Today marks the birthday of a man named Arthur Vogel. He certainly is not the first man by that name to show up on this blog. I know I have written a story about an Arthur Vogel who was born and raised in the Shawnee Township around Pocahontas. I have also written a story about an Arthur Vogel who was born and raised in Frohna. You will read another post about an Arthur Vogel today. This one was born and raised in Jacob, Illinois.

Arthur Theodore Vogel was born on February 20, 1890, so today would be his 133rd birthday. Arthur was the son of Henry and Amalia (Palisch) Vogel. I already have written several posts about children in that Vogel family. Our German Family Tree lists him as child #7 out of 9 in that family. I can display this photo of Arthur’s parents.

Arthur was baptized at Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob, Illinois, but I am still away from the museum today and cannot include images of church records. Arthur is found in his first census when he was 10 years old. His father was a farmer in the Fountain Bluff Township in Jackson County, Illinois.

By the time of the 1910 census, Arthur had just made it into his 20’s and was working on his father’s farm.

We now will take a look at the early life of the woman that would become Arthur’s wife. Her name was Clara Margaretha Oetjen who was born on February 4, 1892, so today’s marriage would be made up of two individuals with February birthdays. Clara was the daughter of Johann and Maria (Luedemann) Oetjen. This photo of Clara’s parents was shown in a previous post titled, Land for a Church, that told the story of how her father had provided the land for the church building for Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob.

Clara was baptized at that church. She is listed as child # 6 of 8 Oetjen children in her family. Clara shows up in her first census in 1900 at the age of 8. Like it was with Arthur, her father was a farmer in the Fountain Bluff Township.

Clara was a teenager by the time of the 1910 census. This time, her father was described as a salesman at a general store.

Arthur Vogel married Clara Oetjen on May 25, 1913. As you would expect, that wedding took place at Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob. I found an Illinois marriage record for this couple, but it is only a transcription and does not give the exact date of the wedding.

I wish I could display photos of Arthur and Clara. We have two resources in our research library that possibly have such photos. One is a very well-done Oetjen family binder compiled by a relative in Germany who has collected quite a few photos of people in this Oetjen family. It is a challenge for me to use because it is written in German. We also have a well-researched book that highlights this Vogel family in Jacob. I have used photos from that book on this blog before. However, I cannot get my hands on those resources to look for pictures of today’s characters. The photo below that has appeared in a few previous posts was taken in 1915 on the occasion of Arthur’s parents’ 40th anniversary. Arthur is standing in the back, third from the right.

A few years after his marriage, Arthur had a World War I draft registration completed in 1917. It notes that Arthur had a wife and child. By this time, there were 2 children born to Arthur and Clara, but one died as an infant. Arthur is called a farmer.

The 1920 census shows this Vogel couple with 2 daughters. The youngest child was named Rivera in this entry. For some reason, this daughter is not included in our German Family Tree. This is the only census in which we find Arthur called Theodore.

Two sons were born to Arthur and Clara in the 1920’s, so when we see the 1930 census, the household listed 4 children. There was another Arthur included in this entry…Arthur Darnstaedt. He was a young farm laborer from Perry County, Missouri.

The 1940 census shows Arthur and Clara with just their two sons who were both teenagers.

Arthur was required to complete a World War II draft card in 1942.

We can see the Vogel’s in one more census, the one taken in 1950. His two sons, Robert and Joel, were helping Arthur on his farm.

Someone has placed the photograph shown below on the Findagrave.com site for Arthur Vogel. It shows Arthur and Clara along with young children that are likely grandchildren.

Clara Vogel died in 1970 at the age of 78; Arthur Vogel died in 1972 at the age of 81. Arthur’s death record in the Christ, Jacob books says he died in an car accident near Jacob. Arthur and Clara are buried together in the Christ Lutheran Cemetery in Jacob.

Now you know the story of yet another Arthur Vogel. This is also another one of those tales in which both the husband and wife were born, baptized, confirmed, married, raised a family, died, and were buried at the same congregation. I know when I get back to Altenburg, I am going to pull off the Oetjen binder and the Vogel book to see if I can find some more photos of people in this family.