According to our German Family Tree, a man by the name of Johann Brunkhorst fathered sixteen children with three different wives. All 16 of them were baptized at Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob, Illinois. The 4th child to the 3rd wife is today’s birthday girl, and her story will be told in this post.

Hulda Maria Brunkhorst was born on July 8, 1890, making today her 132nd birthday. She was the daughter of Johann and Maria (Versemann) Brunkhorst. As said before, we find Hulda’s baptism record in the books of Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob, Illinois. Her baptism record is displayed below. I think the pastor made a mistake on this form. It is impossible for Hulda to be born in July and then baptized in June.

Hulda was 9 years old when she appeared in her first census in 1900. She lived in a large household that even included an extra boarder and servant. Hulda’s father was called a dealer in groceries in the Fountain Bluff Township.

The Brunkhorst land was located right along the Mississippi River at what was known as the Brunkhorst Landing, a place where river traffic, including ferries from Perry County, would stop to carry on commerce to this area of Jackson County, Illinois. The plat map below shows where this Brunkhorst land was located.

Hulda would get married before the next census was taken, so we will turn our attention to the man who would become her husband. His name was Paul Friedrich Krause, who was born on November 5, 1885 in Wittenberg, Missouri. Paul was the son of Gottlieb and Johanna (Oehlert) Krause. Paul was born at the time when Perry County kept birth records. Paul’s is displayed here.

I first thought that there was no baptism record for Paul because it is not noted in our German Family Tree, but I looked in the church records to verify that, and I found the one for Paul, which is shown below.

Paul’s father died in 1899, so we never see Paul in a census with his father. The 1900 census for the Krause family is shown here. Paul, at the age of 14, was already called a farm laborer, along with his 16 year-old brother. They were probably thrust into doing this farm work after the death of their father.

Somehow, Paul found his future bride across the river in Jackson County, Illinois. He and Hulda Brunkhorst would get married in 1909, but before that marriage took place, a child was born to Hulda out of wedlock that was fathered by Paul. That child was born on June 21, 1909. Just 3 days after that birth, on June 24th, Paul Krause married Hulda Brunkhorst. The marriage record for this couple is found in the books of Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob, Illinois. That church record is pictured here. It says Hulda was from Fordyce, which is a town that was later named Gorham.

In fact, when you look at the baptism record for Rose, the child born just prior to this wedding, you will notice that Rose was baptized on the same day as this marriage. No father is given on this record, but the last name is given as Krause.

The German Family Tree lists 7 children born to Paul and Hulda. We find this couple in the 1910 census living in the Fountain Bluff Township with just their first child, Rose. Paul was a farmer.

In 1918, Paul had a World War I draft registration completed. It gives Gorham, Illinois as his address.

When the 1920 census was taken, there were 4 children in their family.

Next, we find the Krause’s in the 1930 census. Two other children were born in the 1920’s, but they died before this census was taken.

One more child was born in 1932. The 1940 census shows 2 sons in their 20’s along with another son that was only 7.

In 1942, Paul was required to complete a World War II draft card even though he was already 56 years old.

The last census in which we can view the Krause’s was the one taken in 1950 and only recently released to the public. Only their youngest son remained in their household.

Paul Krause died in 1966 at the age of 80. His church death record says he died of a heart attack. We can read an obituary that was published in a local newspaper.

Hulda Krause died in 1974 at the age of 84. We can also read her obituary which states that she died at the Styrest Nursing Home in Carbondale.

Paul and Hulda Krause are buried together in the Christ Lutheran Cemetery in Jacob, Illinois.

The Krause and Brunkhorst surnames are each ones that can be found in Perry County, Missouri and Jackson County, Illinois cemeteries. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you have already read several other posts that connect the two sides of the Mississippi River. There was even more visits between the two sides of the river back in the days when the Brunkhorst Landing was doing a lot of business.