On several occasions, I have mentioned a special “neighborhood” found in the rural area near the town of New Wells. That neighborhood was occupied over the time period of several censuses by families with the surnames, Haertling, Koenig, and Koch. Back in the 1850’s and 1860’s, there was a set of Haertling siblings that married Koenig’s and and a Koch. There was a Haertling man who married a Koenig woman, a Haertling woman who married a Koenig man, and another Haertling girl who married a Koch man. Today, I will be going down two of the branches of that family tree. You will be reading about another Haertling/Koch couple today, one that involved a pair found two generations later. If I have it figured correctly, that makes today’s couple second cousins.

We begin with a birthday boy. Otto Wilhelm Haertling was born on March 31, 1894, making today his 129th birthday. Otto was the son of Martin and Martha (Vagts) Haertling. Just to keep things straight, Otto’s Haertling grandparents were Herman and Sophia (Koenig) Haertling. A previous post as written about Otto’s parents titled, Martin and Martha. Otto was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. His baptism record from that congregation’s books is displayed below.

I will point out two of Otto’s sponsors in the above record. First, Sophia Haertling was Otto’s grandmother on the Haertling side of his family. Second, there is evidence in our German Family Tree that Otto’s mother, Martha Vagts, was a foster daughter of Wilhelm Dickmann, another of Otto’s sponsors, so that would make Wilhelm Dickmann a type of grandfather of Otto.

I figure it might have even been before appearinig in his first census that Otto was part of a family photograph taken of the Herman Haertling family. Otto is the youngster sitting on his mother’s lap on the far left of the picture.

Otto appears in his first census entry in 1900 at the age of 6. You can see that Otto’s parents and their family were living in the household of Wilhelm Dickmann. Both Wilhelm and Otto’s father, Martin, were farmers in the Shawnee Township.

Next, we find Otto in the 1910 census at the age of 15. He was working on his father’s farm. William Dickmann and his wife are once again in the household, but this time Otto’s father, Martin Haertling, was the head of the household.

Otto had a World War I draft registration completed in 1917. This document says Otto was working for his father on a farm near New Wells.

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

Otto got married at the end of 1920, so let’s take a look at the woman who would become his bride. Her name was Ida Christine Koenig, who was born on December 30, 1896. Ida was the daughter of Benjamin and Margaretha (Rupsch) Koenig. This past January, I wrote a story on this blog about Ida’s parents called, The New Wells Benjamin Koenig. Ida would also be called the granddaughter of Andreas and Christina (Haertling) Koenig. Ida was also baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. Her baptism record is pictured here.

Ida is found in her first census in 1900 at the age of 3. She is called Edith in this entry. Her father was a farmer in the Shawnee Township. Although I did not find Otto and Ida on the same census page, they were mostly just one page apart from one another. In other words, they were living in the same neighborhood.

When the 1910 census was taken, we find Ida as a teenager. This was also the year that Ida was confirmed. I find it interesting that, if you look at this census and the one for Otto in 1910, you find that Otto had a sister named Ida, and Ida had a brother named Otto.

Like that of Otto, Ida is found in her last census entry as a single person in 1920.

Otto Haertling married Ida Koenig on December 26, 1920 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. It looks like another one of those marriages that took place as soon as possible after the Advent season was complete. The church record for this occasion is shown below.

We can also view the marriage license for this couple.

Our German Family Tree says this pair had just one child, a daughter named Verna. The 1930 census shows this small family, with Otto working as a farmer.

Plat maps were produced for Cape Girardeau County in 1930. The farm of M.A. Haertling, Otto’s father, can be found very near the town of New Wells. I think this is the farm on which Otto as working.

The 1940 census shows the same household with Verna, their daughter, now a teenager.

The last census we can view is the one taken in 1950. Otto and Ida had an empty nest when they were in their 50’s.

Ida Haertling died in 1980 at the age of 83; Otto Haertling died in 1984 at the age of 90. Both Otto and Ida are buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in New Wells. I discovered that I had to be careful because there are two Ida C. Haertling’s buried in that cemetery. I think perhaps that is why Ida’s gravestone includes the fact that she was the wife of Otto.

Otto and Ida both were born and raised in the same neighborhood near New Wells. Each was baptized, confirmed, married, and buried at Immanuel Lutheran Church. I suppose one could say they were close to one another from cradle to grave.