Edna Artolie Starzinger is today’s birthday girl. She has a special 125th birthday today. She was born on December 4, 1897, the daughter of Louis Joseph and Wilhelmine (Hoehne) Starzinger. I seem to be finding several Starzinger stories lately. This is yet another one. Edna was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. We can take a look at her baptism record from that congregation’s books.

Edna shows up in her first census in 1900 at the age of 2. She was the 5th of 6 children in her family. Her father was a farmer in the Shawnee Township.

Next, we find Edna in the 1910 census at the age of 12. By this time, the new congregation of Trinity Lutheran Church in Shawneetown had been established, and the Starzinger’s became members there. A year after this census, Edna was confirmed at Trinity.

The last census in which we find Edna as a single woman was the one taken in 1920. She was still living with her parents, and her father was managing a farm.

Now, we will take a look at the man who would become Edna’s husband. His name was Arthur Gottfried Koenig, who was born on May 6, 1901. That makes him about 4 years younger than Edna. Arthur was the son of Benjamin and Anna (Brueckner) Koenig. Arthur was baptized at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar. An image of his baptism record is pictured below.

When the 1910 census was taken, Arthur is called Otto, and he was 8 years old. He was the 2nd of 6 children in his family. His father was a farmer in the Salem Township.

Arthur was a teenager when we find him in the 1920 census. All 6 of the Koenig children are in this entry, along with Arthur’s Koenig grandparents.

On April 29, 1923, Arthur Koenig married Edna Starzinger at Trinity Lutheran Church in Shawneetown. The church record for this wedding is displayed below.

We can also view the marriage license for this couple which states that Arthur was from St. Louis. He must have moved to that city to find work after the 1920 census.

I have to rely on family trees on Ancestry.com to determine how many children this couple had because that information is not found in our German Family Tree. It appears that 3 children were born to this couple. The 1930 census shows the Koenig’s with all 3 of those children. Arthur was a machinist making electric motors. I do not know this for sure, but it sounds like he may have been working at Wagner Electric Company in St. Louis. Several other stories on this blog mentioned Perry County men working at that plant.

When the 1940 census was taken, we find Arthur with a new occupation. He was a route man for an egg company.

Arthur had his World War II draft card completed in 1942. I find this form a bit puzzling. It indicates that the Koenig’s were living in Perryville with Arthur being self-employed. It is puzzling to me because after this, we find the Koenig’s back in St. Louis and Arthur back in the egg business in the next census.

Here is the 1950 census which shows Arthur and Edna back in St. Louis. Arthur is called a salesman on an egg route. Two children in their 20’s remained in their household.

Edna Koenig died in 1970 at the age of 72. Her death certificate is pictured here.

Edna is buried in the Laurel Hills Cemetery in St. Louis. There is a Koenig plot in that cemetery. It appears as if the original plan was to have Arthur buried with Edna. However, that is not what happened.

Arthur Koenig married again, but I am not sure when. It must have been shortly after Edna died because Arthur did not live that long after she died. His second wife was Margaretha Katharina Stueve, who was born on September 6, 1898. Katharina was the daughter of Martin and Maria (Brueckner) Stueve. She was baptized at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar, but I forgot to get an image of her baptism record. Katharina is found in those difficult-to-read pages of the Salem Township 1900 census. She was 1 year old.

In 1910, Katharina was 11 years old. Her father was a farmer.

Katharina was still living with her parents when the 1920 census was taken. She was 21 years old at that time.

Katie, as she was often called, was living in St. Louis when the 1930 census was taken. She was called a cashier.

Katharina Stueve married Fred Vornbrock in 1940. I found this record from a St. Louis newspaper for this wedding.

I will not go into great detail about Fred’s life. I will say that he was born on December 23, 1882 and during his adult life, he worked as a butcher. Fred and Katie are married when the 1940 census was taken. Fred was a meat cutter at a Bettendorf Grocery Store, and Katie was a bookkeeper, probably at the same store. My mother worked a lot of years at Bettendorf’s as a bookkeeper.

Fred had a World War II draft card completed in 1942.

Fred Vornbrock died in 1949 at the age of 66. We can take a look at his death certificate.

Fred was buried in the St. Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Lemay. It looks like this couple had plans to be buried together also, but that did not happen.

Katharina is found in the 1950 census for St. Louis as a widow. She was still working at a grocery store.

Arthur Koenig and Katharina Vornbrock must have gotten married in the early 1970’s. I am guessing that these two also had each moved back closer to their hometowns. They each died in Perryville. Arthur died in 1972; Katharina died in 1974. They are buried together in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville.

Arthur and Katharina are two individuals that were born in East Perry County, moved to St. Louis to spend much of their lives, and returned back near their hometown much later in their lives. Yet, each of them left a spouse buried in St. Louis.