Today’s tale begins with a baby girl being born in Frohna, Missouri on this date in 1889. Her name was Paula Susanna Weinhold, who was the daughter of Martin and Magdalena (Noennig) Weinhold. Paula’s father was one of the brothers who operated the Frohna Flour Mill. Paula was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. We can take a look at an image of her baptism record from that congregation’s books below. You can see that she was born on October 4th and baptized on the 6th in 1889.

Paula was a younger cousin of Lydia Weinhold, who is a main character in the books that are part of my Wittenberg Series. We cannot view a census entry for Paula until the one taken in 1900. She was 10 years old. As you can see, Paula was part of a very large family. Her father was a miller.

In 1903, Paula was confirmed at Concordia. I can show you a photo taken of her when she was confirmed.

Another photo was taken during that same decade. Paula’s Weinhold family had this photo taken around 1908. The caption identifies all of the people in the photo.

I think it was also about this time that another photo was taken of Paula.

In 1910, we find Paula at the age of 20 still living with her parents in Frohna.

Now, we need to take a look at the man who would become Paula’s husband. He was also from near Frohna. His name was Theodore Heinrich Vogel, who was born on March 27, 1887. Theodore was the son of Salomo and Helene (Schmidt) Vogel. That also makes him the younger brother of Adolph Vogel who would later become the pastor of Trinity, Altenburg for a lot of years. Theodore, like his future wife, was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. His baptism record is displayed here.

In the 1900 census, we find Theodore at the age of 13. His father was a cooper. It’s possible that he made barrels at the flour mill.

One year later, Theodore was confirmed at Concordia. I do not know if the photo below is his confirmation photo, but I know it was taken when he was quite young.

Theodore was no longer living with his parents when the 1910 census was taken. He was living in St. Louis in the household of William Spilker and working at a wholesale grocery office. He was likely working for Mr. Spilker, who was a grocer. Rev. Adolph Vogel was married to a Spilker, so I’m guessing that is the connection that got Theodore into this Spilker household.

In 1917, Theodore had a World War I draft registration completed. It says he was employed by the Renard Rug Company as a cashier.

The Missouri Historical Society has this photo of the building that housed the Renard Carpet Company.

Theodore Vogel married Paula Weinhold on October 6, 1918, two days after Paula’s 29th birthday. Their wedding took place at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. We can view an image of the church record for that occasion.

We can also take a look at the marriage license for this couple. Both the license and the church record say that Theodore was from St. Louis.

I am able to display a wedding photo of Theodore and Paula.

The 1920 census shows this couple living in St. Louis where Theodore was a bookkeeper for a wholesale carpet company. No children were in their household yet.

If the photo below taken of the Salomo Vogel family was taken on the occasion of a 50th wedding anniversary, then it would have been taken in 1925. Theodore is standing in the back, the second person from the right.

By the time of the 1930 census, we find 3 children in the Vogel family. Also, Paula’s mother was living with them. Theodore is said to be a cashier for a carpet company.

Next, we find the Vogel family in the 1940 census. Theodore was a secretary for Renard.

The last census we can view for this couple was the one taken in 1950. Theodore and Paula were in their 60’s and had an empty nest. It looks like Theodore still had the same job.

A family history on Ancestry.com houses some more photos taken of Theodore and Paula over the years. I will place them in a gallery here. The thumbnails are clickable.

Paula died in 1976 at the age of 86; Theodore died a year later in 1977 at the age of 90. These two are buried together in the New Bethlehem Cemetery in St. Louis.

This Vogel-Weinhold couple had their beginnings in Frohna, but spent most of their lives in St Louis. Theodore is one of those men who worked for the same company for a lot of years. In the course of researching this story, I discovered that one of Theodore and Paula’s daughters married August Bernthal. Rev. Bernthal was the President of the Florida-Georgia District of the LCMS when I was teaching in Ft. Lauderdale.