I seem to be stuck in Jacob, Illinois these days. This is the third consecutive post that has had this town in Jackson County as the setting. The highlighted person in this post is Johann Herman Kranawetter, who was born on February 25, 1881. I thought he was born on February 23rd because that is what the German Family Tree says in one place. However, it appears to be a typo, but I had invested too much time in this story to start all over, so you are getting Herman’s story two days before his actual birthday. Another post published about a week ago, Theresia Kranawetter-Zwickelhuber-Oehlert-Dietrich, delved into the origin of the Kranawetter surname in this area. Herman was the son of Joseph Kranawetter, who came to America being called Joseph Zwickelhuber, and his wife, Ernestine Ruehling. Joseph and Ernestine lived in the Shawnee Township in northern Cape Girardeau, Missouri. So, we find Herman being born in Missouri and baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. His baptism record from that congregation’s books is pictured here.

Since we cannot view the 1890 census, we do not find Herman in a census until the one taken in 1900. Prior to that census, Herman was confirmed in 1895. He was confirmed at Zion Lutheran Church in Pocahontas which was a relatively new congregation. The 1900 census shows that Herman was a 19 year-old worker on his father’s farm in the Shawnee Township.

The above entry would be the only one in which Herman was a single person, so we will turn our attention to the woman that he would marry. Her name was Anna Rosalie Stueve, who was born on October 13, 1884. She was later called Rosie, so that is what I will call her in this post. Rosie was the daughter of Peter and Maria (Engert) Stueve. Rosie was born at the time when Perry County kept birth records, so we can view her record below. It is in two images.

Rosie was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Her baptism record is displayed in two images below. This is one of those records that uses the term, Friedland, to describe The Ridge.

Sometime during her childhood, Rosie’s family moved across the river to Jackson County, Illinois. In the same year as the census entry shown here, 1900, Rosie was confirmed, and her confirmation record can be found in the books of Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob, Illinois. Her father is called a farmer in the Degognia Township in this entry, and Rosie (called Anna this time) was 15 years old.

Herman Kranawetter married Rosie Stueve on October 25, 1908 in Jacob, Illinois, but I found no civil record, and no record of their marriage is found where I would expect to find it…in the books of Christ Lutheran, Jacob. However, one of the family trees on Ancestry is the one administered by Diane Anderson, who is one of our local experts on the Stueve family, and this is the marriage date found in Diane’s Stueve family binder that we have in our research library. According to our German Family Tree, there were 7 children born to Herman and Rosie, and they were all baptized at Christ, Jacob. When the 1910 census was taken, we find this young couple living in the Fountain Bluff Township, where Herman was a farmer. At this point in time, they had no children yet. There was a young hired hand named Paul Darnstaedt living with them. This is the same Paul Darnstaedt that was living in the Arthur Vogel household in several census entries displayed in my last post.

I’m relatively sure that Herman had a World War I draft registration completed, but I was unable to locate it. Next, we find the Kranawetter’s in the 1920 census. There were two sons and two daughters in their family. Right below Herman’s entry is one for Benjamin Kranawetter, who was Herman’s younger brother. He had married Frieda Stueve, Rosie’s younger sister, in 1917.

The 1930 census shows the Kranawetter’s with all 7 of their children, 4 girls and 3 boys. Their two oldest sons were helping Herman on his farm.

In 1933, Herman and Rosie celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary and had a family photo taken. It is shown below. You can see the 4 girls on the left and the 3 boys on the right. The caption gives all the names. I find it somewhat amusing that some boys look like they are wearing their “best overalls” for this special occasion while their father is in a suit and tie. Several of the photos you will see in this post, like this one, are from the Kranawetter family binder that is found in our research library.

Next, we find the Kranawetter household in the 1940 census. Six children were still living with their parents.

Also found in the Kranawetter binder are some anecdotal stories written about Herman and Rosie. I will display a few short paragraphs that are found in that resource. I wish more families would record this kind of information about their descendants in their family histories.

Herman had a World War II draft card completed in 1942 despite being 61 years old.

I figure I should have been able to find Herman and Rosie in the 1950 census, but I was unsuccessful. In 1958, Herman and Rosie celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, and some more photos were taken. A few are in a gallery below. The thumbnails are clickable. The middle photo includes Arthur Vogel, the same character in my previous post, and Bertha Schlimpert, whose maiden name was Kranawetter and was Herman’s sister. They were both attendants at Herman and Rosie’s wedding in 1908.

Rosie Kranawetter died in 1961 at the age of 77. Her obituary is pictured here.

One year later, Herman Kranawetter died in 1962 at the age of 80. We can also look at his obituary. It says he died while on a walk with a grandson to the river and back.

Herman and Rosie Kranawetter are buried together in the Christ Lutheran Cemetery in Jacob, Illinois.

On a recent trip that Gerard Fiehler and I took to Jacob, Illinois, I recall talking to a gentleman there whose last name was Kranawetter, so I know there are still folks in that area who carry this surname. Both the Stueve and Kranawetter surnames migrated from the Missouri side of the river to Jackson County, Illinois and remained there.