Esther Agnes Dede is today’s birthday girl. She was born on April 24, 1899, the daughter of Charles and Elizabeth (Winter) Dede. She was the 9th of 10 Dede children. Esther, as well as all her siblings, was baptized at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar. We can take a look at her baptism record.

Esther is found in the 1900 census at the age of 1. Her family was living in the Randol Township of Cape Girardeau County where her father was a blacksmith.

A year after the above census, another baby girl was born to this family. Sadly, that birth resulted in the death of Esther’s mother. The baby also died not long afterward. That left her father, Charles, as a widower with a rather large family. That is probably why we find Esther no longer living with her father when the 1910 census was taken. She is called a boarder in this entry, but she was likely being raised by either John Hilpert and his wife or the two Detjen women who were also boarders in this household.

Esther was still single when the 1920 census was taken. This time, she was living in the Albert Mueller household and called a servant. Right under the entry, it says this was the end of the enumeration of the town of Altenburg, which is where Albert was the postmaster.

Now, we will turn our attention to the man who would become Esther’s husband. His name was Adolf Wilhelm Aurich, who was born on October 14, 1894. He was more often called William or Bill. William’s parents were Adolf and Josephine (Antonier) Aurich. He was also part of a very large family. He was child #8 out of 10 born to this couple. The first child in the Aurich family was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells, but the rest of them, including William, were baptized at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar. There is an unusual situation with William’s baptism. Even though he was born in 1894, he and two of his siblings were all baptized together on Reformation Day in 1897. Here is William’s baptism record.

William is found in the 1900 census at the age of 6. His family was living in the Union Township where his father was a farmer.

At about the time of the above census, his family had a photograph taken. The youngest child in this photo was born in 1898. I believe William is the young boy standing between his parents.

Next, we find William in the 1910 census. At the age of 15, he was working on his father’s farm.

The Adolf Aurich farm can be found in the plat maps that were produced for Perry County in 1915. It was located not far south of the village of Farrar.

William Aurich had his World War I draft registration completed when America entered that war. At that time, he was living in Shickley, Nebraska and working as a farm hand.

William did get the call to serve during that war. I found this record of his service.

In 1920, we see the Aurich household in which only William and his younger brother, Waldemar, were living with their parents.

William Aurich married Esther Dede on Epiphany Day, January 6, 1921. Their marriage record is found in the books of Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar. Below is an image of the church record for this wedding.

An article in the Perry County Republican stated that the marriage took place at the church’s parsonage.

An image of this couple’s marriage license can also be viewed.

Our German Family Tree lists 6 children born to Bill and Esther. Four of those children were born before the 1930 census was taken. We can look at that census entry here. William’s father had died in 1924, so his mother was living in his household.

The 1940 census lists all 6 of their children. William was a farmer all his life.

I decided to look in the newly-released 1950 census for this family. So far, I have not had much success using the search function for surnames, but in this case, just putting in the name, Aurich, led me right to the household of William Aurich.

William Aurich died in 1976 at the age of 81; Esther Aurich died in 1984 at the age of 85. These two are each buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville. William’s gravestone recognized his service in the U.S. Army in World War I.

Later in each of their lives, some photos were taken of the Aurich’s. One includes both Bill and Esther. The other is of just Esther.

Today’s birthday girl had a rather unusual upbringing because of her mother’s death when Esther was very young. However, the marriage between her and William Aurich seemed to bring some normalcy to her life.