Back in 2018, I wrote a post about Emma Engert who married Gottfried Schuerenberg, the man I referred to in the title as the Butcher from Friedland. Emma Engert was born on May 11, 1862, so she would be celebrating her 160th birthday today. However, Emma is not the only Engert who would be celebrating that same birthday today because she had a twin sister. In that previous post, I mentioned that I didn’t know what happened to her twin, Petrina Engert. Perhaps I didn’t take the time to research Petrina or I have gotten better at finding information, but now I know what happened to Petrina, and I will tell her story today. Before I get any farther, I will state that back in those days, it was not often that both twins survived infancy to go on and live full lives.

Petrina Margaretha Engert was the daughter of Friedrich August and Anna (Jungclaus) Engert. Friedrich August Engert has been part of plenty of previous posts because he fathered 23 children with two different wives. Emma and Petrina were #17 and #18 in that list of children. Almost all of the previous Engert children born in America were baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna, but beginning with these twins, they were baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Below are the baptism records of Emma and Petrina.

I find it interesting that another Engert boy was baptized the same year. Henry Ernst Engert was born in October of 1862. Henry was born to one of the twins’ older half-brothers, August, Jr. That makes Henry the half-nephew of the twins, even though he was born during the same year. Here is Henry’s baptism record.

When the 1870 census was taken, we find an entry that is a bit confusing. There are two 8 year-old daughters in the list of children, one named Emma, but the other is named Catherine. I believe Catherine in actually Petrina, but I cannot explain why she would be called Catherine.

The only other record for Petrina in the German Family Tree was her confirmation record from 1876. In addition to the twins, you will see that their nephew, Henry Engert, was in the same confirmation class.

The only other census in which we find Petrina as a single woman was the one taken in 1880. Her father had died in 1877, so her mother was the head of the household. Petrina and Emma should have been given the same age, but Emma was listed at being 19 and Petrina as 18. A brother, Jacob, was also said to be 18. Go figure.

I would like to tell you more about Petrina’s first husband, but I was not able to find much. His name was Herman Kreipke, who was born on September 8, 1859 in Germany. One family tree on Ancestry.com says his parents were Henry and Mina (Kreich) Kreipke.

Herman Kreipke married Petrina Engert on February 27, 1886. They were married in St. Clair County, Illinois, which is located just across the river from St. Louis.

This marriage did not last long, but there were two sons born to this couple, Herman and Henry. Then in 1889, Herman Kreipke died at the early age of 29. Herman was buried in the St. Clair Memorial Park Cemetery in Fairview Heights.

Petrina would get married again a few years later. Her second husband was Isador Bastian, who was born on March 8, 1860 in Germany. A later 1910 census states that Isador came to the United States in 1885, so he does not show up in a census until 1900. Isadore Bastian married Petrina Kreipke on February 7, 1891. This marriage also took place in St. Clair County, Illinois.

Five more children were born to this couple. We see this Bastian household that includes two Kreipke children in the 1900 census living in East St. Louis, Illinois. Isador was a scale builder.

The next census entry says the company that employed Isador was the Fairbanks Scale Company. By this time, that company had operations all over the United States. A history of the Fairbanks Scale Company can be found at this link if you’re interested.

https://www.fairbanks.com/company/history.cfm

It turns out that the last census in which we find Isador was the one taken in 1910.

Isador Bastian died in 1916 at the age of 56, leaving Petrina once again as a widow. Below is an Illinois death record for him.

Petrina is found next in the 1920 census living with 3 remaining sons, all in their 20’s.

A 1924 East St. Louis city directory includes Petrina and a few other Bastian names.

Petrina Bastian died in 1928 at the age of 66. Because she died in St. Louis, Missouri, we can view her death certificate.

Both Isador’s death record and Petrina’s death certificate say these two were buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery. I did find a cemetery by that name in St. Clair County, Illinois, but Findagrave.com lists no sites with the surname, Bastian, in that cemetery. I looked for a St. Peter’s Cemetery in St. Louis, but was unsuccessful. So, I cannot display gravestones for these two.

The Engert twins each began their lives in East Perry County but later moved elsewhere. Each of them ended up living not far from the Mississippi River, one north of Perry County in East St. Louis, and the other south of Perry County in New Madrid, Missouri.