In the movie industry, the term threequel is used to describe the third in a series of movies including the same cast and a continuing plot. I found a site on the internet that listed the top 20 movie threequels of all time. The series of movies that came out on top was The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, which followed A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More. Today’s tale is what I am calling a threequel. For the record, the marriage highlighted today has been part of a previous blog post, Flummoxed by a Family, but that article was published back in 2017 during the early years of this blog, and it was not as thorough as a typical post that is written nowadays, so I am returning to it. The threequel that I will be discussing today is illustrated in the family tree found on Ancestry.com pictured below.

I will be highlighting the marriage between William E.Stueve and Marie F. Steffens at the bottom of the above image. If the people highlighted in yellow had all been alive in 1904 when Emanuel and Mary had their wedding, then the parents of the groom would have also been a Stueve/Steffens couple, and the grandparents of the groom would have been a Stueve/Steffens couple as well. I find that amazing.

This post begins with the birthday of Marie Fredericke Steffens. Marie was born on March 23, 1883, making today her 140th birthday. She was the daughter of Claus and Klara (Koenig) Steffens. Her father was married 3 times and had at least one child with each wife. Marie was the only child born to Claus’s 2nd wife, Klara. That puts her into the Steffens family that became notable in this area for operating the Steffens Orchard. Marie was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Her baptism record is displayed below in two images.

A later plat map shows the Claus Steffens farm located near the intersection of what is called the Ridge Road and Highway Y. That is also near where the Ridge School was located and where the Tri-State Tornado went through in 1925.

Because Marie was born after the 1880 census, we are not able to see her in a census entry until 1900. At that time, she was already a teenager and had been confirmed at Immanuel, Altenburg in 1896. Her father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township.

Now, we will turn our attention to the man who would become Marie’s husband, William Emanuel Stueve, who is shown on most documents as Emanuel. He was born on January 27, 1879, the son of Claus Herman and Margaretha (Steffens) Stueve. Emanuel was also baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. His baptism record is shown here.

Since Emanuel was born prior to 1880, he is found in that year’s census as a very young boy…at 1 year of age. Three nieces were included in this Stueve household who would have therefore been Emanuel’s cousins. Those nieces’ parents both died in the 1870’s and were orphans who were taken in by the Claus Stueve family. I will note here that Emanuel’s parents had 5 children born to them in the 1870’s that died not long after birth, all before this 1880 census was taken. Emanuel was the first of their own children to live past childhood. I can understand why this set of parents might have been so willing to take in these 3 orphan girls. Also in the household was Emanuel’s Steffens grandfather, Gerhardt.

Next, we find Emanuel in the 1900 census at the age of 21. He was a helping on his father’s farm. Please note that Emanuel was one of 4 Stueve brothers in this entry.

Emanuel Stueve married Marie Steffens on October 23, 1904. As you might have expected, they were married at Immanuel, Altenburg. We can take a look at their church marriage record from that congregation’s books. It also stretched over two pages, so I will display it in two images. This was a time period when the pastor at Immanuel referred to The Ridge as Friedland.

The marriage license for this couple can also be viewed.

The wedding photo for Emanuel and Marie appeared in the 2017 post mentioned earlier. I will display it again here.

Three children were born to this pair. The first was born in 1905, a girl named Amanda. When the 1910 census was taken, we find Emanuel and Marie living with Emanuel’s parents. A few of Emanuel’s brothers were also in this entry.

At some point in time prior to 1911, a photo was taken of the Claus Stueve family. Since Emanuel was the oldest child in his family, and because of the resemblance to his wedding photo, I figure Emanuel is standing on the far right in the back row.

When the 1915 plat maps were produced, we find a farm identified as belonging to the Stueve Brothers. It was located on the Ridge Road not far from Wittenberg. There were several other Stueve parcels of land in the neighborhood. I think the Stueve brothers land was where Emanuel was farming.

In 1918, Emanuel had a World War I draft registration completed. His address is given as rural Wittenberg.

Two more children are found in our German Family Tree for the Stueve’s, but they were both stillborn girls. One was born in 1914 and the other in 1917. It is not often that you find stillborn gravestones in cemeteries, but both of these can be found in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg. The term toechterlein is German for “daughter”.

I was unable to find Emanuel and Marie in the 1920 census. That was the year that his mother died. I also could not find any of his brothers living on The Ridge in 1920. I think it must have been one of those cases that can only be explained by saying the census taker did not find them. I did notice that another photo that has appeared on this blog before was taken around 1920. It shows The Ridge Band, and Emanuel is holding a baritone, the second man from the right in the back row.

The 1930 census was the last one that included Emanuel Stueve. A lodger named Carl Bremer was living with them.

Emanuel Stueve died in 1937 at the age of 58. His death certificate is shown here.

An obituary appeared in the Perry County Republican for Emanuel.

Marie is found in the 1940 census as a widow. Her daughter, Amanda, had married Albert Leimbach in 1925, and after Emanuel’s death, Marie must have gone to live with her and her family. Marie got the chance to live with her grandchildren.

In 1944, a family reunion took place and a photograph was taken. It includes Marie Stueve and several others who carried the surname, Leimbach.

Below is a caption that identifies people in the above photo.

Marie appears in one more census that we can view in 1950. She was still living in the Leimbach household.

Marie Stueve died in 1973 at the age of 90. This year, it became possible to view death certificates up till 1972, and perhaps soon, we will be able to view those for 1973, but not yet. We can take a look at Marie’s obituary.

Both Emanuel and Marie Stueve are buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg.

Amanda was the only Stueve child that lived to adulthood, and she did not marry a Steffens, so there would be no Stueve/Steffens wedding in Generation #4. If there was, I found a reference online that there is a term known as a quadquel. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a word that included two “q’s” in it.