis’s first wife. Her name was Sophia Buettner, who was born the day after Christmas, December 26, 1880. Sophia was the 4th of 8 children born to Charles and Johanne (Reuter) Buettner. Sophia was also baptized at Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg. Because she was born so late during 1880, she did not make it into the census taken that year. We can never view her in a census in which she was living with her parents. In 1900, at the age of 19, Sophia was living in St. Louis and working as a servant in the Bateson family.

Louis Boxdorfer married Sophia Buettner on November 20, 1904 at Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg. We can take a look at this couple’s marriage license.

Our German Family Tree lists 5 children born to Louis and Sophia. We find the Boxdorfer’s in the 1910 census with 3 children. They were living in the Bois Brule Township, and Louis was a farmer.

After the last child was born in 1915, we find a sad situation that was developing. Sophia was fighting mental illness and was placed in the state hospital in Farmington. It was not long after that when Sophia died in November of 1915 at the age of 34. Her obituary appeared in a Perryville newspaper.

Her death certificate is displayed below.

I have written in past blog posts that there have been times when families choose not to mark the graves of those that died at the state hospital. I know I have a member of my family that is unmarked in our cemetery. However, this is not how the Boxdorfer family dealt with this. Not only was she buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville, but her gravestone has a photo of her on it.

This death left Louis as a widower with several young children, one of which was still a baby. He would find another bride. Her name was Anna Katharina Yamnitz, who was born on January 30, 1885. She was the daughter of Fred and Maria (Brickhaus) Yamnitz. Not long ago, Fred Eggers was helping a young man, Tim Yamnitz, find information about his Yamnitz family. Fred discovered that there were several Yamnitz records to be found in the books of the Lixville Lutheran Church that existed for a short time near here. Those records do not begin until after Anna was born, so I did not find her baptism record, but I was successful at finding her confirmation record in those books. She was confirmed in 1899.

Anna is found in the 1900 census at the age of 15. Her family was living in the Union Township, but not the one in Perry County. They lived in Bollinger County in a place not far from Lixville.

I was not able to find Anna in the 1910 census. Louis Boxdorfer married Anna Yamnitz on May 2, 1916. An article appeared in the Perry County Republican describing this event. I looked for her brother, Fritz, in the 1910 census with no success.

The marriage record for this couple is found in the books of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville.

We can also view this pair’s marriage license.

Louis had a World War I draft registration completed in 1918.

According to our German Family Tree, Louis and Anna had 3 more children, all sons. All of the children from both marriages were baptized at Immanuel, Perryville. We find the Boxdorfer household in the 1920 census with 7 children. They were back living in the Central Township.

One more child was born in 1921. The next census containing this family was the one taken in 1930.

In 1940, we find the Boxdorfer’s with just 3 sons who were all helping on the farm.

Even though he was already in his 60’s, Louis had to complete a World War II draft card in 1942.

I had some time on my hands last night, so I searched the 1950 census for this family. I almost gave up, but I did manage to find them. A son, Ernst, had gotten married. He, his wife, and 2 children were living with Louis and Anna.

Louis Boxdorfer died in 1953 at the age of 72. His death certificate is shown below.

Anna Boxdorfer died in 1971 at the age of 86. Since Missouri death certificates are now available up through 1971, we can take a look at hers.

Louis and Anna Boxdorfer are buried together in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville.

Every day I write for this blog, I never know what I’m going to find. This post led me to a new name, Yamnitz, and to the Lixville Lutheran Church books, which I hardly ever get to view. And I never like finding out about a trip someone makes to Farmington’s state hospital.