I hadn’t planned to make our 2000th blog post a mere re-blog of a previous post, but that is what this is. There is too much on my plate today, and I figured you might enjoy this early story from 2016 which is incredibly short compared to more recent posts.
Gotthold Seibel
Today’s story is about an Altenburg carpenter named Gotthold Seibel. He was born on April 21, 1851. His sister, Wilhelmina Seibel married my great grandfather, Gottwerth Schmidt, so this makes Gotthold my great great uncle.
An important event took place when Gotthold was about 14 years old. Trinity Lutheran Church got a new pastor, Rev. J.F. Koestering. One of the members of the Koestering family was 10 year-old Louise Koestering. It is likely that Gotthold was a member of the first confirmation class of Rev. Koestering, but, alas, because of what we refer to as the “Koestering Hole” in Trinity’s church records, we have no documentation for that.
Fourteen years after the Koesterings arrived in Perry County, Gotthold Seibel married Louise Koestering. Louise’s father officiated that wedding, and Gotthold now had his own pastor and previous confirmation instructor as his father-in-law. The Seibel couple had five children who…
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lutheranmuseum.com 
Recent interest and research into the maternal side of my family leads me to believe that Louise Koestering Seibel is my great Aunt. Her sister, you mention, Magdalene Koestering Schuessler, is most definitely my Great Grandmother. One note I found suggested that she and her sister may have had a ‘double wedding’ , on July 17th, with Father Koestering presiding .
So Pastor JF Koestering would have been my great, great grandfather. I apologize for the hole in record keeping he left…. Perhaps a box was inadvertently moved with the family to their next location????
Of interest, two of Magdalene’s daughters married Lutheran ministers (one became a missionary in China). The other, Vera Edna Clara Schuessler married Rev. Herbert Charles Rose and remained in the Altenburg, Flat River, St. Louis area, residing lastly in Jacksonville, IL. She was my grandmother.
Vera had 5 boys and 1 girl. Of these children, two of the boys became Lutheran ministers. And the daughter, my mother, married a Lutheran minister from a different lineage of Lutheran ministers!!
I did not marry a minister, but my minister father did preside over my and all of my 4 brothers weddings! Traditions run deep!
Best of luck with your busy day. Thank you for your daily dedication and hard work on this blog!
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