Frederick William Schrader is today’s birthday boy, but I did not find him in our German Family Tree. It was the zionrootsgenealogy.org website that led me to Fred’s story. Fred’s bride, however, is indeed found in our German Family Tree, but that document does not indicate her marriage.

Fred was born on May 16, 1884, making today his 138th birthday. He was the second-born son of Johann Karl Friedrich Heinrich and Emma (Haman) Schrader. As near as I can tell, Fred’s family originated around Gordonville, Missouri, but eventually moved to Cape Girardeau. I cannot exactly say where Fred was born. If I was in Altenburg, I would look in the binder we have that contains transcripts of records from Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau. We find this Schrader family living in Cape Girardeau in 1900, the first census entry in which we find Fred. Fred was called a farmer, along with his father, who went by the name, Fritz. It was quite a large Schrader family, with Fred being one of the oldest.

Let’s backtrack a bit. A photo was taken of the Schrader family not long before the census entry above. I will let you decide which of the two boys standing in the back is Fred. I figure one of them is Fred, and the other is Fred’s older brother, Herman.

Fred would get married before the next census was taken in 1910, so we will take a look at the woman who would become his bride. Her name was Anna Ernestine Brandes, who was born on September 13, 1883. She was the daughter of August and Ernestine (Thauwald) Brandes. A previous post was written about Anna’s parents titled, Brandes the Builder and His Beauties. There were 7 children in this Brandes family, and all of them were girls. That makes Anna one of the “beauties”. She was child #3. If I was able to display church records today, Anna’s would come from the books of Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. Like her future husband, Anna is found in only one census entry before her marriage. We find the Brandes family living in the Union Township of Perry County when the 1900 census was taken.

At some point in time early in the first decade of the 1900’s, the Brandes family moved to Cape Girardeau. That is likely how Anna managed to meet Fred. Fred Schrader married Anna Brandes on September 13, 1906. Yes, that means Anna got married on her 23rd birthday. The wedding took place in Cape Girardeau, probably at Trinity Lutheran Church in that city. I can display their marriage license below.

Based on family histories found on Ancestry.com, Fred and Anna had 4 children, all of which lived to adulthood. In the 1910 census, we find the Schrader household that included just their firstborn child, a girl named Elda. This is the first time we see Fred referred to as a brick mason.

In 1918, Fred had his World War I draft registration completed. For part of his life, Fred worked at the International Shoe Company in Cape Girardeau. That company is called his employer on this form.

By the time of the 1920 census, 3 children had been born into this family. Fred is called a laster at the shoe factory.

One more child was born in the 1920’s, so we find this Schrader household when the 1930 census was taken. Their only girl, Elda, had gotten married in 1929, so we only find the 3 sons listed in this entry. Fred is back to being called a bricklayer.

The 1940 census shows Fred and Anna having just 2 remaining sons in the family. Fred was still a bricklayer at the age of 56. Their son, Harlen, was an attendant at a gasoline filling station. Nowadays, we rarely see attendants at gas stations, nor do you often hear the term, “filling station” anymore. That’s a term I grew up with though.

The last census in which I found Fred and Anna was the one taken in 1950 and only recently released to the public. Fred, at the age of 66, no longer had an occupation. Just one child, Harlen, was listed, and it says he was working at a road show for a carnival. The Schrader’s must have had a large enough house to accommodate the several lodgers that are also included in this entry.

Fred Schrader died in 1966 at the age of 82. This document states that his usual occupation was brick layer.

An obituary for Fred was published in a local newspaper. It mentions Fred being a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau.

Anna Schrader died in 1974 at the age of 90. We are not able to view her death certificate, but I did find her newspaper obituary.

Fred and Anna Schrader are buried in the Cape County Memorial Park in Cape Girardeau.

Our German Family Tree contains numerous listings of people with the surname, Schroeder, but very few that are spelled, Schrader. I also think several of those Schrader’s are actually misspellings made in church records of the name, Schroeder. There are several Schraders located in Illinois, but I have been instructed that those Schrader’s do not pronounce their name, Schrayder, they pronouce it Schrahder.

======================

I may not have access to church records these days, but I am enjoying this view while blogging at the Lake of the Ozarks.

I guess you could says today’s post is special. Since this blog was started in January of 2016, today’s post is #2022, and now we’re continuing this blog into the year, 2022.