Johanne Petzoldt was born on the last day of 1889, so today would have been her 133rd birthday. Three days ago, I highlighted the story of Otillie Petzoldt in the story, Tillie and Theo – Shawnee Scholl’s, and mentioned that Otillie was one of several grandchildren of the man who many call “The Face”. It has been a while since I explained why this man is called “The Face”, so let me review. Friedrich Florian Petzoldt is famous around here, partly because of his unusual gravestone. That gravestone, found in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg, has his face carved right into the stone. You can see an image of that grave marker below.

Friedrich Florian Petzoldt’s family takes up 24 pages in our German Family Tree. Today’s character, Johanne Petzoldt, is found in the midst of those numerous pages as one of The Face’s numerous grandchildren. Elsewhere in the German Family Tree, you can find other grandchildren that came from The Face’s daughters who took other surnames when they got married.

Johanne Petzoldt was the daughter of Richard and Johanne (Lindner) Petzoldt, who are shown in the image below.

Johanne was not the only Petzoldt child to be born on that day. She was one of a set of boy and girl twins. They were the 11th and 12th children born to Richard and Johanne. They were also the last of the Petzoldt children. Her twin brother was Henry Otto Petzoldt. These two were baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. An image of their baptism records is pictured here.

A photo of this Petzoldt family was taken when the twins were quite young. The twins are standing in the front.

Johanne is found in her first census in 1900 at the age of 10. Her father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township.

Next, we find Johanne in the 1910 census when the twins were 20 years old.

In 1916, Johanne’s parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and had another family photo taken. The twins are found in the front holding trays.

Johanne would get married in 1920, but not until after the census was taken for that year.

Let’s now take a look at Johanne’s first husband. His name was Martin Heinrich Koch who was born on July 22, 1895. Martin was the son of Martin and Maria (Weinberg) Koch. He was the oldest of 7 Koch children. Martin was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. We can take a look at an image of his baptism record from that congregation’s books.

Martin is found in the 1900 census at the age of 5. His father was a farmer in the Shawnee Township.

In the 1910 census, Martin was a teenager. He was working on his father’s farm.

Like it was with Johanne, Martin shows up in the 1920 census still living with his parents, although he would get married that year.

Martin Koch married Johanne Petzoldt on May 2, 1920 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. This was another one of those couples made up of a person from the north side of the Apple Creek marrying a person from the south side of that creek. The church record for that wedding is shown here.

We can also view the marriage license for this pair.

Martin and Johanne had 3 children in the 1920’s, two girls followed by a boy. All 3 were baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. However, we never find Martin and Johanne in a census together. Martin died in 1927 at the age of 31. His death certificate says he died of apoplexy, a term once used to describe a stroke.

Martin Koch was buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in New Wells.

Johanne would get married again. Her second husband was Gustav Adolph Koenig who was born on January 26, 1895. Adolph was the son of Benjamin and Margaretha (Rupsch) Koenig. He was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. His baptism record is found on the same page as that of Martin Koch, Johanne’s first husband.

Adolph was 5 years old when the 1900 census was taken. His father was a farmer in the Shawnee Township. The image of his census entry below indicates that Johanne’s two husbands were found on the same census page.

The 1910 census shows Adolph as a teenager. Once again, he is on the same page as Martin Koch, but I did not display that in this image. In a previous post, Lena Starzinger Joins the Neighborhood, I described a “neighborhood” in the Shawnee Township made up of Koenig’s, Koch’s, and Haertling’s. Johanne managed to find two husbands in that neighborhood.

The last census in which we find Adolph as a single man was the one taken in 1920.

Adolph Koenig married the widow, Johanne Koch, on June 4, 1928 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. The church record for that occasion is displayed below.

The marriage license for this pair can also be viewed.

There were no additional children born to this couple. Their household is the combination of Koenig’s and Koch’s that we see in the 1930 census entry.

Next, we find the Koenig’s and their Koch children in the 1940 census.

The last census we can view for this Koenig household was the one taken in 1950.

Adolph Koenig died in 1972 at the age of 77; Johanne Koenig died in 1981 at the age of 91. These two are also buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in New Wells.

For a brief time, I thought I might include both of the Petzoldt twins in today’s post, but when I discovered that Johanne was married twice, I knew this story would get way too long if I did that. So, I guess I will wait until later to write the story of Henry Petzoldt, her twin brother. Perhaps a year from now, on the twins’ 134th birthday, you may get the opportunity to read about Henry.