I think the main character in today’s post would have the distinction of being the shortest name of all the individuals that have previously appeared on this blog. Her name was Ida Ude. I asked some locals how they would pronounce this name, and the answer I was given was Eye-da Oo-dee. That means this name has a total of 6 letters, 4 vowels, and only two consonants, yet it still has 4 syllables.

Ida Emilie Ude was born on August 30, 1879, making today her 143rd birthday. Ida was the last of 11 children born to August and Marie (Horst) Ude. She was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. We can take a look at an image of her baptism record from that congregation’s books.

Ida was still a baby when she appeared in the 1880 census. Her family was living in the Shawnee Township where her father was a merchant.

Ida would get married in 1900 before that year’s census was taken, so we will now look at the man who would become her husband. His name was August William Flachsbart, who was born on August 26, 1876, meaning that he and his future wife would have birthdays within days of each other. August was the son of Herman and Louise (Steinmann) Flachsbart. August was 5 years old when the 1880 census was taken. His father was a minister in the Moro Township in Madison County, Illinois. The only Lutheran church in the Moro Township is St. Peter’s Lutheran Church located in Prairietown, which was established in 1855.

August Flachsbart married Ida Ude on February 4, 1900. Their marriage took place at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Jackson, Missouri. The marriage license for this couple is shown here. Rev. William Langehennig was the pastor of that church at that time.

This marriage took place before the 1900 census was taken, so we find August and Ida as a married couple in that year’s entry. August was a baker in Jackson. A boarder by the name of Ernest Lueders lived in their household.

Sometime in the next decade, the Flachsbart’s moved to St. Louis. Also, their first of 2 children, a daughter named Anita, was born in 1901. So, we find their household in the 1910 census living in St. Louis. August was still a baker, but now he was a baker at Concordia Seminary.

August had a World War I draft registration completed in 1918. This document also states that August was a baker at Concordia Seminary.

The address shown above for August, 3627 Texas Ave., as seen in a present-day map, would have been across the street from where Concordia Seminary was located back then. You can also see how close they were to Holy Cross Lutheran Church.

Another son had been born in 1913, a boy named Harold. When we take a look at the Flachsbart household in the 1920 census, we see 2 children. August still had the same occupation.

Next, we find the Flachsbart’s in the 1930 census. It would be the last census in which we find August. He is still a baker at a college, but we know he was still working at Concordia Seminary, only by the time of this census, the seminary had moved to their new campus in Clayton.

August Flachsbart died in 1939 at the age of 62. His death certificate says he died at 801 DeMun, which is the address for Concordia Seminary. His place of residence was on Wise Ave., not far from there.

In a previous blog, Pastries for Preparing Pastors, it was told that Paul Gemeinhardt, a Perry County native, was a baker at Concordia Seminary when the 1940 census was taken. I do not know if Paul Gemeinhardt and August Flachsbart worked together as bakers at Concordia Seminary. There is a possibility that Paul took August’s position after he died in 1939.

We find Ida living with her son, Harold, and his young family when the 1940 census was taken. Harold is called a reporter for a newspaper. Please note that Harold and his wife had a son named Barry.

One more census can be viewed that contained Ida Flachsbart, the one taken in 1950. She was still living in her son’s household.

Ida Flachsbart died in 1962 at the age of 82. We can also view her death certificate.

An obituary for Ida was printed in a local newspaper.

August and Ida Flachsbart are buried in the Our Redeemer Cemetery in Affton, Missouri. There is a Flachsbart gravestone that is inscribed with several members of this family.

I am going to follow a branch of this Flachsbart family a few more generations. Harold Flachsbart, the newspaper reporter, worked most of his career for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He was a sports reporter for that paper. When he died in 1980, that paper published an article as a tribute to his life. It is displayed here.

Harold’s son, Barry, was a special friend to our museum. He had a doctorate degree and was a college professor of mathematics. Barry died recently, and he is greatly missed. He and his wife, Laverne, visited Altenburg regularly from their home in Chesterfield, Missouri as part of a group that called themselves the Wittenberg Cousins. In the photo of the Wittenberg Cousins below, Barry is the man sitting at the end of the table in the back, and his wife, Laverne, is on the right with the pink shirt.

Laverne, Barry’s wife, was a Kieninger. If you look back to Ida Ude’s baptism record, you will see that one of her sponsors was a Kieninger. The Kieninger’s had their roots in the New Wells area where the Ude’s also resided. Laverne’s father, William Kieninger, and her mother, Esther, who was a Mueller, were married and lived in Wittenberg for a portion of their lives.

Laverne visited our museum again last week as part of a bus tour from St. Louis. It was great to see her again. Below is a photo of Barry and Laverne that was taken on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary. I know these two were not only great friends of our museum, but also great supporters of the Concordia Historical Institute. I think Barry was the “spittin’ image” of his father.

I am glad that the birth of Ida Ude led me to this story. The Flachsbart portion of this tale fascinates me. It’s a story that begins with a Lutheran minister, then a seminary baker, followed by a sports reporter, and ends with a college professor. And what are the chances that Laverne would show up at our museum a week before I discovered this story.