The record that initiated this post is not found in our German Family Tree…at least not yet. Edward Grosse married twice during his life, and neither one of his marriage records can be found in the GFT. You will discover that Edward’s first marriage took place on April 17th, and that is what attracted me to this story. You might ask how I discovered this marriage date. The answer to that is that I found it on the ZionRootsGenealogy.org website that was created by our friend, Kathy Berkbigler.

Heinrich Edward Grosse was born on February 22, 1868, the son of Robert and Wilhelmine (Bultmann) Grosse. Edward was the first child born to this couple, but his mother had 3 children by her first husband, Phillip Kassel. Edward was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. An image of his baptism record is pictured below.

Edward is found in the 1870 census at the age of 2. The other siblings in this entry look like they would have the surname, Grosse, but they were actually Kassel’s. Edward’s father was a farmer.

Next, we find Edward in the 1880 census at the age of 12, still living in the Brazeau Township of Perry County.

Twenty years would pass before we can view another census, and when we find him in that census, Edward was still single. His father had died in 1891, so he was living with his widowed mother in 1900. Edward was a farm laborer.

That leads us up to Edward’s first marriage, so let’s take a look at his first bride. Her name was Nette Friedericke Emilie Bangert, who was born on March 30, 1876. Emilie was the daughter of Charles and Caroline (Wilke) Bangert. She was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. Below is her baptism record from that congregation’s books.

Emilie is found in the 1880 census at the age of 4. Her father was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township of Cape Girardeau County.

Twenty years later, we find Emilie in the 1900 census in her 20’s.

Edward Grosse married Emilie Bangert on April 17, 1904, making today the 118th wedding anniversary for this couple. They were married at Lixville Lutheran Church. That church marriage record is displayed below.

We can view their marriage license also.

I found no evidence that this pair had any children. In fact, this marriage did not last long. I was unable to document this fact, but there is a family history on Ancestry.com that says Emilie died in January of 1905. Edward would marry a second time, and you could say that he found his second bride where he found his first one. He married Emilie’s older sister, Marie Caroline Friedericke Bangert. Friedericke was born on April 10, 1870 and also baptized at Trinity, Friedheim. Her baptism record is displayed here.

Friedericke was included in the 1880 census displayed earlier. However, when the 1900 census was taken, she wasn’t still living with her parents. Three single Bangert siblings were living in the Whitewater Township of Bollinger County. Her brother, Frederick, was a farmer.

Edward Grosse married Friedericke Bangert on November 30, 1908. That marriage was conducted by a probate judge.

One child was born to this couple, a girl named Caroline born in 1909. We find Edward, Friedericke, and Caroline in the 1910 census. This family was living in the Apple Creek Township and now, Edward was a blacksmith.

The last census in which we find Friedricke was the one taken in 1920.

Friedericke Grosse died in 1928 at the age of 57. I was not able to find her death certificate, so I could not find evidence about where she was buried. Edward is found as a widower in the 1930 census. His daughter was still living with him.

The last census in which we find Edward was the one taken in 1940. His daughter, Caroline, had married Hugo Finger, who had children from a previous marriage. Hugo, for some unknown reason, was not included in this entry.

Edward Grosse died in 1949 at the age of 81. We can take a look at his death certificate.

Edward’s death certificate says he was to be buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville. Findagrave.com has an entry for him, but no gravestone photo.

I have previously written a few stories that tell of a man who marries a pair of sisters. Now you know the story of Edward and his sister brides.

I identified several documents in the course of researching this story that we have in our museum’s library. However, only Edward’s baptism record is found in our German Family Tree. That situation should be resolved as we continue to make improvements to our research tools.