I think someday I’m going to go through our German Family Tree and look for all the women who over the years carried the name, Anna Roth. Some of those women were given that name at birth and others took that name when they married a man named Roth. You will read another one of those stories today. This one is about a Richter who married a Roth.

Lina Anna Richter was born on August 21, 1897, so today would be a very special 125th birthday. Anna was the daughter of Adolph and Anna (Wichern) Roth. Both of Anna’s parents had been married previously and had children by those marriages. Anna was the only child of their 2nd marriages to live to adulthood. Anna was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can take a look at her baptism record from that congregation’s books.

Anna is found in the 1900 census at the age of 2. Her father was a carpenter in Altenburg. Magdalena Heins was the daughter of Anna’s mother by her first husband, Johann Heinrich Heins.

Next, we find Anna in the 1910 census at the age of 12. Her father, at the age of 77, no longer had an occupation, but her mother is listed as a laundress.

Now, let’s turn our attention to the man who would become Anna’s husband. His name was Joseph William Roth, who was born on April 1, 1890. Joseph was the son of August and Ernestine (Feig) Roth. I have this photo of Joseph’s parents to display. This photo has shown up on this blog before.

Joseph was born at the time when Perry County kept birth records. We can see Joseph’s record in the 2 images below.

Joseph was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. We can view an image of his baptism record from that congregation’s books.

Joseph is found in the 1900 census at the age of 10. His father was a farmer in the Union Township.

The 1910 census shows Joseph as a 20 year-old farm laborer working on his father’s farm.

On October 15, 1914, Joseph Roth married Anna Richter. The wedding took place at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. The church record for this occasion is shown here.

We can also view the marriage license for this pair.

I am also able to display the wedding photo of Joseph and Anna.

An article appeared in the Perry County Republican shortly thereafter describing the event.

Joseph had a World War I draft registration completed. His address was given as Frohna, and it said he had a wife and child.

Our German Family Tree lists 5 children born to Joseph and Anna. When the 1920 census was taken, we see 2 children in their family. Anna’s mother was living in their household. After their marriage, the Roth’s lived in the Brazeau Township.

The 1930 census shows all 5 of the Roth children, one daughter followed by 4 sons. Joseph is called a salesman for health products, which seems a bit unusual to me.

The 1940 census is the last one in which we find these Roth’s living in Perry County. This time, Joseph was described as a laborer doing road work construction.

Joseph’s World War II draft card says that he was an employee of the Missouri Cliffs Mining Company which was headquartered in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Joseph’s address was given as Wittenberg.

Joseph and Anna moved to Cape Girardeau before the 1950 census was taken. In that entry, Joseph is called a mechanic for a lumber company. The had a granddaughter named Shirley Roth living with them.

I found two separate photos of Anna and Joseph Roth. The one of Anna was taken later in her life, and the one of Joseph shows him quite young.

Joseph Roth died in 1978 at the age of 87; Anna Roth died in 1998 at the age of 101. These two are buried together in the New Lorimer Cemetery in Cape Girardeau.

There are plenty of Roth’s living in East Perry County these days. What is not so easy is to keep all the separate Roth clans straight. I do know that I like to do a Roth story on this blog every once in a while. It’s a whole lot easier to type a name like Roth than it is to type names like Lichtenegger or Zwickelhuber.